ABC Dating Challenge
G is for Game Show
It was quite awhile ago that a user submitted an idea to the date night generator suggesting to go participate in a studio audience.
It ticks all the boxes as far a great date night goes for us – something new we’ve never done before, cheap and above all, fun, giving you something to talk about while on your date. (Because let’s face it, some weeks, if you and your partner have seen an awful lot of each other, you can run out of things to say unless you’re keeping it fresh.)
So I promptly registered for everything that films in our hometown of Melbourne. Given we’re not a huge city, we were limited to a select few shows – mostly entertainment and game shows.
Then we received a call from Deal or No Deal.
You need to be patient about this date as the process of application and auditioning can take a few months. Best to register now and then wait it out to see what happens. I kept it a surprise from Den until I got confirmation for the audition day just to make it a bit more exciting.
Audition day came and went without much fanfare… in fact, it was a bit of an anti-climax on audition day. Line up, have your photo taken, fill in another application sheet and then sit down to meet with the producers who have a chat with you to get to know you, and process your application. We left not sure what to expect next. They told us the wait could be up to 6 months before we got to a filming.
If you do get into the filming, there is no guarantee that you’ll make it onto television. With 150 people in the audience, there’s a five-in-seven chance you’ll get to hold a case and have a punt at $500 for guessing the case right. There’s a 1-in-35 chance that you’ll be THE person picking the cases off for the chance at $200,000.
They film quite a few shows in a row, so it’s a long day. They provided a yummy lunch and lots of laughs by way of the crowd-warmers that throw jokes around behind the scenes all day. Not every filming will take so much time and energy, but the key is to keep your spirits up as they are always looking for animated people to jump onstage. Which means you have to be over-the-top cheesy most of the day if you want them to notice you.
Guess what? They picked me. Most profitable date night ever! Unfortunately, as you’ll see here, I didn’t get anywhere near the $200,000 I could have had. But you know what? I had a ball doing it! It pushed our comfort circles way out (particularly the night it was going to air when I was nervous as all-hell.)
To check out the events as they unfolded behind the scenes and on national television, see below.
The last video only had room for about 30 seconds in it – to spare you the watching (and me the uploading!) I’ll just tell you – I had the $4,000! So after all that bad luck there was a little tiny light at the end of the tunnel. But despite kicking myself for days afterwards about choosing the wrong case (Why didn’t I pick Den’s birthday, or my father’s birthday? We could have had $15,000! Or $20,000!), in the end it was a great date night.
I recommend it – it’s a barrel of laughs!
And if you’re good at something, like general knowledge, why not try your hand out at an actual game of skill? Or if you have a favourite television show that you watch all the time, attend that together for a great insight into how it’s made. Television is a fascinating process if you’ve never seen it before.
Date Night Rating Overview
Romance Factor: 0/10
Cheese Factor: 10/10
Fun Factor: 10/10 (assuming you get on as a contestant… otherwise I’d give it a 7/10 fun factor)
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G is (also) for Games Night!
Tags: Cheesy Date Ideas, Creative Date Ideas, Date Night in a Studio Audience, Date Night on a Game Show, Deal or No Deal, Fun Date Ideas 
Writer, dating columnist, wife, coffee addict, foodie, fashionista... Melburnian through and through. Muser, dancer, blogger, tweeter. Likes to get her head on telly now and again. Sleeper, dreamer, a sucker for romance. And of course... a cheap date.
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4 comments for “G is for Game Show”
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Very fun date. You’ve got me looking for some show tapings here in Atlanta! Hope I find something.
How’d you go with show tapings? Find anything fun?
Hi Emma, I love the concept of your site and have been telling everyone about it. So great to meet you today at the blogging conference. I’ve been trying to come up with a new idea for you. Have you ever done a night safari? Go to a park if you have one (I’m lucky to live near Noosa National Park) but you can just walk around the suburbs, take a torch and see what you can see. We used to have fun doing this in Costa Rica and sometimes here if you shine the torch around you can see eyes gleaming back at you – I’ve seen possums, bats and an echidna. It sounds a bit odd but we have fun doing it and you can get a bit spooked out so good for snuggling up and nice to get back to a warm, safe house afterwards:)
Thanks Annabel! So glad you like it.
We haven’t done a night safari! That sounds like a wonderful idea. We could go up to the Dandenong Mountains and do that… though I definitely am a big wimp when it comes to being spooked at nights…