British television is filled up with lots of game and quiz shows. Most of them are awful and seem only there to have the contestants humiliate themselves all in a bid to win money – usually a paltry sum. Now there is a new one currently in production that has upped the ante by embracing how dumb these shows (and unfortunately many of their contestants) really are.
The show, of which I speak, is the Con Test. According to the producers: “The Con Test is a quiz with a difference.” That difference as pointed out by recent Sunday Times article is that “the contestants do not have to know any of the answers or even understand the questions. They will simply have to persuade others that they do.”
The big draw of course for the contestants is the money — £1million pounds to be exact. So what’s wrong with that? Well nothing really if you like watching people make fool of themselves. Personally, I’d prefer to watch a quiz show more in the style of Jeopardy. A show that rewards people for being smart and intelligent.
Ok, I know this might make me seem slightly pretentious, but really, why does our culture seem to be heading in a direction where we encourage people to want to become famous or get rich for being stupid and doing and saying dumb things?
What happened to hard work and people making money the old fashion way? What happened to people aspiring to be educated and becoming intellectuals? I know this might not make for good television, but I’m really sick of the dumb celebrity, model, reality show and quiz show contestants, etc. As such, put these people back in the closet where they belong. This bad joke, the dumbing down of our society in the name of fame and fortune has gone on way too long.