August 13, 2000

8:57 PM

Last One Standing.Now this is reality tv. Just came on at 8PST on USA. About 10 people have to keep a hand on a car in order to win it. After 3 days awake, they started losing their wits and begin to imagine that they're being plotted against. What Big Brother should have been.
posted by owillis (11 comments total)

Yeah, radio/tv stations have held this type of event as promos for awhile. This American Life once had a story by a participate of one of those keep-hand-on-truck contests. The story is on the TAL cd but you could probably find the track on the TAL site too. It's a pretty amusing tale.


posted by gluechunk at 9:14 PM on August 13, 2000

That TAL story I mentioned above can be heard via real audio in episode 61, act one.
posted by gluechunk at 9:24 PM on August 13, 2000

Even better, see the documentary. Focuses on the same guy that reads the TAL story. It's an amateur film, made with video, which gives it the surreal quality that the music in the TAL piece does. A little over an hour, very much worth seeing.

Was broadly distributed on video, you might be able to get it from your local library as well.
posted by dan_of_brainlog at 9:38 PM on August 13, 2000

Cheap DVD too! ($12.) On my wishlist, hint hint.
posted by dan_of_brainlog at 9:38 PM on August 13, 2000

Next week the story continues on USA with the battle over a tractor in Nebraska. God, I love tv.
posted by owillis at 9:44 PM on August 13, 2000

I saw the beginning of this. It seemed rather unpleasantly like the story of the DJ who stayed awake for a week. I'd heard he ended up psychotic, originally, but current searching seems to indicate it was *that* serious... it does appear, however, to be permanent.

This leads us around to an interesting side topic: are there things you shouldn't be allowed to disclaim? If I was participating in this event, for example, I'm sure there would be a disclaimer I'd have to sign, absolving the promoters of all liability.

The Libertarian in me says that Stupidity is *Supposed* to be Expensive. But I just don't know if that, admittedly pat, answer is good enough.

What do y'all think?
posted by baylink at 8:06 AM on August 14, 2000

Setting aside the fact that anyone prepared to stand in a desert with their hand on a car for 3 days needs counselling before they start, I'd say the TV company would have to undertake to provide *some* sort of safety precautions, a doctor close by or something.
My gut reaction though is that if they're stupid enough to do these things, let 'em.
posted by Markb at 8:33 AM on August 14, 2000

Indeed.

And of course, I meant "indicate it *wasn't* that serious".
posted by baylink at 12:21 PM on August 14, 2000

Now *this* defines reality TV.

posted by milnak at 4:56 PM on August 14, 2000

I guess this means people who climb mountains just cuz they're there are stupid too. And there's not even a pot of gold at the end of that rainbow, much less a car.

I dunno. Sometimes people are willing to do crazy things precisely because they're crazy. And maybe fun along the way too. Like seeing how many people one can squeeze into a Volkswagon, or calling a phone booth just to see who might answer. Or writing in a MeFi thread months after everyone else left. But I guess that's just not serious enough.
posted by ZachsMind at 4:41 AM on April 21, 2001

You're crazy. :)
posted by owillis at 5:14 PM on April 21, 2001