Temptation (2007 American game show)

Temptation
The new Sale of the Century
Genre	Game show
Presented by	Rossi Morreale
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	6 (as of September 12, 2007)
Production
Producer	FremantleMedia North America
Production locations	Los Angeles, California
Running time	20:17 minutes
Original release
Network	Syndication
Release	September 10, 2007

Temptation is an American television game show. Loosely based both on the original Australian and American Sale of the Century and the 2005 Australian remake, also called Temptation, the show began airing in syndication starting September 10, 2007.

Temptation is hosted by Rossi Morreale, produced by FremantleMedia North America, and syndicated by 20th Television. Former talk show host Rolonda Watts serves as the announcer.

Owned-and-operated stations of MyNetworkTV are among the stations carrying the show. MyNetworkTV carried a preview of the show, featuring several American Idol alumni, on September 5 2007 in primetime.

Before the show hit the airwaves, the writers went on strike because FremantleMedia refused to recognize the Writer's Guild of America West as the writers' chosen labor representative. To date, the strike continues...

Front game rules

The game is played in two rounds, each broken down into several parts. Three contestants, including a returning champion, start the game with $20 (called "Temptation dollars").

Round 1

This round is broken down into three parts — a speed round, an "Instant Bargain" and the "Fame Game," each described below:

• 30-second "speed round" — The host asks a series of rapid-fire pop culture questions; correct answers are worth $5, while incorrect responses lose $5.

• Instant Bargain — The leader after the initial speed round is offered a chance to sacrifice some of his/her "Temptation dollars" to purchase a prize at a discount. Played just like the original "Sale of the Century" Instant Bargains, the host often offers extra incentives (e.g., reducing the price, offering cash) to entice the contestant; also as before, if two or more contestants were tied, a Dutch auction is frequently conducted.

• Fame Game — The host reads clues leading to a famous person, place, thing, etc. One major difference from the 1980s Sale of the Century round is that, on the monitor behind the host, letters fill in a puzzle, one at a time (akin to the Toss-Up round on Wheel of Fortune). A correct answer nets the contestant $15.

Round 2

The second round consists of rounds named KnockOff, a second Instant Bargain, "Instant Cash" and two toss-up rounds.

• KnockOff — Similar to the 1980s game show Wipeout. A category is announced and 12 possible answers were shown; nine answers are correct while three are wrong. Each contestant, in turn, selects one of the answers. A correct answer is worth cash ($2 to $15); an incorrect answer eliminates that contestant from the remainder of the round. Play continues until the last correct answer is found or all three players have been eliminated.

• Instant Bargain — Played as before, usually for a slightly more expensive prize.

• Second "speed round" — Two answers are given before the start of the round, both usually with a similar theme. Questions are based around the two possible answers.

• Instant Cash — Based on the "Sale of the Century" round, the leader at this point is offered a chance at a cash jackpot, which begins at $500 and rises by that amount until claimed, and/or reaches $5,000. To play, the contestant has to give up his/her entire lead over the second-place opponent; however, if two or all three contestants are tied, a Dutch auction is conducted. If he/she opts to play, the host shows the contestant three envelopes, one which contains the jackpot and the other two $100.

• Final "speed round" — A final 30-second round of questions is played. Correct answers are worth $10; incorrect answers lose that amount.

The contestant with the highest score is the champion and advances to the "Shopper's Paradise" round. The losers keep any cash and prizes won during the main game.

Shopper's Paradise

The Shopper's Paradise is played in two parts:

• Super KnockOff — Nearly identical to the main game round, except six answers are correct and six answers are wrong. Correct choices nets the contestant anywhere from $25 to $100 in "Temptation dollars." Four answers are worth $25, one is worth $50, and one is worth $100. The contestant may stop at any time, as a wrong answer ends the game and forfeits any cash accumulated during that round.

• Shopper's Paradise — Almost the same in concept as the original "shopping" format from the 1970s Sale of the Century. The contestant is shown five prizes, each in ascending value, at greatly reduced prices; the most expensive prize is a car. After all five prizes are announced, the contestant was given time to ponder whether he wants to buy a prize (as long as there is enough "Temptation dollars" available), or bank it and return to the next show to try to buy one of the more expensive items.

A contestant continued as champion until he purchases one of the prizes from the "Shopper's Paradise," or is defeated. If the contestant is a five-time champion, they must buy something from Shopper's Paradise after the Super KnockOff round, as they are retired afterwards.

Shop-at-home Temptation offers

Before commercial breaks, offers for products at discounted prices are advertised. These items may be purchased online at http://www.seenontemptation.com (which also doubles as the show's offical site)

Preview episode differences

In the MyNetwork celebrity preview episode, the "Instant Cash" was worth $2500; the other two wallets held $500. Also, the champion won $7500 for their charity, and Super KnockOff values were multiplied by ten, up to $2500.

Grand Champions

To date, there has been one Grand Champion (There is no "lot" in this version, as with the original $ale. The car is the highest level one can reach), named Mark, who on his final day won the game with T$127, needing (and correctly choosing) one answer in SuperKnockOff, winning himself a Toyota Prius, a grand total of $27,924.

References

• Twentieth Clears Show Based On 'Sale Of The Century'