Debt

OPENING SPIEL:

''MAN (Wink): Drowning in a sea of bills? (crashing, bills shaking and dropping, and Wink pulls out the office worker) WOMAN: Whoa! WINK: Then it's time to play Debt! (WOMAN SIGHS) WINK: The game show where three debt-laden Americans just like you, compete to have us pay off all their bills, and go home with nothing. WOMAN: Whoo! WINK: And now let's meet today's contestants/contesti: (insert self-introductions of the contestants with the amount of debt and whatever reasons why). JULIE: And now, starring our host, the crown prince of credit, the duke of Debt, Wink Martindale!''

''REST OF SPIEL: Thank you! Thanks everybody, and welcome to the return of the game show/our show/Debt. Well, the country's in debt, you're probably in debt, but more importantly, our three players, (insert three names), have come to us with their real-life debt, and one of them just might be lucky enough to get out of it by the end of the show.''

Debt was an American game show hosted by veteran host Wink Martindale, which aired on Lifetime from June 3, 1996 to August 14, 1998. To date, it was the last game show hosted by Martindale, except for an appearance he made on Good Morning America in 2008 when he hosted a segment of Gambit, until the short-lived Instant Recall came along.

Gameplay
Three contestants are introduced with the amount of debt they have (usually between $7,000 and $10,000) and the reasons why. After introductions, the debt of the three contestants was averaged to level the playing field. The scores were shown in negative amounts to reflect the debt of each contestant.

First season
The first round was a Jeopardy!-style round in which the contestants faced a 30 trilon gameboard with five categories, each with five questions with negative dollar values ranging from -$50 to -$250 in increments of $50. The first selection went to the player who had the lowest debt (before averaging the scores). On a player's turn, he or she chose a category and value, after which a "Who am I?" type question was revealed (for example, "I'm the name of the fictitious, mustachioed "ranking officer" who hawks the Quaker Oats cereal Peanut Butter Crunch."). The first contestant to buzz in was allowed to answer. Contestants were required to start their answers with either "You are..." to receive credit (the contraction "You're" also was accepted). A correct answer deducted the chosen amount from the player's debt. A wrong answer or running out of time put the player that much further in debt.

One of the questions in the round was labeled the "Debtonator". This was the round's most difficult question in the producers' opinion, and was worth $500, regardless of the face value of the question.

When time ended or all questions had been asked the player with the highest debt was eliminated and received a $200 savings bond, along with a piggy bank.

Second season
This round underwent a few format changes between seasons:
 * The 30 trilons were replaced with a 9-screen video wall.
 * Before round one (and after the averaging of the debts), the game started out with a toss-up question worth -$1 and the right to pick first from the board.
 * Contestants were no longer required to begin their responses with the phrase "You are..." throughout the game.
 * Rather than choosing individual questions, contestants chose an entire category from the five on the board, and five questions from that category were asked in succession. Due to this change, the "Debtonator" now represented an entire category played for double value (-$100 to -$500).

Round 2 (Gambling Debt)
After revealing the category, each contestant announced how many out of five questions he/she could answer to win the money for that category. At the beginning of the round, the player with the lesser amount of debt placed the first bid; his or her opponent then had the opportunity to increase the bid. Bids were exchanged until the maximum bid of five was made or a contestant directed their opponent to "Prove it!", forcing them to fulfill the contract. Upon giving a correct answer, the question just played turned into a "happy face", but upon an incorrect answer or no answer whatsoever flipped the question back to its neutral position in season one, and turned into an "X" in season two. If the controlling player completed the contract, the money was subtracted from that player's debt. If the player was unable to fulfill the contract their opponent's debt was reduced. The winner of each category earned the right to place the first bid for the next. Five categories were played in this round, with values of -$300, -$400, -$500, -$750, and -$1,500, respectively.

The player with the higher debt was eliminated at the end of the round and received a $500 savings bond in addition to the piggy bank, while the player with the lower score won and advanced to the bonus round. If at any point in the round it became mathematically impossible for a player to catch up, even if he/she were to win every remaining category, that player was "mathematically eliminated" and automatically received the consolation prize.

The most money a player can eliminate from their debt in the General and Gambling Debt rounds was $7,650 in season one and $7,951 in season two.

Bonus round
The show's bonus round was played in two stages called "Get Out of Debt" and "Bet Your Debt".

Get Out of Debt
The winning player was given an "expiration date" (time limit) of 60 seconds to answer 10 questions in a particular category. Winning the bonus round meant their entire original debt (before the averaging of debts from the main game) was paid off. Losing the bonus round meant the player kept whatever money they earned in the first two rounds.

Bet Your Debt
After the first part of the bonus round, the player was given the option to "Bet [their] debt". A category selected by the contestant (prior to the show) on their particular favorite subject in the world of pop culture was presented as a one-question double-or-nothing gamble. The player could elect to keep what they had won up to that point, or risk all of their winnings to add an amount in cash equal to their original debt or their main game winnings, based on how well they fared in the first part of the bonus round.

The player had 10 seconds to answer the question. Should the player elect to bet their debt and fail to answer the question correctly, they lost the money they had won, and received a savings bond worth $1,500 if they won the first part of the bonus round or $1,000 if they failed to win the first part of the bonus round.

Logo
When Debt debuted on June 3, 1996, the show's logo resembled a Visa card with 3 stripes in green, white and red from top to bottom with the word "DEBT" in teal across the white stripe. It was revised on September 2, 1996 with a white box surrounded by a green frame which included the underlined title in red letters inside the white box.

Broadcast history
Debt replaced Shop 'Til You Drop, which moved from Lifetime to The Family Channel in 1996. It aired at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time for its entire run, paired with reruns of Supermarket Sweep.

Debt was replaced by reruns of Ellen in 1998.

Some local syndication stations (like KTLA) reran all the episodes of the show with a different opening.

Notable contestants

 * Two game show hosts appeared as contestants on Debt: Larry Toffler, who had hosted the syndicated version of Finders Keepers in the late '80s, and Frank Nicotero, who later went on to host Street Smarts. Toffler would later win $100,000 on the FOX game show Greed.
 * In one episode, a victorious contestant celebrated a $16,000+ win by ripping off his toupee, throwing it on the floor, then dancing around the hairpiece.

Tagline
"We'll be back next time with three more big spenders, and we'll do our best to help get them out of... Audience: DEBT! ...Yes!" - Wink Martindale (1996-1998)

Links
Rules for Debt @ Loogslair.net

Rules for Debt @ The Game Show Temple

1st Season
Early episode with a Visa-esque logo

Part 1

Part 2

Frank Nicotero's appearance

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Contestant Ryan Hopak rips off his toupee.

2nd Season
An episode with new changes

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3