| Hosts | |
| Steve-O (Stephen Gilchrist Glover, 2012-2013) Mark McGrath (2014) | |
| Announcers | |
| Dee Snider (2012-2013) Minae Noji (2014) | |
| Broadcast (truTV) | |
  | |
| Packager | |
| Zodiak USA | |
Killer Karaoke was a short-lived, music/karaoke game show where it featured contestants attempting to sing in front of a live studio audience while various bizarre attempts are made to disrupt their performances. It was hosted by the former star of MTV's Jackass Steve-O later he was replaced by Mark McGrath after its renewal for eight episodes. It premiered on November 23, 2012 and ended on April 17, 2014. This was based on the equally short-lived adaptation of the British game show Sing If You Can.
Gameplay[]
Season 1[]
Six different contestants appeared in each show. They were separated into three rounds of two contestants, and each had approximately 90 seconds to sing their song. Contestants were introduced to the audience and were told about their challenge. Before every challenge, Steve-O would tell the contestant, "No matter what happens, do not stop singing!" The winner for each round was picked by the live studio audience via popular vote and automatically advanced into the Killer Karaoke Final Showdown.
Season 2[]
Round 1[]
Six contestants would take turns singing portions of one song, occasionally being given electric shocks or sprayed with water from their microphones to distracted them. They were scored on a combination of audience responses and accuracy of pitch and lyrics, and these scores were used to assign rankings to the players for further rounds. The lowest-ranked player was eliminated immediately.
Round 2[]
The second through fifth-ranked players would go through two battle rounds, with the #2 seed facing the #5 seed, and the #3 seed facing the #4 seed. In each battle round, the higher-ranked player's choices determined who played which challenge. Winners were determined by the same method as in Round 1.
In the #3/#4 round, #3 was presented with a choice of two objects, each of which corresponded to a different challenge. The challenges themselves were revealed only after he/she has chosen one object, and #4 was given the challenge for the other one. #3 would take his/her turn first.
In the #2/#5 round, #2 would be shown one challenge and could either take it or pass it to #5 in favor of an unknown one. The known challenge was always played first, regardless of who received it.
A third battle round was then played, in which #1 would take a challenge. The audience then selected one of the two losing players from the previous battle rounds, and that player would take a different challenge that incorporated an object/element chosen by #1 from two options.
After this round, two of the three winners were selected by audience vote to continue in the game.
List of Challenges[]
Season 1[]
- Big Stank – The contestant would sing while being danced on by two sweaty 500-pound strippers.
- Bite Club – The contestant would be attacked and bitten by a series of guard dogs while wearing a heavily-padded suit. Usually, the contestant would have to deliver six packages no matter what happened.
- Blown Away – The contestant would stand in front of three large fans for a "full-body facial - Steve-O style", while holding a rope steady to prevent a bucket of water above the contestant from tipping over and drenching him/her. The facial included a strong adhesive, oatmeal and paprika, along with another surprise or two throughout the song.
- Cactus Maze – The contestant would wear a velcro suit on which balloons were stuck. Then he/she was given drunk (blurry vision) goggles to wear and advised to walk through a makeshift desert maze filled with cacti, on a trail that was clearly marked. As the contestant walked through the maze, landslides could fall on him/her, and Steve-O could blow a horn in his/her ears. At the end of the maze, there was a tree with money attached to it; however, unbeknownst to the contestant, the tree also had pythons on it, which Steve-O would reveal to the contestant by removing the goggles from his/her face.
- Hair Raiser – The contestant (usually a male) would sit back in a barber's chair and had various body hair removed by the way of a strip wax treatment.
- Head Case – The contestant had to stick his/her head or hand in various cases, with each case containing creatures and a $50 bill. One case usually held a stuffed animal to confuse the contestant.
- Puppet Master – The contestant would get in a suit with a man who controlled his/her actions throughout the song.
- Shock Therapy (1) – The contestant would try to serve Steve-O dinner with shock collars and bracelets placed on his/her body. All of the food and drinks were served to Steve-O in open glasses, bowls or containers, making them easy to spill or dump on the stage. Ironically, when the food was served without being spilled, Steve-O usually didn't eat it; instead, he would just throw it behind the table onto the stage or he would take one sip of the drink before throwing the entire glass behind him.
- Shock Therapy (2) – The contestant again tried to sing while wearing shock collars and bracelets. The goal was to walk over a staircase/platform and serve drinks on a table. To shock the contestant, someone in the background would pull down on a large switch. The contestant also wore gloves for protection.
- Swamp Swing – The contestant (usually a female) would sit on a swing and get dipped into ice-cold water with snakes and sometimes other reptiles being dumped in.
- Walk of Fear – The contestant would "stroll down the catwalk" and step into as many boxes under the walk containing various items and creatures, including ice water, fish guts and maggots.
Season 2[]
- Built in a China Shop – The contestant wore a rubber suit and attempted to grab all the cash he/she could find. Usually, wherever the cash was found, something happened to that item that they could find the money on (fall, spill water, etc.). At the end, there were people in costume who stood still, and after a while started to attack the contestant.
- Flip Your Lid – The contestant had a clear dog cone on his/her head. Then he/she would stand on a platform pulling a lever. After the level was pulled, something nasty would come out (maggots, cow brains, dirty socks, etc.) and be poured into the cone. The items were then dumped into a bowl.
- Party in My Pants – The contestant had to deliver items to many tables, while wearing a suit that caused balloons to inflate and pop inside of them.
- Petting Zoo – The contestant had to grab money out of animal possessions (a dog, snapping geckos, lizards, porcupines, camel, etc.)
- Rocking Chairs – The contestant had to sit on many different chairs, each of which had their own danger (vibrating, spinning, breakaway, etc.).
- Tiny Dancer – The contestant had to put his/her head in a hole while his/her hands and feet were controlled by others. Then, the controllers controlled his/her actions throughout the song (putting food into their face, breaking concrete, etc.).
- Twists N' Shout – The contestant had to complete five stations that had two buckets above him/her. At each station, he/she would pick a bucket and pull a crank, causing the bucket to spill something out (leaves, strawberry milk, cow tongue, etc.)
- Walk the Line – The contestant was spun around on a platform and then had to walk on a red line. Around the line, there was something to harm him/her (mouse traps, jagged ice, etc.) Sometimes, there was some money to grab while dizzy.
Returning in Season 2[]
- Leader of the Pack – (a.k.a. Bite Club)
- Why Are You Hitting Yourself – (a.k.a. Puppet Master)
- Power Lunch – (a.k.a. Shock Therapy 1)
- Troubled Waters – (a.k.a. Swamp Swing)
- Road to Nowhere – (a.k.a. Walk of Fear)
- Head Case
- Cactus Maze
.jpg "Head (1).jpg (15 KB)")
The Killer Karaoke Final Showdown[]
This game was played in two different formats.
Season 1[]
The three preliminary round winners competed against each other for up to $10,000 in prize money while singing on the "World's Largest Turntable," a spinning disk approximately eight feet in diameter and decorated with a radiation warning symbol. The jackpot grew throughout the round; as time passed, the turntable would speed up and begin to tilt, and the jackpot grew at a faster rate. The first two players to fall off won nothing; once the last player fell off, the jackpot stopped building and he/she won it. If the player could stay on the turntable for 90 seconds, he/she won the full $10,000. The largest amount won was $7,800 in episode 104.
Season 2[]
The two finalists wore suits with $10,000 in cash attached to them and had to go through three obstacles designed to cause the money to fall off while singing the same song. Once they completed the obstacles, they had to return to center stage as clear boxes were lowered onto their heads and filled with one of their worst fears. The player with the higher score, based on audience response and technical accuracy, won the competition and kept whatever money was still attached to his/her suit.
Set[]
International Versions[]
Countries that have done their own versions of Killer Karaoke include:
- Arab World
- Algeria
- Argentina
- Brazil
- Cambodia
- Chile
- Columbia
- Ecuador
- Germany
- India (Tamil and Hindi languages)
- Indonesia
- Italy
- Lithuania
- Mexico
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Peru
- Philippines
- Poland
- Portugal
- Russia
- Spain
- Thailand
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom (country that originated the program as Sing If You Can)
- Vietnam
Trivia[]
Announcer Minae Noji played Karai in the 2014 film of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Inventor[]
Based on the British series Sing If You Can