I was a member of the Mob for taping this weekend. When the contestant misses a question, then the Mob does win, with surviving Mobsters dividing up the pot that the contestant has previously won. Ken Jennings was also a participant in the Mob. According to Ken himself, he was not paid any appearance fee.

Yes, the taping took a very long time. Yes, there is a chance that the Mob will be paid no money because the "1" decides to go home with his/her winnings. But it was not as grim as the craigslist poster has made it out to be. It is very unlikely individual Mobsters will get rich on this show, but I think it will be an entertaining show to watch.

 

Ken was there because his book should be coming out around the same time as airdate (September), although during the time I saw him on camera he made no mention of the book. For the contestants' benefit, they have an opportunity to ask for Help from the Mob if they are uncertain of an answer. That involves speaking to one or possibly two Mobsters to ask them why they selected their particular response to the question. Potentially, a contestant has a chance to pick Ken's brain if he is still in the Mob. Certain other members of the Mob are identified as coming from various aspects of society.

 

I was thinking that the problem with having Ken in the mob is that he's unlikely to miss a question, and as such there is even less chance of anyone beating all 100 than there was before, thus reducing the payouts.

You have no idea how badly I want the UK version to use the Dutch formula, but I'm convinced I'm going to be disappointed.

 

There is just so much wrongdoing of this show from the start. Maybe it was a good thing I didn't try out for this show.