Truthfully yours, America

Would you honestly answer 21 questions about your personal life for a chance at winning half-a-million dollars?

Nishi Malhotra Washington DC

Sounds easy, right? Hundreds of people thought so too till their homes started to get wrecked, long-standing relationships were broken and businesses/work were affected because greed, ah greed, would not permit them to seal their lips and let sleeping dogs lie.
Fox Television's new reality game show, Moment of Truth, which premiered in the US last month begs the question, "At what cost truth"? Contestants are hooked to lie detectors and asked 50 questions each, not told the results of their polygraphs, and a few days later face 21 of the same 50 questions in front of live TV audiences plus family and friends. Tell the truth and they win 500 big ones, even though their families are likely dismayed at watching skeletons come tumbling out of closets. Get caught lying and they not only walk out with nada but are publicly humiliated in front of America; as a bonus, their families are probably shattered anyway. This show is not for the faint-hearted!
Moment of Truth has taken America by storm - the premiere was the highest rated spectacle on any network during the last one year. It is not unusual to find the previous night's episode being discussed in school and college hallways or at office water-coolers in the same breath as Hillary and Obama's latest debate. People wonder whether Frank is going to leave Nicole after, bless her cold heart, she revealed on the show that she cheated on him and would rather be married to an ex-boyfriend. What's going on between her parents - she answered "yes" to whether she knows secrets about her father that her mother doesn't? Amazing isn't it that after staking just about everything she lost the game on a seemingly simple question, "Do you think you're a good person," to which she answered "yes"?
The show's format is more like a game show than a typical reality programme. The first tier of questions leading to $10,000 is relatively easy, though often compromising (Have you ever flirted with your wife's friends? Have you looked through the belongings of a co-worker while he/she was away?). The contestant can stop answering after this and take the money home. But should he/she continue, the interrogation only gets tougher. Family and friends can interject only once to prevent a specific question from being asked (many don't because they want to hear the answer - for instance a husband will want to know if his wife is physically attracted to her boss?)
Moment of Truth is based on a Colombian TV reality show which was recently temporarily suspended after a woman admitted to hiring a hitman to murder her husband, an attempt that failed. The American version tries to steer clear of questions about minors and felony-related issues. However, given the third-degree of the torture involved, it seems only a matter of time before someone somewhere has a breakdown brought on by brazen avarice (or suffers a cardiac arrest brought on by too much truth) and decides to settle score in typical American style - by suing the channel!
Despite the blatantly voyeuristic and, dare we say, sleazy nature of the show, it has (amazingly), brought light to the lives of a few contestants - and not just in the materialistic sense. It was a little hard to imagine, after the first show in which a physical fitness trainer Ty Keck lied about inappropriately 'touching' his female clients (and possibly went bankrupt later), that all secrets are not dirty and some laundry might be worth washing in public. Till along came George Ortuzar. This clownishly lovable marketing manager was a hit right away - from the moment he sheepishly looked heavenwards, crossed his heart, and confessed his first answer, "Forgive me God but, yes, I have fantasized about sex while attending Mass." We assume God forgave him, perhaps even smiled kindly, because soon George had to answer a question from his son (whose relationship with his father was strained because his mother, George's ex, had poisoned his mind against George): "Dad, did you gamble away my college money?" George answered "No," the computer verified, father and son hugged, and all of America clapped - God's honest truth!