Figure It Out

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Figure It Out

Figure It Out: Wild Style contestant Brett Noble milks goat with his toes on August 4, 1999 at Nickelodeon Studios, Florida.
Genre Game show
Running time 22 minutes
Creator(s) Kevin Kay
Magda Liolis
Starring Summer Sanders
Jeffrey Dumas
Country of origin Flag of United States United States
Original channel Nickelodeon
Original run July 7, 1997–December 12, 1999
No. of episodes 158
IMDb profile
TV.com summary
Billy the Answer Head.
Enlarge
Billy the Answer Head.

Figure It Out was a television game show hosted by Summer Sanders that originally aired on Nickelodeon and is now shown on Nick Games and Sports (Nick GAS). Kids with special skills or unique achievements compete as contestants on the show while a panel of four Nickelodeon celebrities compete against the clock as they try to guess the predetermined phrase that describes the contestant's talent. This show can be considered a loose adaptation of the classic game shows What's My Line? and I've Got a Secret.

As with most other Nickelodeon game shows, Figure It Out was filmed in front of a live studio audience at Nickelodeon Studios at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.

Contents

[edit] Rules

The game is composed of two sets of three one-minute rounds per episode in which the panelists take turns asking yes-or-no questions to try to guess the contestant's talent. Each time a panelist mentions a word that is part of the phrase that describes the secret talent, the word is turned over on Billy the Answer Head (right), a game board that displays a puzzle, the solution to that puzzle is always the contestant's secret. Billy shows which words of the phrase have and have not been guessed. The contestant wins a prize after each round that his or her talent remains unguessed. After the third round, each panelist is given one final guess as to what the contestant's talent is. The game ends either when a panelist guesses the secret talent or if no panelist guesses the secret talent correctly after the "last guess" stage.

During each round, the panelists receive one clue as a hint to one of the words of the secret phrase. The clue can take the form of physical objects, such as dates (the fruit) to indicate a clue about calendars, sounds (rarely used), or pantomime (the "Charade Brigade", usually two or three cast members, only appearing in round 3, who act out a word from the phrase).

Another aspect of the game show is the "Secret Slime Action." Before the second round of each game, a randomly selected member of the studio audience is revealed; that member stands to win a piece of merchandise, typically a Figure It Out-branded article of clothing (in the first season, it was a prize, such as a Nintendo 64 or a mountain bike). If at least one celebrity panelist performs the Action (and is subsequently "slimed") by the third round. The Secret Slime Action is typically a simple and almost guaranteed action; actions such as touching a clue, looking to the left (which was reflexive, as clues were commonly wheeled out on a small track from the contestants' left), using the phrase "are you..." or "is it..." and having a certain name were all used as actions. Some actions were even intrinsically unenforcable, such as thinking about coconuts; especially in later episodes, a successful Secret Slime Action was mostly a foregone conclusion, and the variables were only when it would be triggered, and by whom.

At the conclusion of the game, after the secret talent has been revealed, the contestant demonstrates or displays his or her skill and talks about it with the host and the panelists.

[edit] Panelists

Either three or all four panelists were taken from popular Nickelodeon shows at the time. Regulars on the panel included Amanda Bynes and Lori Beth Denberg, then of All That, and Danny Tamberelli of The Adventures of Pete & Pete, the latter of whom was slimed especially often. The first seat on the panel was usually an older panelist, either an older actor from Nickelodeon, a non-Nickelodeon celebrity, or a member of the contestant's family.

[edit] Spin-offs

Due to the popularity of the show, two spin-offs occurred. Figure It Out: Family Style (season 3; Autumn, 1998) featured 2 contestants who were related, typically parent-child or sibling-sibling; sometimes the panel would be surprised by seeing the aforementioned contestant's relative jump into the game. Figure It Out: Family Style also featured "Little Billy." If the panelists figured out the contestants' secret, they would bring out Little Billy. The panelists had to guess the one (impossible) question on Little Billy, therefore giving the contestant another chance to win a prize (usually Figure It Out apparel). Figure It Out: Wild Style (season 4; Autumn, 1999) featured solely talents involving animals; during these episodes, Billy the Answer Head was reshaped as an animal. Cardinal Games also adapted a Figure It Out board game version in 1998.

[edit] After Games

  • Name That Thingy
  • Name That Critter
  • The Last Laugh
  • Lightning Letters
  • Drench Bench
  • Little Billy
  • The Secret Panel Match Up

[edit] Slime Spewer

The Slime Spewer slimes the panelist(s) who perform the famous Secret Slime Action. This sound can be heard on the Figure It Out site on the Nick.com site under Nick Gas.

[edit] Current Air Times

Figure It Out currently airs on the Nickelodeon GAS channel. The airing times, which are the same every day, are:

  • 8:00-9:00 a.m.
  • 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
  • 6:00-7:00 p.m.
  • 11:00 p.m.-12:00 a.m.

NOTE: There are two different episodes in each hour. The two episodes air all day on all four airing times. However, they still change each day, so the viewer is treated to fourteen episodes per week.

[edit] Trivia

  • Host Summer Sanders was actually slimed twice during the show's run. Once as a panelist (where she was slimed four times in succession) and once as a surprise during her normal hosting duties at while closing one of the other episodes. Unlike her sliming as a panelist when she was wearing a jumpsuit, when Summer was slimed as the host she was in normal clothing (T-shirt, sweater vest, denim mini skirt and white Converse sneakers). After the sliming, Summer said on-air, "Yugh, very funny guys, now my new outfit is ruined."
  • Sometimes, the Secret Slime Action would be based on one panelist's clothes, profession, character, etc. In that instance, the offending panelist was slimed at a random point in the second round. For example, when Steve Burns of Blue's Clues was a guest on the show, the secret slime action was "Having a Blue dog", which he did have on Blue's Clues. However, he was slimed about 3/4 of the way through the 2nd round. Mike O'Malley got slimed for "Wearing Orange" just one second (i.e., :59 left on the clock) into the second round.
  • CatDog from the eponymous Nickelodeon show was once a panelist. They had to be made in CGI and were slimed (dumped on an empty chair) with CG slime.
  • In one episode, Cousin Skeeter from his eponymous show appeared as a panelist.
  • Several episodes of Figure It Out: Family Style included family members of the contestant. In order to get a 'yes' answer, the family member/panelist asked things such as "Am I your favorite uncle/aunt/cousin/etc." On the show's Clue Recap Board after the round in which the family member/panelist is slimed, it reads: (insert name here) is (contestant's) favorite slimy uncle/aunt/cousin/etc.
  • In early episodes, contestants that won the first round were given original props from the sets of "Global Guts," "Legends of the Hidden Temple," and various other Nickelodeon shows.
  • In Figure It Out: Family Style, there are several episodes where Jay, the announcer, is replaced by "Jay's Mom." It really was his mom.[citation needed]

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Game Shows on the Nickelodeon Network
Channels on the Nickelodeon Network: TV Land | Nick Too | Nick GAS | Nicktoons Network | Noggin / The N
Premired between 1986-1989:

Double Dare | Super Sloppy Double Dare | Family Double Dare | Finders Keepers | Make the Grade | Think Fast! | You're On!
Premired between 1990-1996:

Get the Picture | Nickelodeon GUTS | Global GUTS | Legends of the Hidden Temple | Nick Arcade | What Would You Do? | Wild and Crazy Kids | NickAmerica
Premired between 1997-2006:

Figure It Out | Figure It Out: Family Style | Figure It Out: Wild Style | You're On! | Double Dare 2000 | Nickelodeon Robot Wars | Scaredy Camp
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