Friend or Foe?
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Friend or Foe? is an American game show based on knowledge and trust, which aired on GSN (Game Show Network). The catch was whether members of a two-person team would think that their partner would be able to fairly split their cash winnings.
The show premiered June 3, 2002, and was hosted by Kennedy. It is now off the air and no more new episodes will be produced.
[edit] Rules
Six contestants, dividing into three teams of two, competed. Except for particular episodes, the contestants were previously unknown to each other.
Three rounds were played, with each team spotted $200 at the start of the game. (Trust funds started at $0 rather than $200 in the second season. The eliminated team, if they had answered zero questions correctly and thus had no money, were given a $200 consolation prize to divide between themselves.) Host Kennedy asked a series of four multiple-choice questions; each team had to work together to arrive at an answer. Correct answers were worth $500.
At the end of each round, the lowest-scoring team was eliminated, but not before they headed to the Trust Box, where they faced a form of the prisoner's dilemma (a well-known problem in game theory). This part of the game is where the fun (and oftentimes, shenanigans) began.
Each side of the Trust Box concealed a button to vote "Friend" or "Foe." Kennedy interviewed each contestant as to why his/her partner should vote "Friend," and thus divide the winnings evenly. Afterward, the contestants had 10 seconds to decide whether to press the button and vote "Foe" on their side of the box or not to touch the button and vote "Friend." After the 10 seconds elapsed, Kennedy announced the outcome (with appropriate dramatic buildup).
The decisions the contestants make in the 'Trust Box' determine the team's winnings and how they were divided. Three outcomes were possible:
- Both vote "Friend" – Each player receives half the winnings.
- One votes "Friend," the other "Foe" – The contestant voting "Foe" takes all the money and the "Friend" gets nothing.
- Both vote "Foe" – Neither player wins anything.
Round 2 was played the same way, except that the questions were worth $1,000. The team that was ahead at the end of the round advanced to the bonus round.
In the bonus round, the partners teamed to answer 10 questions (at $500 apiece) within 60 seconds. Three incorrect answers stopped the game, but if all 10 questions were correct, the entire pot is doubled, meaning a possible total of $22,400. The partners then pay one last visit to the Trust Box to determine how their winnings would be divided.
[edit] Trivia
Mark L. Walberg, who at the time also hosted another Game Show Network original called Russian Roulette, guest hosted on the April Fools Day episode in 2003 with the hosts of other GSN original series (Cram, WinTuition, Whammy, and Lingo).
