Throwback Thursday: Dog Eat Dog

For this week’s Throwback Thursday, I’m going to reminisce on a show that aired on NBC for a year and continues to live on through reruns on the Game Show Network!  What glorious show am I referring to, you wonder?  If your guess was ‘Dog Eat Dog,’ then you, my friends, are correct! 

The process of each Dog Eat Dog episode:

1. First, there would be a random assortment of 6 contestants.  Usually it’d be 3 male, 3 female, but I’m sure there was some variation.  I’m also pretty positive that before the show, these people would go to a short camp of sorts where they’d meet one another and do some training.
2. Then, you’d move on to the actual show.  Each contestant would be placed at a different podium where they’d write the person’s name down that they wanted out of the competition.  Majority ruled with the vote and the person with the most votes would be sent into a challenge.
3. Then, the person with the most votes would compete in a random challenge.  (You can check out a list of the different challenges from the show HERE on the Dog Eat Dog Wikipedia, with descriptions.)  If they lost the challenge, they would be sent to the “Dog Pound.”  But, if they won the challenge, they would get to pick another contestant to send to the dog pound.
4. Steps 2-3 would be repeated until it got narrowed down to the final 2.  The final two would compete in what’s usually a challenge of bigger proportions.  The loser of that challenge would be the fifth and final member of the Dog Pound, and the winner would be the “Top Dog."
5. The Top Dog would then be given a topic such as “Sports” or “Entertainment”, etc. and they would have to pick someone from the Dog Pound to answer the question about that category.  If the person go the question right, it’d be a point for the dog pound.  If the person answered incorrectly, it’d be a point for the top dog.  Each member of the dog pound could only be picked once, so the first side to get 3 points would win the $25,000 prize.  So, if the top dog won, they’d get $25,000.  And if the dog pound won, each member would get $5,000.  (I did the necessary math for everyone.  You’re welcome.)

       What did I love about Dog Eat Dog?

1.  The challenge called “He or She?” where they would bring out a group of, say, 8 “guys” where only one was actually a guy, and the person had to guess who they thought was the actual guy in the group.  Don’t ask me why I found this challenge so incredibly fun as 10-11 year old, I just did.  (Note:  I actually saw one of those episodes with this challenge in the past year or so, and I still didn’t guess the right person!  And I had even seen the same episode before!)
2. The treadmill challenge where the contestant would be suspended by a bungee cord on a treadmill that was hanging in the air.  They’d start out walking on the treadmill where they’d be asked a series of trivia questions.  Each time they answered incorrectly, the treadmill would move faster.  They’d have a certain amount of time and if they were still on the treadmill at the end of that time, they’d succeed at the challenge.  Most of the time, the people fell off and I always loved to see them go flying.  (Obviously they were okay, but like, this makes me feel like I was such a violent child!  I really wasn’t!)
3. There was this challenge where they brought on this speedreader woman who read a story at a lightning pace.  Then after she finished reading, the contestant would be asked questions about the story and if they didn’t get enough of the answers right, they’d lose the challenge.  I like, vividly remember this one.
4. Basically all of the challenges!  And the drama!  For these people barely knowing each other, they would get all feisty with one another for voting them into the challenges.  It was great TV.

An interesting fact about Dog Eat Dog:

There was actually a contestant on the show who got injured pretty badly during a water challenge and had to be put in the hospital.  From my memory, I believe that the person suffered a brain injury and still had problems long after they had recovered from the injury.  I feel like there was an interview of this somewhere.   This person went on to sue NBC and I’m pretty sure that that’s a lot of the reason why this show didn’t last longer than it did (2 seasons,) because it was truly an amazing show.

From, RealityNewsOnline.com:

"Darin Goka was a contestant on Dog Eat Dog and during a stunt where they had to remain underwater, the mechanism that was to catapult him out of the water failed.  NBC won't honor his request for the raw footage so to this day, he had no idea of how long he was deprived of oxygen.  His lawyer, Artmen Tashjian, and his girlfriend, Gloria Giacomoni, speak about how he is still physically devastated.  The stunt was performed in August of 2002 and over a year later he is still not recovered.  He suffers from memory impairment, a decline in intellectual abilities, and severe levels of depressive symptoms.  His girlfriend said he used to be so happy and has never been the same since.  NBC calls the lawsuit without merit.  There was a clause in the contract that all contestants sign waiving the right to hold the network responsible for any injury, including death.

Law suits and everything aside, I loved this show!  If you remember this show, tell me whether you loved or hated it in the comment section below!