$ale of the Century - Confetti Question

[Mario]

I've a question about $ale of the Century (1983 U.S. version): regarding any episodes in which a contestant successfully wins the big prize of the day (in which a confetti drop featuring balloons results), I'm wondering if, for those unlucky winners and crew members that are allergic to latex--which is the material that was used for the balloons you're seeing during the last few minutes of the show--for the outgoing winner, at his/her request, they could've opted to give him/her a bouquet of a dozen foil (often, and erroneously, called mylar) balloons colored silver and gold, usually of the 18" round circle type, with at least one gold and one silver dollar-sign foil balloon for great measure, all on (non-metallic) strings and with one weight per balloon, as per California law?

That kind of idea would mean a cleaner set (only the confetti paper will remain among the mess), and the # of people (esp. the crew members) that stayed home due to allergic reactions from latex would be reduced.

What do you think?

~Ben

[chris319]

I'm sure if somebody had raised this as an issue the producers would have made accomodations, i.e. dropping paper confetti only.

[Mr. Matté]

I think you use too many parentheses (those curly things that have statements that could be a part of the prose (the "writing part") or deleted altogether (the preferred solution)).

[TLEberle]

I think you use too many parentheses (those curly things that have statements that could be a part of the prose (the "writing part") or deleted altogether (the preferred solution)).

you read his posts?

[Steve Gavazzi]

This person's ability to simultaneously massively overthink something and put no thought into it whatsoever is nothing short of astounding.

[aaron sica]

What do you think?

~Ben

I think that you are focusing too much on one specific thing about the show. There are other important factors, too:

1) What did they have in place in case, when turning the number for the cash jackpot, if it would have fallen out of alignment and dropped on a contestant's head?

2) What if, when they changed the Fame Game to stopping the light with the buzzer, it would have triggered a seizure in a contestant (and remember folks, fainting on a game show is *not* funny).

These are also factors you need to consider. Don't just concentrate on the balloon allergies. There are other issues, too!

[PYLdude]

What do you think?

~Ben

I think that you are focusing too much on one specific thing about the show. There are other important factors, too:

1) What did they have in place in case, when turning the number for the cash jackpot, if it would have fallen out of alignment and dropped on a contestant's head?

2) What if, when they changed the Fame Game to stopping the light with the buzzer, it would have triggered a seizure in a contestant (and remember folks, fainting on a game show is *not* funny).

These are also factors you need to consider. Don't just concentrate on the balloon allergies. There are other issues, too!

Don't encourage him.

[BrandonFG]

California law?

There's a guy at my job who is actually allergic to quite a few foods. He jokes that it's easier to list the foods he's NOT allergic to, but he alerted HR of his allergies, and we're all careful to clean up thoroughly after eating any of those foods. I imagine the crew members could've easily done the same thing, although I don't know who's really going to go through the trouble of saying "Hey...will there be any balloons used on the set? Because, uh...I'm allergic."

Same for contestants...I really don't think they're going through all that work, but if need be, as Chris said, I'm sure it could be an easy fix.

[Jimmy Owen]

No one with balloon allergies ever made it to the end game.

[clemon79]

California law?

Obviously I don't care enough to actually check (if the full code is even available online; I figure it prolly is this being 2013 and all) but it wouldn't surprise me; it's the sort of thing a treehugger group would get ramrodded through as a rider on a balloon release ban. Keep little kids from losing their balloons, keep the remnants from eventually coming down in a forest where they can strangle an ocelot or some shiat.

[Mario]

I now want to ask: were there any contestants or crew members that ever got sick from the confetti drop?

~Ben

[That Don Guy]

California law?

Obviously I don't care enough to actually check (if the full code is even available online; I figure it prolly is this being 2013 and all) but it wouldn't surprise me

Right here

[SuperMatch93]

I now want to ask: were there any contestants or crew members that ever got sick from the confetti drop?

~Ben

How would they have gotten sick?

[Mario]

I now want to ask: were there any contestants or crew members that ever got sick from the confetti drop?

~Ben

How would they have gotten sick?

He or she could have been sneezing and/or coughing violently on the set. Watery/itchy (red) eyes, skin rashes, and shortness of breath (asthma) are other symptoms associated with allergic reactions.

~Ben

[Adam Nedeff]

I now want to ask: were there any contestants or crew members that ever got sick from the confetti drop?

Oh, all the time! That's why USA only ran one year's worth of reruns from a six-year series. The rest of the episodes contained vomiting.