I enjoy this show - it's a real challenge to try to figure out who the hustler is on a given episode.
Can you share any behind the scenes stories, such as how the hustler is chosen on each group of five...or anything else that was interesting about the experience?
I’m happy to provide a little perspective of my experience! First, as far as the audition process goes, I submitted my application and then had a phone call with a casting associate. The phone call was mostly just a discussion of strategy AND trying to find out interesting information about me – it’s at this point already that they’re trying to figure out who would be an interesting hustler. The second phase was a mock game with two other people – one of us was the hustler (not me) and like in the real game, we played a couple of questions and tried to identify who the hustler was. I did not identify the hustler, but I had a big personality – ultimately, this was more about how interesting you would be as a contestant, not how good. They also asked for some more full-body shots at this point with different types of wardrobe options, even though I wasn’t cast yet.
Then, I got the call that I was an approved contestant. I went through some normal stuff, like getting wardrobe approved (I sent a ton of pictures of myself, full- and half-body, throughout the process). Also, because we filmed early in the vaccine window, there were not required vaccinations (though, I was vaccinated), but we did all get tested three times – one week, a few days, and one night before. This whole time, we don’t know if we’ll be playing as the hustler or not; though, I get a feeling that the person chosen as the hustler may know ahead of time (or at least is asked a lot more questions and asked for a lot more information, because it would have been impossible to get all of those pictures and stuff day-of). How do they choose the hustler? They use the casting process (application, phone call, video audition) to identify people with the most interesting different random facts that would lead to good questions.
The whole time, I was hoping I wouldn’t be the hustler. While the hustler can make more money, I knew that as a non-hustler I just had to be completely honest and figure out who the hustler was. As the hustler, I would need to lie, successfully convince the group that someone else was the hustler, and keep suspicion off myself – it would have been a harder game. You can watch the episode and determine if this strategy worked out for me.
As far as production goes, when we were waiting for taping to begin, we were all put in our own separate rooms by ourselves (because of COVID, we didn’t even have a PA with us, they sat outside our doors). I was in my room for at least two hours without a phone or any reading material or anything – just sitting, pacing, going over my strategy. Then, once you arrive on-set, they try very hard to get the contestants to talk as little as possible – we could have polite introductions, but no asking questions or anything like that. Same with commercial breaks.
The studio was FREEZING. I’ve been in a lot of studios, but this one was by far the coldest. Craig name-dropped Letterman in saying that Letterman taught him to keep the studio as cold as possible so people wouldn’t fall asleep. It’s not a bad idea – we were too busy shivering to fall asleep. (The women in skirts, I literally don’t know how they kept themselves together at times, it was THAT cold.) And, Craig is HILARIOUS and SUPER friendly. He would joke with us and have a good time. The personality on-camera is just his personality and I really appreciated that.
I have a TON of respect for the editors of this show. First, we must have taped 90-100 minutes for 42 minutes of game play. Plus, each of us final three probably did ten minutes each of interview to get broken down into mere seconds. Additionally, Craig curses A LOT. He has a FOUL mouth (I loved it), but like – to the point that editing has to be a challenge because he was not holding back. It was hilarious and it endeared me to him even more, but the editors must have a hell of a time haha
This was my second game show contestant experience, the first being
25 Words or Less. The experiences were so vastly different in so many ways – especially because of COVID, but also given the nature of the shows (not seeing other contestants ahead of time, etc…). The FILMING experience of
The Hustler was a BLAST and so fun and very chill, whereas the whole-day experience at
25 Words or Less was much more relaxed and fun.
I signed an NDA that prevents me from talking too much about the production side of things, but if you have any questions, I’m happy to answer any I can.
