MovieChat Forums > Ca$h Cab (2005) Discussion > Don't lose your nerve....always GO for t...

Don't lose your nerve....always GO for the DOUBLE

posted 15 years ago by jeffyoung1
9 replies | jump to latest

Cash cab contestants are routinely declining the DOUBLE-OR-NOTHING for the wrong reasons. The vast majority of the time it's NOT because of greed, it's because of FEAR.

Let me say this to any future CASH CAB contestant.

1) How many times in your life are you going to be a CASH CAB contestant? The
odds are, if you are lucky once, that's it. You'll never be on Cash Cab again. So why pass up the sporting chance for double-or-nothing?

2) When you entered the Cash Cab, you probably earned your income at a job some other place. You should never look at the Cash Cab as a source of income where you must have the money. It should never make any difference whether you win or not, at least in theory, because you're not going to be in the Cash Cab every day. If that were the case, the Cash Cab would be your job and you should accept your winnings without the double or nothing.

3) Don't let fear cloud your ability to use grade-school math DIVISION. If there's three of you and you win $600, why would you take the cash and walk if you can double it to $1,200? If you stick with $600 then each person walks with only $200. Does $200 get you far in New York City? I'm seeing even groups of four people, winning $700 with only one strike or even none, and then getting scared and walking away with only $700 to divide among 4 people.

ALWAYS DO THE DOUBLE-OR-NOTHING. You have nothing to lose.

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] wilmurman 14 years ago

While I agree with your philosophy, BillyJoe, they don't actually walk out of the cab with the cash. That "cash" that Ben hands to them is fake (you can tell if you look closely), because their winnings have to be taxed, so they actually get a lesser, taxed amount via check sent to them.

- "Duff Man can never die. Only the actors who play him. OH Yeah!"

[–] rondine 15 years ago

I agree with going for double-or-nothing for 2 reasons:

1) You are already getting a free cab ride- so you come out ahead no matter what. When you entered the cab, you were going to be down $____ dollars for the cab ride so you are always a winner.

2) They sometimes tout the video bonus question as being "harder" but it really isn't. I've watched many episodes and I think there has been 2 I couldn't answer out of hundreds.

[–] JR541 15 years ago

Come on guys. I admit that there are times to definitely go for it but if it's only one contestant and money is up to $800 to $1000 then its a large enough prize to consider taking. A bird in the hand...

If there are 3 or more people in the cab then there is a good chance that one of them will know the video bonus answer.

Its very easy to say what a person should do when its not your money. As a viewer we want to see then go for it. If we were in their place we would likely feel differently about it.

He's taking the knife out of the Cheese!
Do you think he wants some cheese?

[–] rondine 15 years ago

I know all about the "bird in the hand" but I'm saying they already have a bird in the had because they got a free cab ride. When they got in, they were expecting to doll out cab fare and now get a free ride. You might as well go for it especially considering that most of the video bonus questions are NOT harder. I've watched this show for a long time and I think I've only missed one out of say, 150.

:)

Life is short- go for it!

[–] JR541 15 years ago

Would you rather have a free cab ride or $1000?

He's taking the knife out of the Cheese!
Do you think he wants some cheese?

[–] robotrix 15 years ago

Some of the people I understand why they don't go for it....the ones that got by on a short cab trip, their shout-outs and just plain lucky guesses. And if I somehow ever ended up in the cab and just got by by the skin of my teeth like that, I'd probably do the same thing....

But OP is right...with a lot of them it's just fear, coupled with greed and playing it safe for no reason.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last night, I was lying back looking at the stars and I thought...where the *beep* is my ceiling???

[–] wilmurman 14 years ago

ALWAYS DO THE DOUBLE-OR-NOTHING. You have nothing to lose.

I disagree with that sentence.

1) How many times in your life are you going to be a CASH CAB contestant? The
odds are, if you are lucky once, that's it. You'll never be on Cash Cab again. So why pass up the sporting chance for double-or-nothing?

The "what if?" game works on both sides of that argument. If you take the money and run, you can say, "What if we got the question right and walked away with twice the money?" You can also end up saying, however, "What if we were less risky and left the cab with something instead of the nothing we ended up with?"

2) When you entered the Cash Cab, you probably earned your income at a job some other place. You should never look at the Cash Cab as a source of income where you must have the money...

The need for the prize money is irrelevant toward the desire to win it. This applies to ANY game show. It's the same reason why most employed people don't live in empty houses save for a bed, shower, and kitchen. We don't "need" 95% of the things we have, so that shouldn't factor in. It's just a fortuitous situation where some people feel satisfied with $500 instead of giving that up for a chance at $1000.

3) Don't let fear cloud your ability to use grade-school math DIVISION. If there's three of you and you win $600, why would you take the cash and walk if you can double it to $1,200? If you stick with $600 then each person walks with only $200. Does $200 get you far in New York City? I'm seeing even groups of four people, winning $700 with only one strike or even none, and then getting scared and walking away with only $700 to divide among 4 people.

I actually agree with this. In the situations where there are 3 or 4 passengers, the odds that one of you will have the right answer will be pretty high. The risk is much lower in these situations since the money's getting divided anyway.

The point is, you DO have something to lose, namely, the money you've earned up to that point. Right at that point in time, you "have" what you earned. It's as good as "in your pocket" if you walk away. Hence the definition of "risking it". Also, while you haven't put up any of your money to start the game, you're still, in essence, risking "your money" when you go double or nothing because, once again, you've become entitled to the money you're risking if you chose not to go for the bonus. If you truly had nothing to lose, everyone would be leaving the cab with money.

That said, I do like seeing players going for it and winning, since it makes for good TV. I'm not sure I'd go for it myself, though.

- "Duff Man can never die. Only the actors who play him. OH Yeah!"

[–] Megamel_99 11 years ago

I probably wouldn't go for the video bonus because even though I know a lot of the 'regular questions', I rarely know the answer to the video bonus questions.

"Shakespeare was a genius. He was the president of Rome." Workaholics