We couldn’t think of a better way to introduce an element of chance than a huge tacky wheel of fortune. Always keen to completely deviate from the point of the work by sticking bits of cardboard together, I made a wheel with three possibilities:
- PLAY IT SAFE
- YOU CHOOSE
- TAKE A RISK
The arrow in the centre spins and decides the fate of each volunteer, and whether or not Kelly should accept the challenges we set her. The wheel is supposed to provide everyone who spins it with a random, fair decision. But that wouldn’t be as much fun, so without going into too much detail, it’s a lot more likely that the option it will land on most is ‘Take a Risk’, conveniently. (To be honest, with a game show called Wheel of Control the contestants should be a lot more suspicious.)
How can we justify this? Quite simply, we’d rather put on a show that’s interesting to watch than organised fairly. If years of watching Get Your Own Back have taught us anything, it’s that audiences would rather see contestants dropped into a pool of gunge than sent home with a prize. Here’s an example from Get Your Own Back in all it’s gungey glory:
Apart from giving us the opportunity to reminisce about brilliant TV shows of the 90’s, watching clips from Get Your Own Back provided us with an interesting idea to consider: It would be much easier to get the support of the audience, encouraging Kelly to act rashly if there’s an element of revenge in the tasks she takes on. Taking this idea, we had the passer-by briefly knock into Kelly during the bag-stealing scene and not bothering to apologise. Building on this first act of rudeness, the two presenters of the show go on to exaggerate how much this character needs to be made to feel sorry for her actions, eventually convincing Kelly to ‘take the risk.’ – Punishing someone for their actions is a lot more appealing than simply targeting them without an excuse.