New Reality Show ‘Moment of Truth’ Makes Everyone Squirm

By Anastacia Mott Austin

There is no way I’m going to watch Fox’s new reality game show "The Moment of Truth."

Okay, I’m lying.

Why? Because lying is the cornerstone of civilized life.

Lying is important. I would argue that it is the glue that binds our society together. Without lying, there would be total chaos, anarchy, pure animal instinct taking over. Lying is what separates humans from other animals….and I mean that in a good way.

Nobody wants to know what you really think of your co-workers, your family, or the starving children in Africa. If everyone told the truth, employers would be forced to fire all of their employees, marriages wouldn’t last five minutes, and no one would have any friends.

So what’s all the fuss, then, about Fox’s new reality show "Moment of Truth?" The show premieres this week, and the buzz is that it’s "shocking," and "like nothing else on television."

According to previews of the new show, contestants on "Moment of Truth" were asked up to 75 personal questions before appearing on the air. Questions like, "Do you secretly believe your husband is gay?" "Is your current partner the best lover you’ve ever had?" "Do you like your mother better than your father?" and "Do you really care about the starving children in Africa?" They’ll be asked a sampling of the very same questions on the air, but with their loved ones present in the audience.

The program was bought by Fox after NBC passed on it for being too controversial. A similar show was cancelled last year in Colombia after a contestant admitted on air that she had hired a hit man to kill her husband. The husband had discovered the plan so it wasn’t carried out, but the show was cancelled anyway because the producers never revealed the crime to police. And hey, the woman won $25,000. Which I’m sure she was able to use to post bail.

"The Moment of Truth" set is similar to other game shows of late. Contestants sit on an elevated stage, facing the host Mark Wahlberg (no, not Marky Mark, a different Mark Wahlberg). If they answer 21 questions "correctly," that is, truthfully according to the polygraph machine, they win $500,000. They can stop at anytime for lesser amounts of cash, but if they choose to continue and get caught in a lie, all is lost.

In an added twist, some of the questions are asked directly by those who are affected by its answer, i.e. a spouse, family member, or employer.

Can the contestants tell the truth no matter what, to keep the prize money?

You would think so. After all, they were asked those very same questions already off the air. So the real question is, can they face up to the truth in front of an audience?

"This should be the easiest game show. They know all the questions, and technically they know all the answers," said Fox executive Mike Darnell to reporters. "But what seems to be easy becomes extremely hard and painful, to answer question after question in a truthful manner in front of your family."

The real scandal of this show is not whether people will lie, or even if they reveal terrible truths about themselves (like not giving one whit about the starving children of third world countries). It’s that they are breaking one of society’s most basic rules by agreeing to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Lying is good. We need lies to make life tolerable. And we have all agreed to accept each other’s lies so that we may go on with our lives in civil society.

How many people will be looking askance at their spouses while watching this show, hearing a contestant reveal that her husband’s toes repulse her, that he is not the best lover she’s ever had, and that she secretly wants to date her boss?

We won’t actually ask our spouses what they think of our own toes. Why? We don’t want to know! But watching this show will make us squirm anyway, not because people are revealing their lies, but because we secretly fear that we’ll all start telling the truth too.