Couple Complaints


Overall a good show with great plot. But I would like to atleast see a write up of the rules for both sides of this game. Like if the contestents could hand the briefcase off to a random guy they meet and give him like $1,000 to drive north, south, east, or west for 5 hours atleast. Thats a good plan, couldn't be broken epecially if theres other good spots in the area. And for the detectives, are they allowed to use metel detectors and sticks like they did in this past episode.
I just don't like when in the middle of an episode I ask myself is/would this be allowed.

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I've come to realize, they don't want us to know the rules. Everyone in the first season is in the dark about tactics, because they haven't had the advantage of seeing any episodes. However season 2 contestants might be wiser. If this show becomes popular, they don't want the contestants to be too savvy.

Punk'd is a good example. After it became popular, Ashton Kutcher had to fake the show's cancellation to get people off the track and he made fewer personal appearances so people wouldn't be tipped off.

If everyone knew all the rules and all the tactics, it stops being such a challenge.

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What appears to be part of the rules based on the first three eps are 1) the couple must travel together 2) One person is handcuffed to the case, the other has the key, and that can't change, and 3) They cannot remove the handcuffs until they are at the burial spot (probably language that they have to be within x feet).

My guess would be they have to personally hide it, and no one can move it after that point.

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Additional rules seem to be that the selected hiding spot must not move (eliminating the idea of FedExing it to yourself) and the hiding place must be accessible to the detectives 24 hours a day (hiding the case at a friend's house with a hide-a-key outside and permission to search the property is apparently okay). Also, if you enlist a friend to help you, that friend is bound by most of the same rules as you, such as being required to answer all questions (although they can lie) and allowing their property to be searched.

Alternatively, if the friend doesn't want to allow an unsupervised search, they have to remain at the home and let the detectives search the place while supervised.

I imagine that there are safety rules too, such as not using booby traps or dangerous substances.

The detectives are probably allowed to do anything that would be legal to do during their regular detective work, such as using sticks and metal detectors and talking to anyone they want and lying about why they are calling friends and family.

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What Would Jesus Do For A Klondike Bar (WWJDFAKB)?

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Yeah all good observations! It seems like they give the contestents a lot of leg room, but they do make sure at the end of the day THEY hide it and it stays where its at the whole time as you said. I kind of figured that when I remember the Miami sisters where one had her eyes closed as they hid it in the bushes and I thought 'why doesnt she just stay in the car'? So yeah there IS a reason why one keep the key because they must be there to take it off, i.e. both knowing where it was hidden.

Watching the latest episode with the daughter and the idiot dad, apparantly they dont even have to open the case once they get it as she ran with it to the car first. I'm GUESSING they cant drive off until they open it and the one hour clock starts, but I was surprised they were given time just to get to the car first and then open it. That saved them precious minutes (although they ended up squandering it anyway lol). The only other thing I noticed is that are allowed to tell anyone to lie for them as well. I knew that about the actual accompices but I was surprised when they told the hardware store owners to lie as well and one of them actually did saying he saw them with the briefcase on when they took it off before then.

So the contestents DO seem to get a lot of advantages. It seems like the main two disadvantages is they must be together at all times (one cant jump out the car and run 8 blocks to hide it while the other cicle the city and just pick up the other guy later for example) and yeah the case must stay where they hid it.

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> I was surprised when they told the hardware store owners to lie as well and one of them actually did saying he saw them with the briefcase on when they took it off before then.

Store clerks and such are not bound by any rules of the game. The players can ask them to lie and then they can lie if they want or not.

As for the one employee, he said that he saw them with a black case, which was the cooler or bag that they bought at the store. The detectives weren't clear enough to ask if he saw a silver case.

> It seems like the main two disadvantages is

Probably the biggest disadvantage is that the detectives know that any accomplices, such as home or business owners, must abide by the rules for friends of the players. So if a friend slams the door in the detectives' faces, the detectives know for sure that the case is not there.

Similarly, like in tonight's episode, when a store owner or home owner miraculously allows a couple of off-duty cops to search anywhere they want with a camera crew in tow, the cops know for absolute sure that the case is hidden on the premises.

So the detectives can rule out a lot of places because they know the rules that these friends and family must follow.

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What Would Jesus Do For A Klondike Bar (WWJDFAKB)?

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Yeah good point about the accomplices must abide by the rules to play. So I'm GUESSING if they are technically part of the game and the cops ask to look inside, they must abide? I'm guessing they CANT say no because how the hell can the cops ever win without a searech warrant for those people? And if they CAN say no if they dont actually have the case, then the cops know they dont have it, so that gives them an advantage as well.

I think thats why the sole couple who won did such a great job. They didnt actually talk to the guy who they left the briefcase at their home with, just to their daughter who let the guy know. So the detectives had no clue about the actual accomplice who had the briefcase UNLESS the daughter or one of them gave it up first. So as proven there are ways around it, but you have to be cunning enough to do it if you include others.

And yeah the store clerk probably wasnt lying for them, looks like he just got the bag they bought confused as the case with the money! Good point.

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> So I'm GUESSING if they are technically part of the game and the cops ask to look inside, they must abide?

If that person has agreed to have the case hidden on his property, then he must allow the detectives to search the place.

And that person must somehow provide that the detectives can search the place 24 hours a day. One way is to make it known that a spare key is available. But many shop owners don't want to leave a spare key under the mat or above the door frame.

Another way is to is to stay at home or in the store for the next 48 hours and answer the door when it rings.

Notice that Eddy was sitting in his office unusually late at night and answered the door immediately when the off-duty detectives (who never showed a badge) knocked. He never asked what the cameras were for nor did he looked surprised by them. He invited these strangers right into his office.

So the detectives knew for sure that they had found the location of the case. It was just now a matter of looking around until they found it.

Recall a couple of episodes earlier when they went to an apartment and rang the buzzer and no one answered? One detective made the comment that "no answer" meant that the case couldn't be here.

> They didnt actually talk to the guy who they left the briefcase at their home with, just to their daughter who let the guy know. So the detectives had no clue about the actual accomplice who had the briefcase UNLESS the daughter or one of them gave it up first.

Correct. But the actual owner of the house had to give permission, probably verbal over the phone to the producers, that any detectives who did come to the house could look for the spare key and then, if they found it, enter the house and search for the case.

And, of course, the daughter would also have to agree to let detectives search HER house and property if they wanted to since that's just the rules of the game.

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What Would Jesus Do For A Klondike Bar (WWJDFAKB)?

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is there someone stationed from production and out of sight of the detectives to maintain the safety of the case if some random passerby may stumble across it?

I can just imagine if some dude picked it up and walked away if he found it
[inject cathexis]

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> to maintain the safety of the case if some random passerby may stumble across it?

I would assume so. But, as you suspect, it would be a tough balancing act. They likely have a camera to film anything interesting that happens but they have to hide from the detectives.

But I am guessing that if you hide the case somewhere that a stranger can find it and walk off with it, nobody wins. The producers would probably let the guy run off with the case.

Note at the beginning of the episode they say that there is something worth $100,000 in the case. Obviously there is no money in it. It's probably a piece of paper that says, "You win!"

And then, when the detectives find it or when the time is up, production switches cases for one that has real money in it for them to open up in front of the cameras.

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What Would Jesus Do For A Klondike Bar (WWJDFAKB)?

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