Not A Pitch

 So here's the thing -- I'm not trying to pitch an idea. That's not my style. All I want to do is hand you an idea. It might be a bad one and you are welcome to trash it. It is stuck in my head (as ideas often are, as I get them mostly on Shabbos) and I have to get it out. I just figured that it might interest you and I trust your professional judgment on these things because you are a professional and I'm a high school English teacher. Were the roles reversed, and you had a question about a dangling modifier (or, heaven forbid, a split infinitive) I would hope you would trust me with the delicate situation.

Anyway, I have an idea and I'd like to give it to you. That's it. I hand it off, getting it out of my system and letting you decide if it has value. If it does, and if it makes you a bajillion moneys, I will place a single request at your feet in return: I want to be thanked by name during a speech delivered by an award winner in a public forum. That's it. An unexplained name check. Just one. And if that doesn't happen, I won't even know and probably won't care anyway. I have other ideas to move on to. So here we go (if you haven't clicked away from this, I thank you for your indulgence; if you have, then, um, well, you won't uh...see...forget it).

Here it is. Use it as you wish. 

A trend in game shows seems to be letting Americans prove how great they are. That's wonderful. But a real American isn't just recognized for his talent -- he is lauded as being the best at something. Better than all those other schmucks for heaven's sake.

100 people in the audience, all thoroughly vetted by staff.

Vetting requires that a rep from the show visits the contestant at home pre-taping and makes a list of confirmed possessions in the house of the individual. 

 Each one is given $1,000. One is chosen at random to be the contestant. That person takes his money and places a bet (at least 10% of what he has must be betted. Is "betted" a word? If you can, find a high school English teacher and ask him or her...I'm just an idea man). The bet is worded as 

I (can/have) more ___________ than anyone in this room.

All the other contestants in the room are then allowed to indicate on their given devices if they wish to bet any amount that the main contestant is wrong. If it is a matter of "have" (that is, a collection or a possession), then the audience member is claiming to have the same or more of the named item than the contestant and this is adjudicated by the staff-judges. If the guy on stage wins, he gets the money from the audience member. If the audience member wins, he gets from the contestant.

If the claim is an ability or skill, his claim can be challenged by an audience member (I can ride a pogo stick for longer) and an impromptu head-to-head contest is set up. The winner gets the money.

[if there is a time lag while the competition is set up and run, another audience member can be brought up and, in parallel, a new set of challenges can be run until the other contestant competition is resolved]

If an audience member runs out of money because of failed challenges, he leaves. If the contestant either

loses 3 challenges or 

runs out of money, he leaves. 

If the contestant is not challenged, he wins 50% of his bet. He can choose to walk away with cash at any time before he makes his next claim. This is where the strategy kicks in. The contestant might know he will undoubtedly win in one area and lead with that. But people might expect him to start with a strength and simply not challenge him. He will make whatever he makes on the first one but then continuing to where he can make real money is a risk. If he starts with a bluff, saving his big guns for later when he can really cash in (as he will have more money so he can bet more) he might end up losing early.

If the contestant is challenged by more than one person, the contestant has to win against each (and he can then collect money from many audience members).

After the contestant leaves or loses, another member of the audience is chosen randomly (with new audience members chosen to replace any who might have left).

I have 3 working titles:

1. Bragging Rights

2. Wanna Bet?

3. [if you can get clearance from the Who] You better? You better? You bet.

anyhoo, it is just an idea and I feel better having typed it out.