Celebrity Jeopfactor of Fortune

I've had this idea for a new game / reality show that I thought I'd bring up again today. The show would draw on elements of Jeopardy, Celebrity Fear Factor and the old Wheel of Fortune.

The game show would be set up Jeopardy style with three contestants who would answer sports questions from different categories. The harder the question the more it would be worth. There would be three rounds and the winner of each round would get to go “shopping.”

The “shopping” is where the Celebrity Fear Factor and old Wheel of Fortune elements would come into play.

For celebrities - we would be looking for ex-sports stars that had the world at their fingertips but threw it away - like Darryl Strawberry or Tonya Harding. We could also go for people who had 15 minutes of sports fame – like Mark Henderson, the work release convict driver of the snow plow during the famous Miami / New England Snowplow game. Each show would feature three celebrities.

Do you remember when Wheel of Fortune first came out? At the end of each round the person who solved the puzzle would get to go shopping and buy things from a showcase. The prizes ranged from trips to exotic locations to Gucci ashtrays. It was pretty cool. Everyone watching got involved because they all wanted the winner to buy something different. I would want the winner to buy the jet ski’s but they would go for the dining room set.

Here’s how we combine these aspects.

Only the contestant who won each round would get to keep the money they won. So if Bob finished round one with $1000 and Sue and Tim finished at $800 each – only Bob would get to keep the money. This would make it competitive but we would keep the dollar amounts low (like in Win Ben Stein’s Money) so that contestants care more about participation than losing a million dollars.

The contestant who won the round would be given an equal amount of money that would have to be spent “shopping” but instead of prizes there would be little tasks that the celebrities would have to perform. These tasks could range from things like eating a bug for $100 to getting a Dutch Oven from a teamster for $1,000.

The contestant who won the round would spend the matching money on various tasks and would also get to select the celebrity that would have to perform them. I can hear it now – people screaming at their TV’s, “No, no – make Tonya Harding eat the pig rectum not Fernando.”

The celebrities would be given an appearance fee and a bonus for each task they completed. If a celebrity refused to do a task they would get nothing, zilch, nadda, zero.

The tasks could be the result of viewer participation. New tasks could be selected from suggestions sent in by the viewers at home who could also recommend the celebrities they want to see. We could have a special prize for the viewer whose task is selected for the show finale that would come at the end of the third round.

There could be a sports version, a TV version and a movie version of the show.

The only detail I am having trouble with would be what to call it. The best I can come up with so far is Celebrity Jeopfactor of Fortune.

What do you think? Is this something you would tune into watch?