The Hustler - General Discussion

[Door County Cherry]

Debuts Jan. 7th, 2021

Quote

Hosted by Emmy-winning host, actor, writer and comedian Craig Ferguson, The Hustler breaks the game show mold by featuring one player who secretly already knows the answers. Don’t be fooled. Just because they have a leg up doesn’t mean they’ll be taking home the prize. Each episode of The Hustler follows five contestants as they collaborate to answer a series of trivia questions worth $10,000 each, with the goal of building a collective prize pot that increases with each correct answer. The catch? One of the five contestants, the Hustler, already knows the answers but must keep their identity a secret in order to have a shot at winning the grand prize. Throughout each episode, two contestants are anonymously eliminated by the Hustler, leaving three remaining contestants — the Hustler and two others, who must collectively decide who they think the Hustler is. If they are right, they share the prize pot that could be worth over $100,000. If the two contestants are wrong, the Hustler goes home with the full cash reward.

It's like The Mole without the travel.

[Kromm]

It really DOES sound good.  And adding Craig Ferguson makes it must watch TV.

https://www.tvinsider.com/822598/craig-ferguson-the-hustler-game-show-abc/

 

Edited November 23, 2020 by Kromm

[Angeleyes]

I’m watching the first episode now. It’s interesting so far. 

[alexa]

This is kind of interesting.

[Kiss my mutt]

Yeah, it’s not bad. I wasn’t expecting to watch more than a few minutes but I’m finishing it out. I think it’s the guy with the beard 

[CraftyHazel]

I’m actually enjoying this.  And although I feel like I know which one of them is The Hustler, they’re all so good at this that I’m just not sure.

1 minute ago, Kiss my mutt said:

Yeah, it’s not bad. I wasn’t expecting to watch more than a few minutes but I’m finishing it out. I think it’s the guy with the beard 

Really?  What’s your reason?  My argument for him is the big beard and the 55-lb. weight loss.

[alexa]

I kept thinking it was him or the girl because she kept acting like she was trying to figure out who the hustler was.  Kind of like a strategy to hide it.  The fifth element clue did kind of expose him as the others really didn’t seem to know the movie.

[ShowsILoveToHate]

I just watched the first episode. I liked it and have added it to my DVR list. 
 

I honestly wasn’t sure who the Hustler was. At different points I thought it was each of them. LOL. 

[Dehumidifier]

First I thought it was the woman with short hair because she seemed to  be over acting. Then I decided it was the woman with long hair because she kept saying things like "to be honest' which on a job interview is supposed to be a tell that you are lying. But I had some doubts, because the black guy writing songs but doing nothing else musical was odd. Never thought it was the bearded one. I'm off to apply for a detective job!😜

Edited January 5, 2021 by Dehumidifier

[dizzyd]

Liked it too. And it definitely reminds me of The Mole, which I’m still bummed didn’t make it long. Never understood why, unless the general audience prefers more vacuous reality tv or a shitload of $ if they have to be forced to play trivia. Hope this one does well. I liked the set too, had a very whodunnit genre vibe to it. It will be on my watch list since it’s right after The Bachelor that I watch anyway.

Edited January 5, 2021 by dizzyd

[Rickster]

I found it talky and draggy until the last ten minutes. Not sure I would tune in again.

Thought it was the bearded guy, but talked myself out of it since he didn’t seem to try to direct the conversations at all.

[Skyfall]

On 1/5/2021 at 1:43 PM, dizzyd said:

Liked it too. And it definitely reminds me of The Mole, which I’m still bummed didn’t make it long. Never understood why, unless the general audience prefers more vacuous reality tv or a shitload of $ if they have to be forced to play trivia. Hope this one does well. I liked the set too, had a very whodunnit genre vibe to it. It will be on my watch list since it’s right after The Bachelor that I watch anyway.

It's actually on Thursdays this was just a last minute special preview.

[Kiss my mutt]

I’ll be watching tonight too and hope it still has enough legs to be entertaining again. I read a lot of mysteries so I always have fun trying to figure out who the “bad guy” is so this definitely caught my eye. 

[Kromm]

So yeah. The Mole, while everyone sits there on their asses.  

[Kiss my mutt]

I’m going to go with Erica 

[Door County Cherry]

In the first episode, I pegged the hustler because he just seemed like the best bet to have lost 55 pounds.  It was his clothing that gave him away.

In this episode, I thought the hustler was obvious.  She was a terrible liar.  I was absolutely shocked that she got that one woman to change her vote.  

The questions were harder in this episode than they were for the previous game.  I don't like all the "no I'm not the hustler, you're the hustler" chatter but otherwise, it's a fun little trivia game. 

[kib]

I'll walk over hot coals to see anything with TV's Craigie Fergie

[Kromm]

6 minutes ago, kib said:

I'll walk over hot coals to see anything with TV's Craigie Fergie

I expected a bit more flirting with the women though. It's previously been his trademark. 

[CraftyHazel]

I thought tonight was good!  I could have made a case for it being any of the women, although Erica was my top pick because who “randomly” makes shower curtains??  I hope this show makes it, because I am really enjoying it so far.

[Kiss my mutt]

The questions were a lot harder. I’m think I got three right at most.

[CraftyHazel]

I definitely knew “Live and Let Die”, because my ex introduced me to James Bond when we were dating, and that’s one we saw.  I was pretty sure about the Adriatic. I assumed the refrigerator question.  I knew Stanford.  I knew Nike.  I knew melon. So, about half.

[Kromm]

The contrast between the 1st and 2nd episodes made me realize a weakness of the core concept. 

The doubling of the final reward. 

It makes the time The Hustler has to move too obvious. 

It also sets up an incentive to stay quiet or mislead towards the WRONG ANSWER rather than the right one before that, if you're playing smart. Take even a measly amount, 2 right out of 10 questions let's say, and if you double it then it's become a decent amount of money. Vs. being sniffed out and getting zero. 

So a smart Hustler doesn't build cash. They take what they can get and focus on distraction until the last question. 

Edited January 9, 2021 by Kromm

[candall]

In the first show, I was certain it was the blonde woman because she was an atrocious actress.  Ha.  Unfortunately, I'm not the greatest judge of character in real life, either.

I thought the show was okay, not great.  Way too much "intrigue" filler.

[bunnyface]

I suck at this game.  I never pick the right person.  Probably explains two divorces.

But I'll watch most anything with TVs Craig Ferguson.

 

[CraftyHazel]

I absolutely love this game!  I was positive week one, pretty sure week two, and about 95% sure tonight.  It’s such fun trying to figure out the clues to The Hustler’s identity!

[argrow]

First, the hustler eliminating the two visible minorities, then that sexist ending... Not the best episode of the show.

[alexa]

When the younger people were eliminated I was surprised because typically it is the older people removed.  In the end it made sense based on who the hustler was.  It does seem that they keep people somewhat similar to themselves, whether in age or style of play.  

[CraftyHazel]

My clues were the pool room...and shallowly, the teeth.  For me, those teeth spoke of someone with money...but not necessarily taste.  My apologies to any dentists out there, but perfectly even, perfectly shaped, perfectly white teeth don’t say “beautiful smile,” to me, they say “FAKE!”  It’s distracting and not really appealing.

[Kromm]

10 hours ago, argrow said:

First, the hustler eliminating the two visible minorities, then that sexist ending... Not the best episode of the show.

I'm not convinced that was her motive here. I think that she concluded that the inclusion of an Asian person at the end would be deemed "too obvious" based on the clues and so suspicion would automatically go her way. I admit that assumption qualifies as race based, but I don't know if it's racist. 

I do agree that the older guy and his reasoning about dating two people successively is damn sexist. Plenty of guys date two women in close proximity.  The motive for doing so may or may not be different for each gender, but his logic about how it HAD to be one and not the other was bullcrap. 

[Madding crowd]

I guessed it was her because of the wood souvenirs from other countries. I just couldn’t imagine the young guy buying that and I thought the high school principal didn’t see like he would be a souvenir collector for some reason.

[LADreamr]

I like the show but couldn't wait for this episode to be over, because Ben was insufferable.  Really glad I don't know him in real life.

[teebax]

5 hours ago, LADreamr said:

I like the show but couldn't wait for this episode to be over, because Ben was insufferable.  Really glad I don't know him in real life.

Agreed. He was gross. If he were my principal I'd go teach somewhere else.  

[Kiss my mutt]

I thought it had to be Ben or the red haired lady because you’d have to be older to have done that many things in life but I figured a principal of a school wouldn’t have that much money, if he were, indeed a principal. I was thrown off by him maybe having time in the summer for WDW and the billiards room look very masculine in design (guess I’m sexist here) so it was tougher. I didn’t buy into the whole only women would take back to back trips with her lovers. Um, hello, that’s bs. 
Ben looked like Stephen King to me. 

[Madding crowd]

I thought Ben looked like Stephen King too!

[CraftyHazel]

Ben didn’t bother me, honestly.  I guess I’ve known way bigger jerks.

Tonight (the 21st), I wasn’t completely sure, but fairly sure.  She was so animated, her laugh was so OTT, that it felt like she was covering for something.

We really need a male Hustler again, because I’m beginning to zero in on the women.

And at the risk of being labeled sexist, not one of those men looked like he’d have a cuddly little dog named Tiffany.

[Door County Cherry]

Knowing it was Eli Manning gave her away.  When you know something that counterintuitive, you need to just own it the same way she openly owned knowing the Clueless clue.   My dad's a Giants fan doesn't quite work for knowing that one, IMO.  Having heard this piece of trivia somewhere.  Or hearing that Eli was actually paid more than his brother would have worked much better. 

[mertensia]

13 minutes ago, Door County Cherry said:

Knowing it was Eli Manning gave her away.  When you know something that counterintuitive, you need to just own it the same way she openly owned knowing the Clueless clue.   My dad's a Giants fan doesn't quite work for knowing that one, IMO.  Having heard this piece of trivia somewhere.  Or hearing that Eli was actually paid more than his brother would have worked much better. 

I agree; I think the best random reason to give is probably something like "my boyfriend hasn't stopped grousing about Eli because he lost the pub trivia contest on this by guessing Tom Brady" or "I think it's Eli because he's won more Super Bowls than Peyton." 

I think it was shrewd to notice her answer pattern.

I did love the realism from the other two "Easy A?" blank look "I don't think I've even heard of it." 

[pezgirl7]

I laughed when almost everyone said they owned a gun and Craig said, Yep, we're definitely on an American show!

Kim totally gave herself away with the Eli question, but at least she was able to admit that her greed got the best of her. I didn't think it was her in the beginning because she seemed very open and talkative. I've only watched this episode and the last, so I need to catch up on the rest on OnDemand. I hadn't even heard of the show, but came across it last week. I'm really enjoying it, and I like that there aren't really long delays in the game play, like a lot of trivia shows. I also love the set!

As far as having a dog named Tiffany, it could have been a man's dog if that man had a wife or girlfriend who named it. But I definitely did think it belonged to a woman, and the last guy's reasoning that he's too big to drive a car made total sense.

I wonder why the hustler has to lie about their profession? It made sense this last time because of the clue about working in a prison, but I don't think last week's hustler had to lie. If people are going to start asking you questions about your job, you better pick a job that you know a lot about.

Last week's episode I picked the hustler in the very beginning just because of her body language and the way she was looking at people. But this last episode, it wasn't until the last clue that I was able figure it out. I hope the ratings for the show are good and it doesn't get canceled.

Edited January 23, 2021 by pezgirl7

[Ms Lark]

I did pick the right one two weeks in a row. Last week, because of the leopard print rug under the pool table. A guy probably wouldn't have that, along with all the tchotchkes that an older woman who travels would have. 

Kim did know the Eli question, but I didn't catch on to her until the very end. There was one moment when she side-eyed and looked very sketchy and it seemed her mask slipped and you could see her true face. That was when I knew it was her. Up til then, it was Amanda. Although, Amanda seems to be very sketchy in real life, too!

I'm actually enjoying this show, but it's probably due to Craig Ferguson more than anything else. He's so much fun and I miss him on late night tv.  Plus, so many of the scripted shows this season are utter dreck!

[bobby2018]

3 hours ago, Ms Lark said:

I'm actually enjoying this show, but it's probably due to Craig Ferguson more than anything else. He's so much fun and I miss him on late night tv.  Plus, so many of the scripted shows this season are utter dreck!

Me too!!

[nora1992]

The first one eliminated tonight was spot on!  The hustler’s responding insult confirmed it.  Good show tonight.

 

[Madding crowd]

I finally guessed right! I noticed the guy seemed to know some of the questions and was trying to guide the rest. The blonde looked like a younger Lisa Kudrow.

[Door County Cherry]

Why did the "pig farmer" who is actually a P.I. lie about his profession?  Just because?  Are they encouraged to lie?  

[lynxfx]

Figured it was the bald guy only because they tried so hard to make everything match up with Karen. Even before the 2nd elimination everything was pointing to her and her actions didn't help. They were making it too spot on. I still had her picked until the final vote then switched. 

I think he eliminated the wrong person. He should have got rid of the pig farmer P.I. to make the women question each other. Might have had better luck. 

Good call by Eugene (I think) that nailed it when eliminated. 

This is a fun show. I like seeing what strategies they come up with like saying you are a pig farmer. 

[pezgirl7]

17 hours ago, Door County Cherry said:

Why did the "pig farmer" who is actually a P.I. lie about his profession?  Just because?  Are they encouraged to lie?  

I was wondering that too. I wasn't even aware that the regular people were allowed to lie. Makes it a little bit harder, because if other people think you aren't being truthful, then they might think you are the hustler, which means the real hustler might want to keep you in the game to throw suspicion off themselves. And it makes it harder on the audience, because anyone could be lying about anything. Near the end, I thought it was Karen because of how well she was doing on the questions. I did know the last answer about the lie detector because Luke Evans played Prof. Marston in a movie not too long ago, but Karen's deduction was spot on. She definitely wasn't a confused blonde like she trying to portray. I hope she doesn't pull that act in real life. My mind changed when the hustler was trying to convince the other two he wasn't the hustler, because I didn't think he had a good defense, and I did remember that he seemed to let other people answer the questions first, and then was like, Yes, let's go with that!

[bunnyface]

I'm still no good at this game.  I knew the guy wasn't a pig farmer because I have a little too much knowledge of that, so that lie had me confused.  I knew the blond was lying about something and that simpering, acting confused drove me crazy.  I hate that.  It's not as cute as the thinks it is.  But I didn't nail the Hustler until the end when he switched from trying to convince the other guy it was her, to trying to convince the lady it was the other guy.  There would be no reason to switch directions like that.

 

[Kiss my mutt]

I picked the right person at first but then talked myself out of it. Ugh!

[Evagirl]

When the first guy was eliminated and stated he knew who the Hustler was, I wasn't too on board with his theory.  However, once the guy (the Hustler) reacted to what Eugene (?) said, I just KNEW Eugene was right.  He confronted this kid, "Maybe it's because you don't bring anything to the table!"  His arrogance throughout the entire episode led me to believe it was him. I didn't feel he wasn't hurting for money.  I personally think he got rid of Eugene b/c Eugene is a nail-biter (no nails to clip & save).  It was obvious he wasn't the Hustler.

I think he got rid of the lady and kept the others b/c they all were more Hustler-like.  She was very quiet and didn't "bring anything to the table" either.

He told Craig the host when he lost, "I've already won a million bucks so..."  What a jerk! 

[Skyfall]

On 1/30/2021 at 3:00 AM, lynxfx said:

Figured it was the bald guy only because they tried so hard to make everything match up with Karen. Even before the 2nd elimination everything was pointing to her and her actions didn't help. They were making it too spot on. I still had her picked until the final vote then switched. 

I think he eliminated the wrong person. He should have got rid of the pig farmer P.I. to make the women question each other. Might have had better luck. 

Good call by Eugene (I think) that nailed it when eliminated. 

This is a fun show. I like seeing what strategies they come up with like saying you are a pig farmer. 

I would've kept the first guy since he was getting sus'd for being too quiet.

[SomeTameGazelle]

On 1/7/2021 at 8:50 PM, Kromm said:

So yeah. The Mole, while everyone sits there on their asses.  

I confused myself by thinking it was like The Mole, but the incentives work too differently. I guess the only way you avoid elimination is by convincing the Hustler that you think someone else is the Hustler, but how can you influence the other honest player to vote the same way at the end?