Cash Cab

***Cash Cab*** is an American television game show. It aired on the Discovery Channel. The program started on December 5, 2005 and ended 2012. It was hosted by Ben Bailey. It took place in New York City. The series was also broadcast on Discovery from 2017 until 2018. A version was broadcast on Bravo from 2019 to 2020.

## Gameplay

Potential contestants entered a taxi driven by Bailey. When they got in and said where they wanted to go, they were made aware that they were in the Cash Cab. This included flashing ceiling lights and music, along with Bailey's greeting. They were then asked if they wanted to play. If they said that they wanted to play, they have to stay in the taxi until they reached where they wanted to go or until they got three questions wrong ("three strikes").

Contestants who played were asked a series of questions by Bailey. For the first four questions, $50 was added to their prize pool for each correct answer. The next four questions were worth $100 each. Questions after that were worth $200. In the first two seasons, the questions were worth $25, $50, and $100. If a contestant answered a question wrong, they added  no money and got a strike. If the contestant got three strikes, they had to leave the taxi no matter where they are and got no prize. Contestants had two chances to ask for help. These chances were called "Shout-Outs." The first Shout-Out was the "Mobile Shout-Out." It let the contestant make a phone call to someone they knew to ask them for help in answering the question. The call could take up to 15 seconds. The other Shout-Out was the "Street Shout-Out." With this Shout out, Bailey would pull the taxi over and the contestant would ask someone on the street for help.

When the taxi had to stop at a red light and the contestant had at least $200, a "Red Light Challenge" was played. A question was asked that had more than one correct answer. The contestant had 30 seconds to give all of the correct answers to the question. If the contestant does so, $250 was added to their prize pool. If the 30 second time limit runs out, the contestant did not get a strike. In the early seasons, games had only one Red Light Challenge. Starting in the fourth season, some games had more than one. The second was played if the contestant had at least $1,000 in their prize pool.

If the contestant got to where they wanted to go without getting three strikes, they had a choice: they could leave the taxi and keep the money in their prize pool  or they could risk it on a "Video Bonus" question. If they decided to play the Video Bonus question, a video clip was played and they were asked a question based on the clip. If the contestant answered correctly, their prize pool was doubled. If they gave a wrong answer, they lost all of their prize.

Starting in the fourth season, some games were "Double Ride" games. In these games, the value for a correct answer was doubled. The first four questions were worth $100, the next four were worth $200 and questions after were worth $400. The Red Light Challenge was worth $500.

## Other versions

In 2007, a spin-off, _Cash Cab: After Dark_, started. Contestants were picked up near or after sunset. The questions were worth double the amount of _Cash Cab._ The question were also harder.

Another spin-off, _Cash Cab: Chicago_, started during the sixth season of _Cash Cab_. It was hosted by Beth Melewski. This series used the same rules as the New York _Cash Cab_. It ended after one season.

The series was also broadcast on the Discovery Channel from 2017 until 2018. A version of the program was broadcast from 2019 until 2020 on Bravo.

## Other websites

- Official website

## Infobox (television)

- **genre**: Game show
- **creator**: Adam Wood
- **presenter**: Ben Bailey
Beth Melewski
- **country**: United States
- **language**: English
- **num seasons**: 13
- **num episodes**: 487
- **producer**: Lion Television
- **runtime**: 24–26 minutes
- **network**: Discovery Channel (2005–12, 2017–18)
Bravo (American TV network), Bravo (2019–20)
- **related**: _Cash Cab (British game show), Cash Cab_
- **company**: Lion Television