The Twists Get Tougher
The Twists Get Tougher by Roxanne McDonald
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“Identity” TV show and “Identity” online game share a cruel characteristic: giving the strangers alternative identities. |
I went online—so obsessed was I with the game show “Identity”—and got sucked into the labyrinth that is repeated playing of the simple but tough online version of the game.
Okay, I say simple because of the twelve strangers and the twelve identities, at least…at least…half of them are no-brainers: there’s the Golf Pro label which you attach to a guy holding a golf club. There’s the Houdini Specialist, who is easily identified by his black outfit bound by chains. There’s the Cat Lady label, which you drag and drop onto the lady holding…you guessed it, a cat.
But as easy as this part of the game is, so is it addictive
enough that you click “play again” again and again. And again. Then it gets tougher, as you are given the same strangers but a slightly altered set of identities: now the one you correctly identified as the blacksmith (as he is wearing working safety goggles) is back on a pedestal, but there is no Blacksmith label. Instead, this same guy is now a Video Game Champ.
And, oh, you know how we can play the game at home and think how easy it is? We can play the game online and think the same…the first couple of runs. Then it gets harder and harder and harder, and we are more humbled and more sympathetic toward those who have the guts to go on television and play.
This week’s “Identity” was more like the online game in a way—or in the same way that when the strangers say something about themselves to the contestant, it has little to do with or is a merely cryptic hint toward their actual identifying label: for example, the one who speaks with a foreign accent (foreign to American English) can be considered the one who works stem cell research as she is
from a country where stem cell research is acceptable, while the one who says her friends call her a geek is not necessarily the Space Camp Instructor.
So this week, when Tony Hawk, legendary pro-skate boarder appeared, the contestant was thrown for a bit, as he was given no Skateboarder label to choose for Hawk. However, by tight critical thinking processes, the contestant was able to connect Designed a Roller Coaster (wheels, whee! etc) to Tony Hawk.
Anyway, here are the two sets of stranger identities for the week, the first of which—a special world-record-setter episode–Joey Martino bowed out from early (going home with 15k) and the second of which John Kim left unfinished (going home with 75k)—as the cross identities were pretty tough to guess, I guess:
Pie-eating Champion
Record-setting Sword Swallower
Cheerleading Champion
Rock-Paper-Sissors Champion
Pizza-throwing Champion
Pogo Stick Record-holder
Irish Step Dancing Champion
Bench Press Record (1,008 pounds)
Pillsbury Bake-off Champ
Loudest Finger Snap
America’s Next Top Model (Cycle 7’s Caridee!)
Bodybuilding Champion
Lingerie Model
Pro Wrestler
TV Anchor
Purple Heart Recipient
Buddhist
Platinum Recording Artist
Youngest
Escape Artist
Designed a Roller Coaster (Tony Hawk)
Lumberjack
Restroom Attendant
Space Camp Instructor
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