I’ve had lots of memorable moments on television – and just as many moments when things got so exciting I forgot I was even ON television (I’m rambunctious, it’s a gift and a curse) – but last Friday marks a new delirious high. That’s when Gwen from Nevada, around 9:30 pm EST, won a brand new Ford Edge on HSN’s Friday Night Game Night! Wow, what an experience. You can check out the video below, but first a few behind-the-scenes goodies to consider while you watch…
- Even though we had the Ford Edge to give away, we had NO IDEA if someone was actually going to win the car. After all, people play games on FNGN, and we’ve had nights with zero victors. So there was a chance none of our 3 contestants would even get past the game. Compacting that tension, we were filming in Studio G (FNGN is usually shot in Studio F), where a crack set team had created a sparkly salute to automotive ingenuity, all part of HSN’s Ford Preferred Price Event. Nobody wanted to leave that studio with a shiny unclaimed prize car just sitting there. But wait, it gets better…
- FNGN executive producer Paul Moore –very British, might have been the 6th Beatle– made a game-day decision to ratchet up the tension even more. And, you know, give me heart palpitations. Instead of awarding the car to the first winner of the night (which would have been the safe thing to do), he had our creative group make 3 mystery envelopes, each containing a different prize, only one of them containing the Ford Edge. So not only did someone have to win one of our games (the 8:30pm contestant lost; we were down to two chances), they also had to pick the right envelope. Yeeeeesh. For a Brit, Paul is very dramatic. But wait, it gets even better than that…
- Supervising producer Jeni Drozd – a ferocious talent who keeps me in check on a daily basis – was militant about me NOT KNOWING which of the 3 mystery envelopes had the Ford Edge. She wanted the host’s reaction, if someone won a game, and then if someone picked the right envelope, to be real. Everyone in the control room knew the winning envelope and when Gwen picked No. 2, these serious HSN professionals lost their bleepin’ minds but I didn’t know Gwen won until I opened it. And that’s when I lost my bleepin’ mind.
Okay, that about sets it up. Enjoy! And just know that, long after the show was over, Gwen continued to celebrate, and laugh, and cheer, and cry – and so did we at Friday Night Game Night.
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What’s been your favorite prize on Friday Night Game Night so far?