Welcome to the Figure It Out Guide at TV Rage!
Figure It Out was a Nickelodeon game show in which a kid with a special talent or skill had the opportunity to try and stump a panel of celebrities and take home some cool prizes.
Each episode would begin with the contestant secretly revealing to the home audience what their unusual secret or talent is. But to make things fun, the mono-toned announcer would always give us the option of closing our eyes and ears in case we wanted to play along and figure out the secret on our own.
We are introduced to the four D-list Nickelodeon celebrities who make up the day's panel.
Then our lovely host, Summer Sanders introduces the contestant and calls them over to come stand by her side behind the podium, where they engage in awkward small-talk. She then reveals to them what grand-prize they will win, if they panel isn't able to figure out their secret after three rounds. The child, always like a deer caught in headlights, pretends to be excited, when all they really want is to run off the stage, away from the cameras and the studio audience.
Since this show is all about spreading the wealth, a randomly selected audience member is also given the chance to win a small prize. The camera then pans to a shot of said audience member, cheering for themselves like an idiot. Then, everyone except the celebrity panel gets to hear what the secret slime action for this round will be. The secret slime action could be anything from rubbing ones chin, to saying a certain word, or pretty much any other action imaginable. As the show progressed, the secret slime actions started to become somewhat of a joke, picking on certain panelists, as you can witness right over
here. If anyone of the panel were to unknowingly perform the action, they would be attacked by the famous green Nickelodeon slime, that we all know and love. If and when this happens, the randomly selected audience winner will get to take home a small prize. However, the majority of the time the prize would be an over-sized,
Figure It Out sweatshirt, so there wasn't very much to get excited about here.
Summer then has us turn our eyes to Billy the Answer Head, which is the game board that reveals the secret phrase. As always, it starts off blank, waiting for one of the panelists to figure out one of the words from the secret phrase.
And now the festivities may begin. Our panelists are fully equipped with the right gear needed to protect themselves from the slime. With one minute on the clock, the panelists can start asking the contestant yes-or-no questions, in order to get closer to figuring out their secret talent or achievement.
If at any point, a contestant says one of the words in the secret phrase, while asking a question, a trumpet sound is head. Then Billy the Answer Head kindly turns over the flap to reveal that word on the board, bringing the panelist one step closer to figuring out the poor child's secret and crushing his dreams of winning the grand-prize of an all expense paid vacation or a Nintendo-64 Game Console.
At the end of the first 60-second round, Summer Sanders then congratulates the contestant on stumping the panel through the first round. And because replying to yes-or-no questions ranks pretty high up there on the list of things that deserve a congratulatory gift, Summer then tells the contestant that they are taking home their first prize. The child has to once again fake excitement about the Nestle Quick Chocolate Milk or bicycle helmet they have just won. Then, as Summer Sanders channels Anne Robinson, host of
The Weakest Link, she lets the panelists know what failures they are at this game, and mocks their lack of success in the first round. She then takes us to the Clue Recap Board, which summarizes what the panelists were able to figure out about the contestant's secret in that round.
With a fresh 60 seconds on the clock, we dive right into the second round. Whenever it appears that the panelists are stuck,
this sound is heard, meaning that some subtle clues are about to be thrown their way to try and steer them in the right direction.
When that fails, The Charade Brigade are sent out to do a horrible job in acting out a particular word from the secret phrase that Billy the Answer Head is just itching to reveal.
Most of the time, the sliming occurs in this round. A panelist just can't help but perform the secret slime action. The sound of
this buzzer roaring means that the Slime Machine is about to pour its contents all over that particular contestant. Summer Sanders will always insist on showing us an instant replay of the sliming, for no reason at all.
"You know what this means," says Summer Sanders. "Since a panelist performed the secret slime action, that means our randomly-selected audience member is taking home a prize!"
The randomly-selected audience member squeals. That
Figure It Out sweatshirt will no doubt keep her warm on those cold, cruel, winter nights.
Finally on to round number three, where the panelists have one last shot to crack the code. They are then each given one final guess, if necessary, where they attempt to fill in whatever word(s) are missing on Billy the Answer Head's face.
If the panelists have not succeeded in "figuring it out", then the lucky contestant gets to take home the grand prize, as well as a bunch of other small ones. Then the contestant finally revels his secret talent to the panelists and goes center stage to give a demonstration.
The panelists then pretend to be interested in the contestant's talent and humor them with questions to make them feel wanted.
Roll Credits.
Figure it Out was filmed in front of a live studio audience, at Universal Studios in Orlando Florida.
*The series was taken off Nickelodeon's schedule in 2000, but is currently shown daily on sister channel, Nick GAS.
*During the final season, the show was re-titled and formed two new spin-off series.
Figure It Out: Wild Style, in which the talents had something to do with pets, and
Figure It Out: Family Style, in which the talents were something a family did together.
The Players
Summer Sanders- Host
Each episode consisted of four different celebrity panelists. Listed below are a few of the recurring panelists who were frequently seen playing on this show.
Lori Beth Denberg
Credits Include: All That, The Steve Harvey Show
Danny Tamborelli
Credits Include: All That, The Adventures of Pete and Pete
Amanda Bynes
Credits Include: All That, The Amanda Show, What I Like About You
Robert Ri'chard
Credits Include: Cousin Skeeter, One on One, and Nickelodeon's Sport Theater.
Michelle Trachtenberg
Credits Include: The Adventures of Pete and Pete, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Feature Film, Harriet the Spy.
Kenan Thompson
Credits Include: All That, Kenan & Kel, Saturday Night Live.
Erin J. Dean
Credits Include: The Journey of Allen Strange
Kevin Kopelow
Credits Include: All That
Irene Ng
Credits Include: The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo
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