Why would you participate in a show that threatens to reveal your secrets, embarrass you, hurt people close to you, damage your business interests, endanger your relationships...? The list goes on and on.

I once watched an episode of ‘The Moment of Truth’, with a good-looking young man in the hot seat. The man's equally attractive Japanese wife was in the studio and it seemed the two shared great affection and chemistry. The man answered the questions effortlessly, to the supportive nods of his wife, and for a while everything seemed fine. But then he was asked this question: did he crack racial jokes about his in-laws? It was like a bolt from the blue.

Yes, he answered, wincing. Uh-oh... you went, this is it. But the wife nodded sagely and said, 'we'll live'. And you thought, clearly they have either discussed it or she can take a joke. Maybe family dinners will be a bit frosty but they'll live.

But then came the real shocker. Do you think at times that your wife is boring? This time, the man, who looked like he thought he was on a roll, answered: ye-es. The lie detector went: 'this answer is true'. You could see the wife's expression of indulgent wifeliness drop, just for a second before she assumed a smile that remained frozen for the rest of the show.

The man was ousted from the show at some stage and it really doesn't matter for what because you know that a man who called his wife boring on national television had gotten himself into a mess that was going to cost him far more than the few thousand dollars that he might have won on the show.

... contd.