How to Become a Fan of the Cash Cab TV Game Show

Last Updated: January 28, 2025 References

Whether it was to watch Ben drive the streets in a New York taxi seeing the sites, or some of the many good and bad Street and Mobile Shout-Outs, many people watched the TV game show in the early 2000s called "Cash Cab." If you missed becoming a fan of it now, this article will get you up to speed.

Part 1

Part 1 of 2:

Watching the Show

1
Recognize how each episode began.
- Each episode began almost the same way but with slight wording tweaks. At first, the camera showed the host standing outside of his minivan taxi on a New York City street, facing the Statue of Liberty. He explained the show/game along the lines of: "There are thirteen thousand cabs in New York City [sometimes this was referred to as "the streets of the Big Apple"]… but there's only one that pays you. Climb into the Cash Cab, and I'll quiz you all-the-way to your destination. As the meter clicks, the questions get harder, and the stakes get higher. If you get stumped, you can shout out for help on the phone or off the street. But be careful, because in the Cash Cab, it's three strikes and you're out! So what do you say? You in?" then the camera cut away and the screen showed several static images of the host and the streets of New York City.
- The logo appeared at the end of the theme song and then faded. You saw a team of 2-4 taxi-riders get into the taxi (generally anywhere from 2-4 players), unaware they were in the "Cash Cab" and you'd hear one of the riders telling the driver (the host) their destination.
- The lights above the players' heads would begin to flash as the host told them, "You guys are in the Cash Cab - the TV game show that takes place right here in my taxi. What do you say - Do you want to play?" When they agreed, you'd see the taxi begin moving around the streets of the city with the host behind the wheel.
  - Once players got in and told the host where they'd like to go, but before the lights began flashing, they were briefed on the rules of the game. However, this part wasn't shown on television.
2
Recognize how the game was played.
- Players were asked a series of free-answer questions throughout their journey. If the riders were traveling together, they'd begin discussing the question or they'd answer right away. If the team answered correctly, great - and they'd move on to another question. If they got stumped, they could use a shout-out (talked about later in this article) to help them (hopefully) answer the question correctly. If their answer was incorrect, the riders would receive a strike, and three strikes and they'd be kicked out onto the sidewalk, forfeiting all the money they earned.
  - All of these questions required only one answer, and they covered all kinds of topics.
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3
Describe what happened in a Red Light Challenge question. Much like all other taxis, there comes times when the Cash Cab met up with a red-lit traffic light - which the host would announce as a Red Light Challenge question (with the host's elongated version of the word "Challenge" made this announcement memorable).
- Red Light Challenge questions required multiple answers. Teams would have to shout out any answers they could in the specified time period. Wrong answers didn't cost the team anything, but it also didn't earn them any money or a strike. The number of answers required depended on the studio's advice how many correct answers they needed to receive. Wrong answers didn't make the team lose any money or earn a strike.
4
Describe what players won at the very end of the game.
- Each regular Cash Cab question was worth a certain dollar amount; the first four questions were $25, the next four were $50, the following four were $100, and after that $200 (rarely got to those, except in special instances).
  - Completely and correctly answered Red Light Challenge questions would generally yield a $250 bonus ($500 in rare instances called Double Rides, such as were used in the Chicago and Las Vegas episodes) to the team's bank.
  - There was a special bankable amount in the special Canadian episodes where teams could earn double the dollars for answering a question right "on the bridge."
5
Understand what forms of "help" were available to contestants.
- During the New York City episodes, contestants could call for help in two ways.
  - In a Street Shout Out, the team could elect to ask someone off the sidewalks to answer the question the host asked.
  - In a Mobile Shout Out, one of the team's contestants could call someone who would know the answer (but they only had 15-30 seconds to do so).
    - Nobody had smartphones during the show's airing, so they called from a regular flip-phone.
  - There was a "Swap Out" Shout Out in the Canadian episodes, which would swap out a particular question with another question.
6
Describe the end game.
- If the players arrived at their final destination without accumulating three strikes, their banked money was safe - so far.
- The host would tell the players how much money they won and give them an option: they could walk away with the money, or they could "stick around and risk it all on a double-or-nothing Video Bonus question."
  - Videos were shown on drivers and passenger-side headrest backs and could involve difficult questions about anything. Not everyone went for it, but if they did, they'd be shown a clip. The host would narrate a question that referred to the video on the screen. Players had only a few seconds to come up with an answer following the end of the clip.
  - If they answered correctly, great - they doubled their money and walked out of the cab with their winnings.
  - If not, they would have to leave the cab empty-handed (except for the free cab ride).
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Part 2

Part 2 of 2:

Other Facts

1

Recognize that multiple contestants would play during one episode. Generally, during a 30-minute episode of Cash Cab, you'd see three "teams" participate. Except for those in the "Cash Cab: After Dark" episodes, two of the three rides were provided in daylight hours, and the last ride was shot during the evening or night.
2

Know what vehicle the show used. The host generally drove a Toyota Sienna minivan, ^{[ citation needed
]} though the car changed depending on the episode, though the Chicago version used a Ford Ranger. ^{[ citation needed
]} However, spin-offs in some other countries used traditional taxis instead.
3
Describe the show's logo.
- The logo stayed more or less the same throughout the series, with only minor tweaks. Early on, they displayed the logo on the side of a traditional taxi's back door, while other episodes dropped the taxi and just showed the logo on its own. All the letters to the gameshow were in capital letters, and some versions of the show (notably the "After Dark" spin-off) had logos that displayed the word "CASH" a little brighter than "CAB."
- The top half of the logo was written in a brighter yellow, and most letters were split into two parts right down the middle of each word - some at a slant and others along a diagonal line. The "S" in Cash looked like a $ and the bottom portion of the yellow dollar sign overlapped the black border that covered the word "cab." "Cab" was written in white, a little smaller than "cash."
- Other variants included changing the color scheme from yellow-on-yellow to white-on-yellow, with a yellow-on-white scheme below (to blend in with the taxi). ^{[1]
  X
  Research source} ^{[2]
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- In the After Dark spin-off, the logo remained the same. After Dark was written in scripted calligraphy to the right of the Cash Cab portion of the logo, over a lit crosswalk. ^{[3]
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- In the Las Vegas episode spin-off, the logo was moved to the very top of the taxi's exterior roof. Inside the logo, "Las Vegas" was written after "Cab," and there were movie-roll film-like stylings around three of the border sides of the black box. "Las Vegas" was written in pinkish-purple without splitting the letters in half. ^{[4]
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  - You could see the bright lights of the Las Vegas skyline behind.
- Not many viewers remember the logo for the Chicago show. The "CASH CAB" portion was written like the regular logo in white text below the cab over on the right, then the word CHICAGO was written in a simple font. ^{[5]
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  - In some versions of the logo, the word Chicago was expanded over the entire width of the Cash Cabs' bottom line, in white.
4
Look for information about the hosts of this show.
- The original Cash Cab host was Ben Bailey. Besides Cash Cab, he also held minor roles in several TV movies between 2002 and 2016, including "30 Rock" and MADtv. ^{[6]
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- Beth Melewski hosted the show's Chicago spin-off.
- Ben Bailey returned to host the Las Vegas spin-offs of the show.
5
Research its airing schedule. Discovery Channel hosted this show generally in the 8 pm ET (7 pm CT) primetime hour every weekday (excluding summers). It ran between December 5th, 2005, and January 9th, 2013, for 372 episodes. ^{[7]
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- During the first 24 episodes of season 1, they sometimes aired back-to-back new episodes to fill up that block of the primetime hour.
- As of May 25, 2024, they currently air reruns of this show on Game Show Network. However, finding it in normal syndication can be hassling because they tend to send it to blocks only on parts of some weekends and not others.
6
Describe the spin-off shows.
- Cash Cab spawned a wealth of spin-off TV game shows, including Cash Cab: After Dark, Cash Cab: Chicago, and Cash Cab: Las Vegas.
  - Cash Cab: After Dark was very similar to regular Cash Cab but only involved the nighttime hours in the "City that Never Sleeps." It was hosted by Ben Bailey in 2007 for a total of 9 episodes ^{[8]
    X
    Research source} , so is rarely ever illegally shown on YouTube.
  - Cash Cab: Chicago aired in 2011 for 36 episodes. ^{[9]
    X
    Research source} It too is rarely illegally shown on YouTube.
  - Cash Cab: Las Vegas aired in 2011. ^{[10]
    X
    Research source} It sometimes has some illegal videos on YouTube, though these don't stay on YouTube for very long.
- Many countries aired their own version of Cash Cab, including Canada (British Columbia), where a regular car with stylized working was used. ^{[11]
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Community Q&A

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Question

Being from TN, how does a person find where to meet Cash Cab?

Christopher

Top Answerer

Cash Cab isn't currently in production. There has been talk about Cash Cab airing new episodes, although this location is hush-hush right now.

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Tips

In a special segment of the Rachael Ray TV show, months after the Cash Cab went off the air, Rachael Ray and her husband participated in the game. Rachael Ray was the last contestant on Cash Cab, and they aired the segment on her show. ^{[12]
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How to Become a Fan of the Cash Cab TV Game Show

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