CRYING GAME – NY1 ANCHOR DROPS INTO GAME SHOW ‘STUDIO 7’
Entertainment TV
Don Kaplan
IN a Manhattan TV studio, under the glare of intense lights casting deep shadows, a quiz show contestant is finally about to crack. 
  On the quiz show –...
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New York Post
IN a Manhattan TV studio, under the glare of intense lights casting deep shadows, a quiz show contestant is finally about to crack.

On the quiz show – the WB’s “Studio 7,” a cross between “The Real World,” “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” and the intense spelling-bee documentary “Spellbound” – seven contestants come to New York and live together in an apartment for four days.

Unlike most game show players, typically a handful of random strangers, the players know each other.

Perhaps a little too well.

“These people get together and it’s up to them what they do with this week that they’re in New York, whether they become friends or bitter rivals,” said Pat Kiernan, host of “Studio 7.”

He is perhaps best known to New Yorkers as the acerbic NY1 News anchorman who hosts the “In the Papers” segment.

“There is this dynamic you don’t see in any other game show, where they know each other,” he said. The new show debuts Thursday night.

Contestants study for the questions Kiernan might pitch them. On the final day, they’re brought to compete against each other.

Under intense questioning, one player is eliminated at the end of every round until a single player is left standing with $77,000.

Along the way, time spent living together in the apartment – all videotaped, of course – is presented as flashbacks to offer viewers clues as to why certain things are happening in the game.

With four episodes taped so far, Kiernan says there have already been players who have cried.

“There’s a tremendous amount of emotion that comes out,” he said.

“Some try to put on a brave face. There are some who may just want to break down and cry from the pressure, but don’t let it happen because they don’t want their competitors to think that they’re not a worthy adversary.”

He says there are several opportunities throughout the game for the relationships players have formed to come into play.

At times players can appeal to the others for help, but could get stabbed in the back as a consequence.

“That’s when you get these emotional moments that can range from elation and trust to betrayal and tears,” he said.