When you go on a game show, you often have to overcome challenges in order to win.

What would you do if the game show asked you to list your fears, so they could use them against you in the competition?

That is what happened to the guy in this story, so he listed things he wasn’t scared of, and he won a new car.

AITA for lying about my biggest fear on a quiz show and subsequently winning a car and making other contestants lose?

This is a hot topic in my family at the moment.

I bet this was exciting.

I live on an obscure little island near the UK. we have a local quiz show that’s aired on the telly that I appeared on a few years ago.

The premise of the show is that you can win prizes for doing challenges.

Ok, this seems like a pretty fun game show.

Some of the challenges were physical, some psychological, and some requiring problem solving skills.

I sailed through a lot of the physical part because I wasn’t a fat guy back then, and the problem solving skills required a lot of maths which is my career, so I was ok there.

Now this would be very difficult.

As for the psychological part, you had to enter a clear box ‘room’ filled with something you’re terrified of, and search through to find clues to the next part.

I thought of a believable lie before I entered the show (we had to list 5 things we were afraid of) and I put down all the things I’m not scared of.

This is sneaky, but I’m sure all the contestants did this.

I listed spiders, cockroaches, snakes, scorpions, and wood lice. I literally couldn’t care less about any of these creatures.

I grew up in rural landscape and I’ve had to pretty much deal with creepy crawlies my entire life so it’s not an issue.

Why would anyone admit their real fear in a situation like this?

My actual fear is a bit more obscure and I really honestly knew I’d fail if I was put in a room with it.

When I entered the room there were cockroaches everywhere I was in my boxers and barefoot (which was incredibly gross I can’t lie) and had to sift through and move the cockroaches to find clues for my next challenge.

Wow, even if he isn’t scared of them, it is still very gross.

I did it in the time period ascribed to me and got through to the next part. The rest of the contestants failed.

Now, I won a pretty average car which I didn’t particularly want, so as soon as I legally could I sold it and made a nice profit since it was pretty much brand new and bought myself a rather nicer car.

This is a tough one. He did lie, but it was for a game.

I told my family this recently on a drunken night when we were all at a get together, and although everybody found it uproariously funny.

My family are split into 2 camps- some people think I cheated and was ethically and morally wrong, and other people think the other contestants deserved to lose if they listed their actual fears.

I can completely see both sides of this.

I’m obviously in the latter category, but genuinely wondering what others think.

AITA?

I think game shows are not like real life in that you aren’t obligated to be honest. You should give yourself every advantage that you can.

Let’s see if the people in the comments agree.

Here is a commenter who thinks he did nothing wrong.

Here is someone who says it was smart, but he still shouldn’t have done it.

This was just a strategy, according to this commenter.

It is all about the entertainment.

Yup, he did what he had to do.

If you play, play to win.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.