Figure It Out


Figure It Out is an American children's panel game show that aired on Nickelodeon. The original series, hosted by Summer Sanders, ran for four seasons from July 7, 1997 to December 12, 1999. The show was revived in 2012, with Jeff Sutphen as host, with the revival airing from June 11, 2012 to July 16, 2013. The series was originally recorded at Nickelodeon Studios at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. The revival episodes were filmed on stage 19 at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles.
Children with special skills or unique achievements compete as contestants on the show while a panel of four Nickelodeon celebrities try to guess the predetermined phrase that describes the contestant's talent. The series is a loose adaptation of What's My Line? and I've Got a Secret, both established panel shows created by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman.
Shortly after the series aired its last first-run episode, Figure It Out began airing repeats on Nick GAS until the network ceased at the end of 2007. Several episodes of the Sanders-hosted series also aired in 2012 as part of, a 1990s-oriented rerun block that aired on TeenNick.

Gameplay

Each episode has two sets of three timed rounds, in which the panel takes turns asking yes-or-no questions to try to guess the contestant's talent. For every "yes" answer, the panelist's turn continues. Once a panelist asks a question with a "no" answer, their turn ends and the next panelist's turn starts. If at any time a panelist cannot think of a question on their turn, they may pass their turn to the next panelist. Each time a panelist mentions a word that is part of the phrase that describes the secret talent, the word is turned over on a game board displaying the puzzle. This game board was referred to as Billy the Answer Head during the original series run and is known simply as the "It" Board in the show's later adaptation.
This game board shows which words of the phrase are guessed, along with blanks denoting words that the panel did not solve. Prepositions and articles, such as "of" and "an," are provided automatically. During the very early episodes of the show, synonyms of words that were on the board were accepted by the judges. This was later changed to a panelist having to say the exact word in a contestant's talent in order for that word to be revealed on the board.
The contestant wins a prize after each round that their talent remains unguessed. The prize for winning the third round is a trip. In Season 1, prizes consisted mainly of leftover props from then-defunct Nickelodeon shows such as Double Dare, Legends of the Hidden Temple and Global Guts. Merchandise prizes and gift cards for stores including Kids Foot Locker, Toys "R" Us, and Loew's began to appear as prizes during later seasons. If Round 3 ends with at least one word left unrevealed, each panelist takes one final guess as to what the contestant's talent is. The game ends when a panelist either guesses the secret talent or if no panelist guesses the secret talent correctly after the "last guess" stage.
During each Round, the panelists receive one clue as a hint to one of the words of the secret phrase. The clue usually takes the form of physical objects - such as dates to indicate a clue about calendars - sounds, the clue-cano or pantomime, "Clue Force 3" with "Clue Force 3" pictionary was sometimes used instead of pantomime. At the start of the second and third rounds, a recap of two or three clues are shown on the monitor next to the contestant and host.
At the end of the game, after the secret talent is revealed, the contestant demonstrates or displays their skill and discusses it with the host and panel.

Secret Slime Action

In each game, from the start of round 2, a randomly selected member of the studio audience plays for a prize. If at least one or more panelists perform the Secret Slime Action, those panelists will be slimed by the end of round 3 especially when one of the panelist tries to break the rules and get a second chance and the audience member wins that prize. "J", the regular announcer for the original show, would disclose what the Secret Slime Action was for each episode in which he appeared.
The action designated as the Secret Slime Action is typically simple and almost guaranteed: touching a clue, looking to the left, which was reflexive, as clues were commonly wheeled out on a small track from a tunnel to the panel's left; using the phrase "Are you..." or "Is it...", looking to the audience behind the panel, who was sometimes used for clues, saying "I don't know," which panelist Danny Tamberelli was notable for saying at the top of his lungs on the show; having a certain name, and even being a panelist. For example, Steve Burns was slimed because the Secret Slime Action was "having a blue dog," Alex Heartman was slimed because the Secret Slime Action was "wearing a red unitard to work", Jade Ramsey was slimed because the Secret Slime Action was "having an identical twin sister", and Ryan Potter was slimed because the Secret Slime Action was "being a supah ninja".
Some Actions are logically not able to be forced, such as "thinking about coconuts" or "thinking about mushroom soup." Especially in the latter seasons, a successful Action has mostly been a foregone conclusion - the variables have only been when it will be triggered, and by whom.
When the Secret Slime Action is triggered, all play stops while the panelist is slimed, the action is revealed, and a replay of the sliming is shown, after which gameplay resumes. The host knows of the action and sometimes tricks the panelists into performing it by making them say or touch something.

Word of Honor

In the 2012 revival, prior to each game, one word of either the first or second contestant's secrets may be designated as the "Word of Honor." Should the panel guess this word, the contestant is slimed. As the contestant is slimed, gameplay and the clock are paused. If the Word of Honor was guessed, it would be out of play for the rest of the show. If a player got slimed by the Word of Honor, Elle Young, the announcer for the revival, would tell the player that they got slimed when she recaps the prizes that player won.

Panelists

Either three or all four panelists are taken from Nickelodeon shows airing at the time. Regulars during the original run included All That cast members Amanda Bynes, Lori Beth Denberg, Kevin Kopelow and Danny Tamberelli. Kopelow and Tamberelli were notorious for frequently asking silly questions and acting goofy, while Denberg was the serious panelist, who asked well-thought out questions, and frequently was the one to guess the secret phrase, during the final guesses. The only four panelists who appeared on every season of the 1990s incarnation of the show were Kopelow, Bynes, Tamberelli, and Irene Ng.
The first seat on the panel was usually reserved for an adult panelist, either an adult actor from a Nickelodeon program or a non-Nickelodeon celebrity. In several episodes, CatDog, rendered in CGI, and Cousin Skeeter, a puppet character, were panelists, but never at the same time. In Seasons 5 and 6, the first seat was not reserved for an adult, but Matt Bennett from Victorious and Ciara Bravo from Big Time Rush regularly appeared in the first position. Other guest panelists included Coolio, Mike O'Malley, Colin Mochrie, and professional wrestlers Chris Jericho, The Giant and "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan.

Production

Production on the original version of Figure It Out started on March 24, 1997, and ended a month later, at Nickelodeon Studios in Orlando, Florida, with a planned 40-episode order.
In 2013, Sutphen confirmed via Twitter that no new episodes of the revival of Figure It Out would be produced.

Format changes

On April 7, 1998, future country music singer/songwriter Hunter Hayes was a contestant on Figure It Out when he was six years old. His talent was playing the accordion and singing.
Sam Roberts, host of Jim Norton & Sam Roberts on Sirius XM, appeared on an episode in Season 2. His talent was flipping quarters off his ankle.
Marcus Stroman of the New York Mets was a prize winner in episode 13 of Season 1.
Gentry Haukebo, Albuquerque rap artist better known as 1oK, was a contestant and prize winner in an episode during the show's sixth and final season. Her talent was being a shovel racing champion.
Julia Srednicki, character designer for OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes was a member of the "Clue Force 3" during the final two seasons hosted by Jeff Sutphen.