BLAM! (game show)

BLAM! was a short-lived game show aired from May to August of 2000 on. It was created by El Kadsreian game show veteran Takahiro Koizumi and is considered an inspiration for shows such as Russian Roulette and 101 Ways to Leave a Game Show.

It was produced by Scott Sternberg Productions in association with Koizumi Productions and Viacom. It was hosted by with Tia Browsh as his co-host.

Format
Eight contestants competed in a series of rounds, all involving answering multiple choice questions. Before each round (players chosen at random for the first), each player had to give an answer to a basic knowledge question to determine the playing order. Hitting the answer on the head awarded a $50 bonus.

A multiple choice question with four answers was then presented, and each player in order would choose an answer. Those who selected the three right answers would remain in the game, while the loser would exit in several crazy fashions.

There were five rounds; with one player eliminated after each one.

The Eliminations

 * Chair Fuse Challenge - The players would be strapped to pilot chairs atop explosives, each with a fuse. The ones with the right answers had dud fuses; the one with the wrong answer would be launched high in the air. The only injury reported prior to the incident that got the show cancelled was a scraped knee.
 * Squash! - The players would be placed in cars; the one with the wrong answer would have theirs run over by a monster truck nicknamed "Big Squasher" (actually 's ). The only injuries reported were a broken ankle and a dislocated elbow.

Incident
During taping on August 4, 2000, a contestant from San Francisco, California named April Zheng was severely injured after being eliminated during the Chair Fuse Challenge when her chair missed a safety net and crashed into the ground very hard. She was rushed to, 24 minutes away from the taping location, and was pronounced dead on arrival, but she was eventually resuscitated. However, Zheng was declared paralyzed from the waist down. Zheng sued UPN and the producers for $150,000. Zheng won the lawsuit, and as a result UPN pulled the show and replaced it with reruns of Shasta McNasty. The cause of the incident was due to improper setup of the safety equipment and because the IATSE member who was in charge of handing out the waivers and release forms for contestants had quit a day prior to taping and the new employee who took his job forgot to give Zheng the forms.

Prior to this, very few injuries were reported on set during the show's run, all of which are noted in the eliminations.

Taping Location(s)
Hoskins Road, Simsbury, CT (Most of the Game) Simsbury Airport, Simsbury, CT (Semi Fallover Challenge)

Inventor
Takahiro Koizumi