Mall Masters

Mall Masters is the name of a game show from Stone-Stanley that aired from April 1 to December 1, 2001 on GSN, hosted by TV personality Chris Harrison, who also introduced himself in the intro. Three contestants competed to test their knowledge of pop culture. The show was taped at the Camp Snoopy Theater inside the world-famous Mall of America in Minneapolis during November and December 2000. Most of the contestants were from the Minneapolis area, many working at the mall itself. Though the theater was on an upper level in the mall, the video production truck was located a half mile away in the basement loading docks. Post production was done in Los Angeles.

Round 1

In round 1, Chris read a toss-up survey question based on a poll of 100 shoppers at the Mall of America with three choices (similar to Family Feud). The first to ring in with the most popular answer which was the right answer (similar to the Bullseye Round on Family Feud) got a chance to choose from one of four stores inside the Mall of America. If incorrect, the correct answer was revealed and the other two players were asked a question with the third player locked out. If one of those players got that question wrong, then the remaining player would be asked another question unopposed. If that player gets the question wrong, the next question is asked to all 3 players once again. Once a store was picked, a person who was at that store would team up with the contestant to answer another question (similar to Street Smarts), this time, with four choices. The contestant could then agree or disagree with the mall shopper's pick. If the in-studio contestant disagreed, they had to choose from the other three possibilities. If correct, the contestant got another 100 points. Once a store was picked, it was gone, and another store took its place. If the shopper got the question right, regardless if the contestant got it right or wrong, they get a $50 gift certificate from Mall of America.

Round 2

Same as round 1, but point values doubled, which means correct answers are worth 200 points.

Round 3

As with most Stone-Stanley games, the game ended with a 90-second (1:30) speed round called the Lightning Round (similar to the Shopper's Challenge Round on another Stone-Stanley game show, Shop 'til You Drop), with correct answers worth 100 points. A question was asked with three multiple choices. The first to ring in with a correct answer got the points. If the first player got the question wrong, the other two players could ring in. If one of the other players got that question wrong, the question was thrown out and the correct answer was revealed since there were three choices and two wrong answers would automatically give away the right answer. When time ran out, the highest score won the game. If the game ended in a two-way tie for first place, or if all three tied, a tie-breaker question was asked, with the first to ring-in getting a chance to answer, and if correct, moved on to the bonus round, but if wrong, the opponent won (or in the case of a three-way tie, if the first to ring-in was wrong, he or she automatically lost, and the other two would ring in to answer, and if incorrect, the last opponent won).

Bonus Round

The contestant was asked up to nine questions, all asked regarding one of the stores in the Mall of America. Each question had two choices, and a right answer got $100, but a wrong answer got a strike, and three strikes ended the bonus round, but if the contestant could get seven of the nine questions correct, he or she won $5,000 (in lieu of a trip that most Stone-Stanley shows, such as Fun House, Shop 'til You Drop, and Legends of the Hidden Temple had as a grand prize), accompanied by a flashing "$5,000" on the video wall and a picture of the mall shoppers waving hands zooming in.

Three new contestants competed each show.

Cancellation

After only nine months on the air, Mall Masters was cancelled on December 1, 2001. The ratings of the show began to plummet during its run, and the show itself did not attract enough viewers. That same day, Mall Masters aired its final episode, and in that episode's final scene, Chris Harrison, the host of the show, gave his heart-breaking farewell speech before saying goodbye for one last time. The show was shelved permanently in January of 2002.

External links

• Mall Masters at the Internet Movie Database
• Mall Masters at TV.com
• Overview in New York Times