What My Favourite Game Show Taught Me About Kindness

Thursday, August 10, 2023. Facing the ultimate challenge: emotional vulnerability.

Game Changer host Sam Reich celebrates pulling off another fantastic episode.

Before I deleted TikTok last year, its algorithm unexpectedly showed me something truly good — clips from Game Changer, a game show hosted by Sam Reich on Dropout. It didn’t take long for me to subscribe and start delving into its catalogue. Dropout hosts many excellent shows and limited series including Dimension 20, Breaking News Newsroom, Dirty Laundry, Total Forgiveness, and Um, Actually, but my favourite show on the streaming service is Game Changer.

For the past year or so, I’ve been singing praises about Game Changer to anyone who will listen, and other parts of the internet are catching on to its greatness. In short, it's a funny, feel-good improv comedy game show where the game changes (almost) every episode. The contestants don't know what game they are about to play, and the audience slowly figures it out with them. Games have included a completely improvised musical, a hilarious rendition of Simon Says, and recently, a surprise escape room that was the show's height in terms of production — until, immediately after, they dropped a surprise 4-part "Survivor" homage that was bigger than anything the show had done yet.

Contestants in Game Changer’s season five Survivor homage.

What makes this show special is that there is a palpable feeling of kindness to it. Contestants are rewarded, not punished, and it respects boundaries in a way that most shows of its kind purposely ignore. Everyone is laughing together, not at anyone's expense, which lets the incredible talent on the show shine through. It would be very difficult for me to pick my favourite episodes.

That being said, there is an episode from Game Changer’s fourth season that encapsulates the spirit of the show as a whole: “Don’t Cry.” The episode started off with three contestants, Luke, Rekha, and Jess, facing several challenges with one goal: don’t cry. They cut onions, and then the challenges got emotionally vulnerable: the contestants looked at childhood photos of themselves, watched the first five minutes of Up, and received flowers and chocolates. All the contestants were handed letters from their loved ones, and then came the twist — all the letters were actually addressed to Jess, and the whole episode was an elaborate ruse for her friends and family to shower her in love. One by one, everyone on stage told her how much they care about her, and additional guests were brought out in person and virtually (all making Jess cry). As a viewer, I was fully sobbing after just the first surprise speech. I spent the rest of the episode overwhelmed by the love I was witnessing and moved by how many people Jess has positively impacted.

The final loved one that Sam invited on stage for Jess was her fiancée, Kait. Jess and Kait revealed that in the past year, they had to postpone their wedding and Jess was unable to walk for months after undergoing back surgery. Jess — whom we’ve just learned, from the many speeches her friends made, is relentlessly optimistic — put on a brave face and said that being on bed rest for six months meant she could watch RuPaul’s Drag Race in its entirety. Sam then brought out Bob the Drag Queen, winner of Drag Race’s eighth season, to host a mock wedding for Jess and Kait. Sam ended the episode by gifting the couple with a paid honeymoon vacation, but not before announcing Jess lost the game, because she failed to not cry.

Before I make my point and tell you why I think this episode embodies Game Changer and Dropout, here’s a hard 180-degree turn: I’m going through a breakup. I won’t say much more about that, other than some obvious truths, which are that breakups suck and make you feel very bad about yourself. Breakup brain tries to convince you of some very mean things — you’re unloveable, you’re worthless, you’re too much, you’re not enough, blah blah fucking blah.

Something I’ve learned about myself in the past few years is that I tend to be more comfortable in misery than in happiness. Misery feels normal. Often, when I’m faced with difficult emotions, I make things worse by choosing to be mean to myself. You deserve this. This is how it will always be.

Here’s the lesson I’m taking away from “Don’t Cry” and Game Changer — it’s much harder to be kind than it is to be mean, whether in comedy or to yourself, but the result of taking the more difficult route is something special. Game Changer could easily be like those formulaic game shows that humiliate their contestants for viewers’ twisted satisfaction, but it never is. “Don’t Cry” embodies Game Changer because, in true Dropout fashion, it chooses kindness. The fact that Sam and his team thought to dedicate a whole episode to Jess just to cheer her up is not something many people, let alone TV shows, would do.

Bob the Drag Queen officiates a mock wedding for Jess and Kait.

Game Changer is all about making people feel happy and seen through comedy. It never punches down because it knows that kind-hearted comedy is more difficult, and it rises to the challenge every damn time. The show continues to break creative ground in its particular niche. It didn’t come out the gate with 4-part Survivor homages and brilliant escape room episodes, but it got there by pushing to become a better version of itself over and over, without losing that core of silly kindness. I can’t wait to see what they do next.

Listen, I get it. By choosing misery and staying closed off from the world, you think you’re keeping yourself safe. However, you’re also keeping your world small and uninteresting. Being happy exposes you to vulnerability, which is incredibly scary. But it can also push you to become better and more accepting of other people and yourself, which is always, always worth it. You owe it to yourself to at least try, and you have the strength within you to do so — it’s been there the whole time.

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Watch some full episodes of Game Changer on YouTube and please subscribe to Dropout. Or ask for my password: they’re cool with it.