You may win cash on your next cab ride

There may be 13,000 taxis in New York City, but there’s only one Cash Cab.

The premise of the Discovery Channel’s Emmy Award-winning series Cash Cab is simple: Host Ben Bailey picks up unsuspecting locals and tourists in a yellow taxi and surprises them with flashing rainbow lights, and the opportunity to answer trivia questions for cash as he takes them to their destination. Quite literally, the program has all the bells and whistles of a traditional game show with the streets of New York as its set.

The level of difficulty and dollar value of trivia questions increase as time passes, but if the passengers get three questions wrong they get kicked out of the cab and lose all of their earnings. Contestants can use “shout outs” at any point if they need assistance, either using their cell phones to call a friend or pulling over and asking the question to a random pedestrian.

Thanks to the show’s rapid-fire questioning style, I’m always on the edge of my seat, eager to scream out answers to no one in particular. The contestants always seem to get palpably giddy as the game progresses, because even if they walk away empty-handed, they still feel the thrill of being unsuspecting television stars. Add that to Cash Cab’s unusual style of finding contestants, its casual setting, and its no-nonsense questioning format and any viewer will get sucked into the cab’s daily route and start yearning to be the next lucky passenger.

But the best part, by far, is that this wish could become a reality. As Cash Cab revs up for its fourth season this spring, every Columbia student has a chance to be in the hot seat, making it just one more reason to skip the subway and treat yourself to a taxi ride.