Baggage (American game show)

Lore & Background

The series gives three contestants the chance to win the eye of a prospective date. Each contestant has three suitcases onstage—small, medium, and large—containing embarrassing, gross, unique, or weird propositions. As the suitcase size increases, so does the level of shame or embarrassment. The central contestant also has a piece of baggage revealed at the end. The game involves eliminating contestants based on deal-breaker secrets, and if the final contestant accepts the central character's secret, the couple receives an expense-covered evening together.

Production was announced on March 23, 2010, with Jerry Springer confirmed as host. The original series was produced by Comcast Entertainment Group; Jay James and Tim Puntillo served as executive producers. A syndication test run aired on select Sinclair Broadcast Group stations on January 10, 2011, and the series began syndication in September 2012. A third season began June 6, 2011, and a fourth season was scheduled to premiere March 14, 2012. The spin-off Baggage on the Road, produced by Wilshire Studios with Lisa Tucker as executive producer, followed an identical format while taping in various U.S. cities.

In 2025, producers from the original run created a YouTube spin-off called Red Flag Green Flag, hosted by Jessica Lowe, where contestants reveal three rounds of red flags and also their green flags (best qualities).

Reader's Guide

Baggage quickly became a ratings success for GSN, becoming the highest-rated weekday series in the network's history. The original series averaged 473,000 viewers during its first season, while the 2015 spin-off saw a season-high of 524,000 viewers. Despite earning high ratings by GSN's standards, the show received mixed critical reception. Carrie Grosvenor of About Entertainment argued the series 'isn't exactly must-see TV, but it's entertaining enough to catch an episode here and there.' Josef Adalian of The Wrap gave a negative pre-review, calling it and Springer 'GSN's latest bad idea.' However, in 2012, Baggage appeared in Entertainment Weekly as a 'top guilty pleasure' and was featured in the HBO series Girls. Yahoo!'s Gabrielle Rice called the series 'very entertaining' and argued Springer to be 'the perfect host for the show.' June Thomas of Slate opened her review calling the series 'real, and ... spectacular.' Jordan Carr of The Awl titled his review 'Jerry Springer's Baggage Is The Greatest TV Show Ever,' calling the formula 'brilliant' despite it being 'predictable and not that exciting.' The series also spawned Australian and British versions, with the British series hosted by Gok Wan airing on Channel 4 in 2012, and a Vietnamese version, Hành Lý Tình Yêu, airing on VTV3 from 2020 to 2023.

Did You Know?

• A half-hour special called Baggage First Dates aired during a five-hour 'Best of Baggage Marathon' in season three.
• The spin-off Baggage on the Road premiered on January 7, 2015, and was produced by Wilshire Studios.
• In 2025, a YouTube spin-off called Red Flag Green Flag was created by producers from the original run.