Cash Cab (Canadian game show)

Did You Know?

• A French Canadian version called Taxi Payant airs on V and is filmed in Montreal, hosted by comedian Alexandre Barrette.
• Taxi Payant uses a Dodge Grand Caravan.
• The cab used in the Canadian version is a facelifted XL20 Toyota Sienna minivan.

Game show

The show includes rounds such as "Shout Outs", "Red Light Challenges", and the "Double or Nothing" Video Bonus option at the end of each game. The Canadian version places a heavier focus on questions about science, technology, nature, and adventure rather than purely general knowledge. Regular questions are worth $25, $50, or $100, while Red Light Challenge questions are worth $75. In the second season, a third lifeline was added: when contestants reach the $100 questions, they may "swap out" a question and receive a new one from the Cash Cab dispatcher.

During the Cash Cab Vancouver season, a bridge bonus doubles the score for the current question once per session. After returning to Toronto, a high five bonus doubles the score for the fifth correct answer in a row. The 8th and final season in 2015 introduced a "Triple Play" component, allowing contestants to triple their winnings if they attempt the Video Bonus Question and arrive at their destination strike-free. All episodes were shot in Canadian cities, with all but one season of 26 episodes filmed in downtown Toronto; season 5 was filmed in Vancouver in summer 2011.

History

Adam Growe, host of the Canadian Cash Cab, hosted a special season premiere of the American version on December 23, 2008, to promote the film Frost/Nixon. In the summer of 2009, the show aired briefly alongside Qubit. On July 16, 2011, a 61-year-old man from Surrey, British Columbia, was struck and killed in downtown Vancouver by the Canadian Cash Cab vehicle, which the producer was driving back to storage after filming.

Broadcast

Cash Cab debuted on Discovery Channel on September 10, 2008, and was initially broadcast only on Discovery until The Comedy Network began airing it; it later started broadcasting on CTV Comedy Channel on June 1, 2011. On December 13, 2023, a revival titled Cash Cab Music was announced, with Growe returning as host. It premiered in the United States on AXS TV on January 8, 2024, and in Canada on GameTV on March 4, 2024. As of the launch of Bell Media's 2024 F.A.S.T. Channels, the show runs in syndication on CTV Laughs.