- Hey guy, welcome back to the Pepsi Super Bowl
halftime show.
I am Adam Levine's shirtless torso,
and you're watching Disney channel.
So, Pepsi's been on a pretty good streak
of solid marketing decisions the past few years.
After using Kardashian by proxy,
Kendall Jenner, to manifest world peace,
which for some reason she had to apologize for.
- It was the most, like it was--
(emotional music)
like it was so--
like-- - Pepsi set their sites
on an even bigger stage,
network television.
You see, everybody loves commercials.
But I always get sad when they're over
and I have to go back to watching my dumb old show.
Well, Fox understands this conundrum
and decided to give us 30 minutes
of non-stop ad action every Sunday night.
Hosted by American Pie's, Jason Biggs.
- All thanks--
- [Participant] Oh my gosh! - to Pepsi Wild Cherry.
(audience applause) - Thank you Pepsi!
- Cherry! (audience cheering)
- Cherry! Cherry!
- The show isn't just a 30 minute commercial for Pepsi,
it's specifically Pepsi Wild Cherry,
cause it's called Cherries Wild.
It would be like if this video,
which is sponsored by ExpressVPN,
was actually a dating show called,
"virtual express networking in private."
And all the contestants would have
really quick protected sex over Zoom.
Anyway, I know I've made a lot of videos lately,
about how dumb TV is?
But clearly, I haven't learned my lesson,
because I keep watching it.
This show makes me so uncomfortable.
It looks like a fake show
that would be on in the background of a movie,
where they're trying to make the point
that the character watching it is dumb.
Like, kid comes home from school,
and his alcoholic step-dad has this on the TV,
and he's like shouting and throwing things.
And then, he yells at the kid
to bring him another beer.
It's a drama.
The biggest reason why this show feels so weird,
why it falls visually into the uncanny valley for me,
is the insane exaggerated audience reactions.
- So, I know you're not my age
(participant laughs)
- [Participant] Oh good. (everyone laughing)
- All right, you know what?
All right,
(audience laughing) this round--
- Right off the bat, seconds into every episode,
they show the audience already going bananas.
- [Announcer] And here's your host, Jason Biggs.
- Welcome to Cherries Wild.
- Oh my God!
That's the guy from the movies.
Now, it's important to note
that this show was filmed last year.
There is no audience there.
But just like on the other Fox show
that I talked about,
they put up a screen of fake audience
that looks totally cool, and normal,
and isn't just playing a video on a loop.
But since you know it's fake,
it makes it even weirder
when they try to do these over the shoulder shots
of the crowd that we know is not there.
They must film this part separately.
You can actually see
that this audience is wearing masks,
while the other one is
an entirely different group of people.
I assume, they're all just sitting
in front of a green screen,
which I imagine would be a lot of fun to film.
Oh my God!
That's the guy from the movie.
This is definitely the shot
that makes this feel like, an episode of Black Mirror,
because you have this dumb, colorful game show.
And then, they cut to a bunch of faceless silhouettes
quietly watching from behind a pane of glass,
like they're observing human behavior.
Another thing I noticed about the audience,
is that because their reactions are controlled
by the producers,
they're always egging the contestants on.
- [Jason] That's $50,000 goes away.
- One more spin!
- They're always trying to get them
to risk their money.
- [Audience] One more spin! - Let's do it.
- Let's do this one.
- One more spin. (audience clapping)
- We're gonna keep it going.
- [Jason] You guys are incredibly inspiring.
- You guys are such an inspiration to me.
Most people would just take that money
and then, quit like losers,
but you two persevere.
- And roll. (lever squeaks)
(audience cheering) - Give me the cherry!
(bloopers sound effect) - [Jason] Oh!
- [Audience] Oh!
- Okay. Okay.
(participant claps)
- Okay, maybe you should have taken the money.
This is definitely different
from other games I've seen.
In Deal or No Deal for example,
there's times where the audience is like,
"hey, maybe you should just take the deal?"
cause $300,000 is a lot better than $5.
Which wouldn't even be enough for the Uber home.
(audience chanting) - Take that deal!
- [Audience] Take that deal!
- No Deal!
- Only for the contestant
who's all hopped up on adrenaline
from being on TV to be like,
"No deal!
I'd rather lose!"
I know that their production team
is doing their best.
No shade to the employees of the show,
but it just all looks so unnatural.
The crowd is either jumping out of their chairs,
as if, they just won the money,
or they're gasping in horror?
It makes me think they got these shots
by having people react to like,
a car accident compilation.
And then, they just used it for the Pepsi show.
- Pepsi Wild Cherry.
Pepsi Wild Cherry.
(audience cheering) - Yes!
- And then of course, that's the big thing.
The thing that made me flabbergasted
at this show's existence.
I've seen bad shows before.
I've seen weird shows before.
But I don't think I've ever seen
a major network release a game show,
on prime time television,
that is entirely an infomercial.
The Pepsi brand is so deeply ingrained
into the fabric of the show,
that on almost all of their Instagram posts,
they're legally required to include #ad.
"Yup, last night was epic,
and the Pepsi Wild Cherry was delish!"
"I could use a Pepsi Wild Cherry right now,
after last night", heart eyes.
"Tomorrow, you're getting more pop trivia,
Jason Biggs and Pepsi Wild Cherry #CherriesWild."
There are exactly two comments on this post.
One of them is the official Pepsi Instagram account.
Essentially, complimenting itself.
And the other is some guy just saying,
"bruh".
Their whole Instagram account is such a wild ride.
I love when TV shows hire someone
whose entire job is to run an account
with like, 600 followers.
Hey everyone, a new episode tonight,
so be sure to tune in.
(crickets stridulating)
I know, I'll be cracking open a cold one.
A cold Pepsi.
(audience clapping)
Sounds good to me.
They also post these Bingo cards
for every episode,
which is a pretty fun idea,
but they're only three by three squares.
So, it should be pretty easy to get Bingo.
Although, maybe I spoke too soon,
cause some of these don't even make sense.
This one just says, "Europe".
What does that even mean?
They go to Europe?
Like, halfway through the episode
they just board a plane and leave?
Decisions. Hmm?
Fill in this spot if you see someone
deciding stuff.
Jason makes a joke.
Cherries Wild drinking game everyone.
Take a shot every time the host
tries to make us laugh.
This is a serious game show, Mr. Jason Biggs.
So, quit monkeying around
and treat it with the respect it deserves.
- And now I'm drinking lots of Wild Cherry Pepsi,
(female host laughing) and loving it.
- Honestly, I feel kind of bad for Jason.
He seems to be a pretty universally liked guy,
but they do him dirty on this account.
- Trivia time. (game show music)
Trivia time.
Trivia time!
- He probably thought he was doing four different takes,
and they were just gonna go with the best one.
And then, they used all four of them.
Jason's definitely a fan favorite though.
I'm pretty sure he's the main appeal
for the hundreds of people watching it.
Here's some comments
from his Wendy Williams interview about the show.
"He's very handsome."
"Yes".
"He is so cute and handsome."
"Yes". Guys!
Get outta here Guys!
The comments on their Instagram are so funny.
There's only a few of them,
so it's pretty easy to read them all.
There's a handful of positive comments here and there,
but a lot of times, when you click on them,
you realize it's someone who's affiliated with the show.
And then, there's this one guy who comments
on every single post,
to trying to get them to respond.
And he seems pretty annoyed that they never do.
I love the dichotomy between,
this almost absurd level of positivity.
And this guy is shit-posting.
This person commented,
"Only a few more hours (meditation music)
until Cherry Nirvana encompasses the souls of us all."
And Ty just said, "Pepsi".
I don't know if I'd put this entirely on Jason,
or if they just asked him a leading question.
But in one of his interviews,
they ask him about the Pepsi sponsorship,
and he says this:
(audience cheering)
Oh, sorry about that.
That was the wrong clip.
(mouse clicks) Ah, here we go.
- [Anchor] This is kind of a cool new concept
that a lot of shows are trying,
where Pepsi is teaming up with Fox.
As a way to sort of, reduce how many commercials
you're seeing during the show.
- Okay. So it was actually the Fox anchor
who made the claim that because of the Pepsi sponsorship,
there are fewer commercial breaks during the show.
And that's not true.
There are just as many commercials.
It's still a 21 minute episode,
just like every other half hour show.
Maybe they were trying to say,
you'll see less variety of commercials,
cause most of them are Pepsi.
But they still advertise other things.
The other thing about Cherries Wild,
even if it wasn't sponsored by
and named after Pepsi,
it's not even a good idea for a show.
It's based entirely around a video slot machine.
- [Announcer] This is one of the largest
slot machines in the world.
- They say it's one of the biggest slot machines.
I think they could get away
with just calling it the biggest.
- [Announcer] It's over three stories tall.
- I don't think they come much bigger than that.
But the thing about slot machines is that they are rigged.
Almost every casino game
is going to be somewhat rigged
in favor of the casino.
But specifically with slot machines,
there is no user control
over the outcome of what happens.
You can still win something,
which is why people use them,
but the result was always gonna be predetermined
by a random number generator.
I've never seen something like this before.
They actually have to put a disclaimer
at the end of the show that says,
"This is not a real slot machine.
We're literally just playing a video of one.
It is possible for the contestants to win the jackpot,
but that gets decided ahead of time."
Oh, okay.
That's awesome.
Yeah, there are two rounds of trivia earlier on
that involve a little bit of skill from the players.
But I think they're made purposely easy
to give them this false sense of optimism.
To make them think that they're definitely
gonna win the grand prize later on.
- Next musical act. (applause)
- [Slot Machine] Nicki Minaj.
- So, the way that works,
and I can't believe I'm explaining this.
Is if you get five delicious Pepsi wild cherries,
you go home with $250,000.
And the contestants will always risk their money at the end,
because they've already accumulated a few cherries
and they're like, "well, we only need two more."
It's only a matter of time until we land on one.
It's not.
It's not a matter of time.
Quit while you're ahead.
- [Jason] You now only need two wild cherries.
You've still got to free spin,
or you can walk out of here with that $92,000.
You can be like, "deuces, I'm out."
(participant laughing) (audience laughing)
- I mean, yeah, $92,000 is nice,
but we still have that free spin
from the Star Wars question.
We have to use it.
The audience might kill us if we don't.
- [Jason] Two wild cherries, - Come on.
(participants clapping) you just need two.
(blooper sounds) - [Audience] Oh!
- Oh!
- Oh they lost? Ahh!
Who could have seen that coming?
(participant laughing)
Well now they definitely can't walk away.
They have less than what they just gave up a second ago.
And that's the gambler's mentality,
that you'll win it back eventually.
Even though, it costs 10,000 more dollars per spin.
(audience cheering) - $31,000.
- Oh, $63,000,
That's good too but--
- Like we're gonna keep on going.
- We're still only two cherries away
from that grand prize.
Let's keep going!
(audience cheering) - Come on, come on.
Come on. (coins clanking)
- Oh my God, 50 grand!
(blooper sound effect)
- [Audience] Oh! - Oh no!
- Oh, red X, which means you lose everything.
Oh, we almost had $50,000,
except, not really,
because it was always going to be packaged with the red X.
That was determined beforehand.
I don't think they're even allowed to cash out
too early in the game,
because there's only one group of contestants per show.
As soon as they cash out,
the game's over.
The audience would just be sitting there like,
"Oh, there's still six minutes left.
What do we do?
We could still go ape shift for no reason.
Yeah!"
So, let's recap what we have so far.
The game is rigged.
The entire thing is a Pepsi commercial.
The show has six editors for some reason.
And I think Jason's being held hostage in that studio.
Can anything else go wrong?
Well, there is one more thing.
So Cherries Wild was released alongside
a companion mobile app,
that incentivizes you to watch live,
because you can play along
and even win some money too.
The way you do this is by scanning the QR code,
giving it a spin when the contestants do,
and if you land on the same five slots as they do,
then you win the same prize,
which can be tens of thousands of dollars.
And that's all great, in theory.
But we're supposed to believe that the game,
that admits to being a farce,
is just gonna give away a bunch of money?
That they're not gonna program it
to be impossible to land on the same spaces
as the people from the show?
There's no way in hell
that anyone is winning money off this,
but let's read some reviews just in case.
"Doesn't work." (circus music)
"Can't open."
"App won't let me scan."
"Doesn't work."
"Does not work."
"Doesn't work."
"I spin and it just keeps spinning
and not showing me results."
"I think the app is great fun."
One star.
"I've won apparently (circus music)
but never received an email.
I've sent multiple emails and they've all been ignored."
"I haven't been able to open the app in two days.
I did win one day but haven't received an email."
"Won a gift card prize last week
and still have not received a confirmation email."
"I've won twice now
and still never got an email about my prize
and it's been days."
"So disappointed in Pepsi, (dramatic music)
do not recommend.
I've been trying to play this game since it started.
According to the rules, (sad bagpipe music)
you must email them.
I've emailed nearly every day
and have not received any reply.
I'm extremely disappointed in Pepsi,
this game app and the fact that this company
ignores its consumers' emails.
It's Coca-Cola for me from now on."
No!
Alright guys, pull the plug. (thrilling drum roll)
The whole thing backfired.
We spent millions of dollars
to put this thing together,
and instead of cornering the market,
like we thought we would,
people are just buying more Coke.
It just doesn't make any sense.
People love brands on TV.
Consumers love when companies
don't follow through on their promises.
Where did we go wrong?
Oh, what's that?
The whole thing?
Both conceptually and in execution,
yeah, no, that makes sense.
What do you mean I'm fired?
You work for me.
Man, I haven't been this disappointed
since the McDonald's monopoly scam.
Only this time,
(soft drum roll)
I didn't get my french fries.
(loud scream with rock music playing)
Only this time,
(soft drum roll)
I'm still thirsty.
(loud scream with rock music playing)
Only this time, (soft drum roll)
I'm not loving it.
(loud scream with rock music playing)
Right, so just use one of those takes,
whichever you think is best.
Please, do not edit them all in back to back.
You're gonna make me look like an idiot.
(loud scream with rock music playing)
Yup, looks likes I am about a,
two hours late to my surgery.
So, let's cut to commercial.
(air swoosh) Hi, I'm the Prince of Florida.
And I'm here to tell you about today's sponsor, ExpressVPN.
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VPNs don't just protect your information though,
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Fun fact, did you know Jason Biggs,
the host of Cherries Wild,
was actually offered the role
of Ted Mosby, in the hit show,
How I Met Your Mother,
but he turned it down?
Well, you're also turning down the ability
to watch How I Met Your Mother on Netflix,
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There are so many great reasons to use ExpressVPN,
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that's expressevpn.com/drew.
Thank you ExpressVPN for sponsoring this video.
Now, back to guy in chair.
Thank you for watching guy.
You might want to get a good look at this face,
cause next time you see it,
I will have four fewer teeth.
You'd probably assume I'm getting my wisdoms out,
but that's not true.
It's actually, these four.
Dentist says, I don't need them anymore.
And I always trust my dentist,
because he's not just my dentist,
he's my son.
(exhales)
He's my son.
(inhales)
(exhales)
All right, see you guys next time.
(upbeat indie music)
(upbeat indie music fading)