- Does anybody know who they're voting for?
(all laughing)
Who do you think you'll vote for?
Who knows, maybe I'm gonna be a snake.
- Oh.
- Welcome to "Stacks,"
the show where every vote counts.
Today seven college students must decide
who gets to take home up to $2,000.
The players will have four rounds of discussion.
After each round, there will be blind voting.
One gold brick equals one vote.
At the end of the game,
the person with the tallest stack wins the prize.
This is "Stacks."
(upbeat music)
Hey everyone, how are you guys feeling today?
- Good.
- Nervous and excited.
- Okay, so today's a little special, all right?
So one gold brick,
as you can see here is worth $100
- A $100!
- At the very end,
depending on how many bricks you have in your stack,
that's the total dollar amount
that you'll end up winning.
Whoever wins could win up to $2,000.
- Oh my God!
- Only the person with the highest amount of bricks
is gonna take home the prize money.
Does that make sense?
- [All] Yeah.
- Okay, for round one,
each player will get one gold brick.
They'll have six minutes to discuss
who they think should take the cash prize.
Round one starts now.
- We should start to like get into why you all are here
and like why you need the money
or why you want the money.
- I'm a history major, I'm graduating in May,
and so and so I'm entering the next phase.
And so I'll use this money to invest in myself,
my mental and physical health
before I go into the next step
and then I'll use the rest to keep myself afloat
as I navigate the real world.
- Oh man. (all laughing)
- My strategy is to be as honest and as giving as possible,
but to also have a little bit of skepticism.
- I actually am a master's student.
I feel like I have a decent idea of what I want to do
in cinematography definitely is it and it is expensive.
- Yeah.
- I started developing like a little camera kit
last semester and then it got stolen, okay.
- [All] Oh no!
- So I would love to just help replace some of that stuff.
- Definitely a portion of it would go to my mom.
She's a single mother,
she's worked very hard
and she's never been selfish with her wants.
So truthfully, I wanna be able to take her out
to a nice dinner.
My car insurance is coming up.
I wish I could give a better answer
but I do need to pay car insurance.
My biggest strategy is to just come into the game
and be as vulnerable as I can,
because I think vulnerability is a really important step
in getting empathy from others
and I guess essentially
that's kind of what the point of the game is.
- I think that's totally valid.
I feel like I put my needs over my wants way too many times
and sometimes it's because I think people like
tell me that I don't deserve it.
So it's like I wanna use the money to spend it on
things that I want
and things that will make me like be happier
and live a better like fulfillment in life.
- My mom's also a single mother.
She actually just gave birth
to her fourth kid in the summer 15
which I've been taking care of while doing online school.
So I live in Burbank and I go to UCI
and so that's like four hours.
I also have like a hospital bill
that I'm trying to like get off already and over with.
And after hearing the amount that we might be winning,
I feel like that would benefit me a lot
to just getting that out of the way.
- Yeah. (all laughing)
- I don't know, I would use the money towards a car
because that's like kind of one of the biggest things.
I'm not able to work as much as I should be
because I need a car to get around,
and public transportation doesn't go
as far as I need to work.
- I have a really good shot of getting into UCLA,
but I still might not be able to go.
And that's just the reality of things,
is because it's so expensive to live in LA.
It's really sad to see everything you've
tried to work hard, not pay off.
- [All] Yeah.
- So I'm trying to save every penny that I have
that I get from my $15 an hour part-time job.
(machine chinks)
- Shout out minimum wage.
- Does anybody know who they're voting for?
(all laughing)
I mean, you don't wanna disclose that, you don't.
- Who do you think you'll vote for?
- Yeah, who are you voting for?
- Honestly, I was really touched
by Destiny's story and her situation.
So I might vote for her.
- Facts, I'm voting for you.
- Throwing that out there.
- Yeah. - Yes.
- But who knows?
Maybe I'm gonna be a snake.
No, I'm just kidding.
I'm just kidding, I'm sorry.
- This is a lot harder
than I thought it was gonna be--
- It's really hard.
- Like vote for really good reasons
- But it's just the first round.
And like one thing that we need to know
is like these are our worst problems.
And like, just because one seems worse than the other
doesn't mean that they're not valid, you know.
- Yeah, 100%
- We could all use the $2,000.
- Time is up.
Thought also, thank you so much
for sharing all of your stories.
I feel like that was really nice to hear.
We'll see if anyone's lying.
(all laughing)
It's time to vote.
Each player will vote
for who they think should win the prize,
but there's a catch.
If all seven players vote for themselves,
the game is over and no one wins.
(suspenseful music)
- I know commuting to school is really hard
and hospital bills can be really expensive.
So I think she deserves it the most.
(suspenseful music)
- I felt like we had a very similar case
and I would rather not for myself.
I would rather vote for her.
(suspenseful music)
- Because of the rule that we may lose everything,
but it was a risk that I'm willing to take.
(gentle music)
- So Charlie already said he was gonna vote for Destiny,
so that's telling me that I can vote for myself.
(gentle music)
- I chose destiny
because I was in a really similar position to her
when I was a freshman,
and I understand how hard it can be
commuting so far from school,
so hopefully the vote will help her out in some way.
(gentle music)
- I was moved the most by Destiny and Miyeong's stories.
I wonder why Charlie tried to curry favor
with Destiny though.
(gentle music)
- No.
- I'm keeping you in suspense.
- No.
- Three, two, one open.
(gentle music)
(all surprises)
- Nice, yes. - Tada!
- Like money triggers such a primal instinct,
especially seeing like no bricks
on my pile the first round,
it kind of hurt me a little bit,
but I realized that it was all coming from that
sort of innate instinct that like I deserve this money.
- Destiny, you're killing it right now.
(gentle music)
(bricks clinking)
In round two only players who currently have stacks
will receive two more gold bricks for voting,
but all players can participate in the discussion.
So if you don't have a brick,
try to convince those who do, begin.
- This is capitalism.
- This is... (all laughing)
- We should sort of spend it on the time
that people don't have bricks.
- I agree.
- I agree with that.
- I disagree, and let me say why.
Because they're setting up the game
where we're supposed to try to advocate
for the people who don't have bricks,
but in the end the person who wins
only gets the amount of bricks that we give them.
Right now Destiny's in the lead,
Destiny's gonna get my every brick for the rest of the game.
I'd rather have somebody have their life
really changed and affected,
than have a lot of bricks spread out for a lot of people.
- Here's my thing with the bricks
because I agree with what you're saying,
but the also the more bricks that we have,
the more bricks that are gonna be distributed.
That means that there's more money all around
and then we can put more money
into whatever person we want to win, you know?
- So maybe we should start with the people
without bricks first and then move to the second round
just because I feel like we're running out of time.
- [All] Yeah.
- Lets start without the bar.
- I'd like to maybe invest in some hearing aids
or do something about my jaw
which has been hurting me a lot recently.
- You didn't vote for yourself, right?
Why didn't you vote for yourself?
- Well, I would like to be in the spirit of giving.
- I like that attitude.
(all laughing)
- Yeah, so to give more context to my situation,
my mom has been on survival mode her whole life.
She got the chance to reconnect with my dad.
He passed away shortly thereafter,
so that kind of light was taken away from her.
I would take that money and use it
to maybe take her out
where she won't have to worry at all about
any financial repercussion.
So I can bring that light back in her a little bit.
- I think it's interesting how
a lot of us that now haven't voted for ourselves
are now like wanting that money.
So it's interesting to see how that changed.
Who voted for themselves, I'm curious.
Did anybody vote for themselves?
- There's no shame in that everyone.
- There's no shame.
(upbeat music)
- I know I have a brick on mine,
but I voted for Destiny.
- I voted for you.
- Oh my God.
- I wanna know what people with bricks are thinking
in terms of like,
do you think you'll split your vote
or do you think that you'll give them all to one person?
- I definitely wanna split it.
- I am also thinking about splitting mine,
it just feels fair
to help even the playing field a little bit.
- It worries me a little bit.
I'd rather have somebody get as much money as possible.
The person who has the most bricks is gonna win.
So either we can all band together
and really change someone's life
by giving them the most money possible,
or we can just for the sake of sympathy,
give people bricks that don't mean anything.
So I was surprised when other people
didn't see that same strategy right away.
My perspective's changed a lot.
I don't know if I really want the money anymore.
Just because I don't wanna try to compete
and have somebody just lose out
on something they could be getting to.
So I know that I'm putting all my bricks for Destiny.
- It's such a hard dilemma,
like one part of me really wants the money,
and the other part of me is like,
but that is like a really big problem in somebody's life.
And like this will really benefit them.
(gentle music)
- For this round,
players can use their two gold bricks
to vote for any player,
even those without a stack.
(gentle music)
- My strategy is people who have bricks are shareholders
in this whole brick industry.
I know Charlie has a really good heart,
and I think that he'll vote for Destiny.
(gentle music)
- I wanna be able to give them a chance
to come back and redeem themselves.
(gentle music)
- I would love to alleviate some of that worry
from Miyeong's mother,
and if she has some kind of medical issue with his jaw,
helping with hearing aids,
I would love to help him get the tools that he needs.
(gentle music)
- I personally still relate to Miyeong's story with her mom,
and I still want to keep myself in the running, obviously.
It's making me feel like we're discrediting
other people's stories and backgrounds,
by just voting for Destiny,
I do appreciate what's going on with the love
and loyalty for her,
but to me, it feels kind of odd.
- Please open your eyes in three, two, one, okay.
(gentle music)
- Oh my God, what the...
(Kat giggles)
- Honestly like not what I expected.
- What does that mean?
- It means it looks like an audio visualizer.
(upbeat music)
(bricks clinking)
- It's time to start round three.
Now who you vote on is actually someone who you want
for them to lose their stack.
Okay, you have three minutes.
- What? Okay.
- Please begin now.
- Vote me off.
Okay, I only have one brick,
it makes the most sense for the majority
because I'm only gonna lose one brick.
- I definitely think we should all go around
and advocate for ourselves real quick.
- Yeah.
- I'm mainly like here honestly like for my mom,
because like she immigrated here from South Korea
'cause she had like a super, really abusive family
and it just sucks.
Because I see so many parts of her inner child
that had been lost.
Honestly, I do feel like it's my responsibility
to bring some of that life
and that inner child back to her
because I can't watch her struggle anymore, so.
- It's like hard like hearing you guys
talk about your family,
because it's like my parents are not like that
and I'm not really with them.
So like I said,
I've been told that I don't deserve things
by people that I've made friends with,
and it's like difficult
to think that my life is worthless.
That's what I really need the money for
to just give me some hope
that it's not over and like I deserve it, so yeah.
- I'm on the same page as you Kat.
If people like to vote me off,
that's perfectly fine.
But what I'm taking, woo!
What I'm taking away from this
is the fact that like we're all literally
in the same boat and this is like a generational thing.
We went through a pandemic,
we're currently going through a war,
and we are probably the worst setup generation.
I think personally for entering the real world.
- If I had to advocate for myself,
I don't know if you guys would feel comfortable
sharing what my hospital bills were.
- If you're comfortable sharing.
- We're comfortable.
- Well just like you high and low's throughout my life.
That's how I broke down when you're being so nice to me.
But I relapsed in April 13 last year,
and my insurance couldn't cover it,
but that's what the hospital bill it was for.
Because I know I was very vague when I mentioned it.
I know a lot of us could have hospital bills and stuff,
but yeah I guess that's what I would have to say.
- Thank you for sharing.
I do have an extreme amount of debt already
that I would love to make a dent in.
It is really important to me to also take care of my family.
And my grandmother is my only fam-family member here.
It's just, it's been a very,
very tough couple of years since I moved here.
- Just think about how we all came here with nothing.
We're not losing any of the money
that we actually had before.
Like we came here with nothing.
- Okay, time is up.
I know that was really quick,
but it's time to vote.
Players who currently have stacks
will vote for who they think should lose their entire stack.
(dramatic music)
(beeps)
Three, two, one, open.
Kat, you unfortunately were the most voted person.
Kat lost her stack,
but now has the opportunity to redistribute her brick.
She can give a break to anyone who she thinks is deserving.
(dramatic music)
(gentle music)
(bricks clinking)
All right, so this is the fourth and the final round.
You have two minutes to have a discussion.
And here's a little bonus,
we will give the winning player an extra $100,
because why not, begin now.
- Sorry, I just wanted to say,
I honestly am rooting for you Destiny,
I just wanted to make that clear.
If I had known that the eliminated person
was gonna get to distribute their bricks,
I literally would've asked to vote myself.
- Thank you.
- Yeah, I second that.
I'm staying in because I'm trying to like
get whatever wealth I can to you,
at least like that's in my mind,
I'm rooting for you as well.
- In the round where we had bricks,
I put one for Charlie
because I think Charlie has a good soul.
And I was like,
"If Charlie has voting power next round and I don't,
I think Charlie will give it to Destiny."
- Yeah.
- And then I give my other brick to Destiny.
- I gave mine to Charlie for the same reason.
- Ow, stop!
- And I gave one to Miyeong.
Because the mother situation too,
my mom graduated while she was holding me.
It's a really cute picture.
- Aw! - Cute.
- And so I related with you on that,
and then because you've been such an awesome sport
the entire suit.
- I don't play sports, but...
(all laughing)
- I sympathized with you Destiny
when it came to like addiction.
I've experienced it in my family
and I think that's very empowering.
- We're all here to back you up, right?
- Yes, literally yes.
- And I wanna send love to everybody else
because you all delivered to you.
- Yeah.
- Everyone does for sure.
- Just put things into perspective.
- Yeah, the game really changed
when like once we like went through every single round.
- Yeah.
- I really hope that it makes a day in your life,
for sure, for sure.
- I hope we can redistribute our breaks.
- Yeah.
- Like I honestly I think we can.
- Okay, time is up.
You guys are mad, big brained
because you are already onto this final secret rule.
Players can move one brick
from any stack to another.
Only players who currently have stacks
are allowed to vote.
(suspenseful music)
The votes have been fully counted and stacks are final.
Please open your eyes in three, two, one, open.
(upbeat music)
(suspenseful music)
(upbeat music)
(all cheering)
So you have 10 bricks
and you have won a $1,000, congratulations.
(all cheering)
I do have to ask, why do you think you won?
- I'm not sure why I won.
- That's okay.
(both laughing)
- I thought we all had like similar stories,
and so I was surprised when Kat first said my name.
And I was like, "Wow!"
I didn't understand why.
- I'm glad that one of us at least sees that hope more
and I'm glad that Destiny gets to have that chance.
- We all have an opportunity
to try to change someone's life.
I think it's important to survey
what you see and try to do the best by everyone.
- That's it for this episode.
Thank you so so much for watching,
and peace out, "Stacks" out.
(upbeat music)
(all cheering)
(indistinct)
- A group hug.