| Host | |
| Red Symons | |
| Broadcast | |
 | |
| Packager | |
| Southern Star Endelmol | |
Shafted was a short-lived quiz show based on a short-lived British quiz show of the same name where players answered questions and try to survive being "shafted". Upon a player getting "shafted", the host pulled a lever in front of him and caused that player to sink down through a hole.
Gameplay
To start, six contestants in secret make their bids up to $500. The highest bidder gets eliminated, IOW "Shafted". The remaining five players who stood on, answered ten toss-up questions from one of four categories nominated by the second highest bidder of the original six. Before the questions were asked, the survived players placed their bets not exceeding their bids. If two or more pick the same bid, the one who locked their bid the fastest will get it and the next contestants bid will be $5 less to avoid two or more players having the same bid. On the questions, each time a player buzzed in with a correct answer, his/her wager was added, while an incorrect answer deducted the wager. Players who went down to zero were locked out of the round. The last question in the round (after the toss-ups) was a "half" question, where the players (still in the round) placed their bets on it and the player with highest wager got the question.
At the end of the round, the player in the lead chose who to "shaft" and the chosen player/victim got 30 seconds to plead/make his/her case as to why s/he shouldn't be "shafted". After that, the leader chose either to stay or switch players, if they change their mind, the new victimized contestant is "shafted" immediately without making a case.
The process was repeated for the next two rounds with all the contestants' scores augmented to the leading player's score and one less category to choose from.
At the end of the game when two players are left standing, their winnings were combined and they must now decide amongst themselves whether to "share" or "shaft". If both players decide to shaft, both players walk away with nothing. If one decides to share and the other to shaft, then the shafted player wins all the money; if they both decide to share the money is split between the two players.
The highest possible prize on the show was $5,566,000, and only possible if a contestant survived the first round with $500, bet all their money on the toss-ups in each round and answered all of them correctly, and bet all their money on all the half-questions and answer them correctly.
Pics
Inventor
Based on the U.K. format of the same name.