If you didn’t have access to news for three months, you may not be able to guess whether some recent headlines are real or fake.
That‘s the premise of Fox News‘ latest show ‘What Did I Miss?’ which premiered on Fox Nation on Monday.
Four contestants went into isolation — giving up their phones, social media accounts, TV and internet — for three months. Before returning to society, they must first spot the “fake news.”
The new show doesn’t miss a beat in appealing to Fox’s conservative audience and puts a spotlight on the unprecedented news cycle since President Donald Trump took office.
Gutfeld, who has a late-night show on Fox News, serves as a much more sarcastic and opinionated host than the more gentle Ken Jennings on “Jeopardy!” Or the more heartfelt Steve Harvey on “Family Feud.”
Gutfeld’s asides during the show included digs at former President Joe Biden’s memory and former Vice President Kamala Harris’ “word salads,” while praising changes made by Trump in his first hundred days.
He also insulted the game’s players for obsessing over Elon Musk — but was self-aware enough to admit they aren’t the only ones awestruck by the tech billionaire.
The absurd nature of “What Did I Miss?” is hard to forget.
“It‘s quite possibly the strangest game show ever created,” Gutfeld admits in a clip. True.
But was being a contestant on this game show worth putting lives on hold, possibly quitting their jobs and leaving families behind, for several months?
About ‘What did I Miss?’
The contestants’ three-months-long isolation period began the day Trump was sworn in for his second term on Jan. 20.
In Episode 2, reviewed by the Deseret News and released on Tuesday, one segment is called “Drain the Swamp,” a term Trump used while campaigning as his plan to fix the federal government‘s financial problems. The segment was inspired by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, which has attempted to reel in federal spending.
To “drain the swamp,” players had to correctly guess whether a headline was real or fake — and fast.
A few hundred thousand dollars on DEI training for pest control? Real news.
More than $700,000 on a rap music program for undocumented migrants at the southern border? Fake news.
But a $37,000 study on the fear of deportation in Latinx young adults? Real News.
Contestants — Allegra, Mark and Mike — also faced other rounds like the “Breaking News” segment.
During this round, one headline was about Trump announcing reciprocal tariffs on every country on Earth and declaring it was “Liberation Day.”
“Just the fact that it says tariffs on every country on Earth? No, I think it‘s fake,” said Mark matter-of-factly. His jaw dropped when he found out he was wrong, serving as one of the most chuckle-worthy scenes in the episode.
Why wouldn’t it be surprising? Trump’s move not only shocked voters but the stock market at home and abroad.
Gutfeld brings on Fox News personalities
Contestants can’t trust Gutfeld or Kat Timpf and Jamie Lissow, who are there to amp up the confusion and provide comic relief.
Timpf and Lissow are regulars on Gutfeld’s late night show and provide some laughs on “What Did I Miss?”
Other Fox News personalities also make an appearance in various segments. In the second episode, Gutfeld recruited Fox Business’ Stuart Varney to help the contestants figure out whether the advancement of cheap Chinese AI caused a trillion-dollar Wall Street crash.
And although Varney came out on stage, an AI version of him on screen attempted to lay out a few facts: “The new Chinese AI tool DeepSeek isn’t just powerful, it‘s cheap, like free Wi-Fi at a strip mall, cheap,” Varney says in the video. “And now we’re seeing the big China robot brain make all the money go bye, bye.”
Yes, it‘s terrible dialogue, and Varney agreed, saying the script sounded like it was written by a malfunctioning AI.
But the news is real. Chinese AI did cause a sizable drop in the market back in January, when the dawn of DeepSeek led to a $969 billion crash.
Players unanimously guessed it was fake news and lost $4,000 of the group prize money.
The big-ish prize money
The final prize money is $50,000, a very small price to pay for 90 days of isolation.
The amount was originally lower at $25,000, but Gutfeld revealed in the first episode, he made some angry phone calls and wrote a few strongly worded emails to get the amount increased.
Only one contestant wins and “the rest go home, broke, confused and possibly radicalized,” Gutfeld said in his cold open.
The winnings definitely don’t match the prizes at other, more popular game shows on TV right now. “Wheel of Fortune” offers a $100,000 top prize.
And although it‘s nearly impossible, if a contestant plays a perfect game, they can win more than $560,000 on “Jeopardy!”
James Holzhauer set the record for winning $131,127 in a single episode in April 2019.
In Episode 2, one of the contestants loses, leaving just two behind.
But this person manages to take home a small bonus of $1,000 for three months of work, “which, after tax, works out to maybe 37 cents an hour,” Gutfeld joked.
Fox News Media told the Hollywood Reporter that the contestants did receive daily compensation for their time. But that didn’t make the experience a cakewalk.
“I missed a lot of family stuff,” said Mike in a behind-the-scenes video. “This really is the hardest thing I really had to do in my life.”
“What Did I Miss” has a small amount of strong language. Episodes 1 and 2 are available to stream on Fox Nation. Episode 3 will premiere on May 14.