Boiling Points
Encyclopedia
Boiling Points is a prank reality television
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...

 show, much like the format used on Candid Camera
Candid Camera
Candid Camera is a hidden camera/practical joke reality television series created and produced by Allen Funt, which initially began on radio as Candid Microphone June 28, 1947...

. It is broadcast on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

 in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. In each half-hour episode, annoying situations are set up and deliberately inflicted on one or more young adults who are unaware that they are being tested. Examples include poor or incompetent service
Customer service
Customer service is the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase.According to Turban et al. , “Customer service is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction – that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer...

 in a store or restaurant
Restaurant
A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...

, being accosted by a date's ex-love-interest while out together, and unprovoked rudeness from a total stranger.

While being watched via hidden camera
Hidden camera
A hidden camera is a still or video camera used to film people without their knowledge. The camera is "hidden" because it is either not visible to the subject being filmed, or is disguised as another object...

, the subject of the show must refrain from displaying a temper or storming off for a predetermined length of time. If he or she passes, a prize of $100 cash is awarded on the spot.

Typically, the Boiling Point time on each segment is anywhere from 3 to 20 minutes. Most often, people lose because they use obscenities in their confusion and/or anger.

The cast includes improvisers Alison Becker
Alison Becker
Alison Helene Becker is an American actress, comedian, writer, and TV personality. She is the previous host of VH1's Top 20 Video Countdown and currently the co-host/sidekick on the FuelTV panel talk-show The Daily Habit.-Early life:...

, Jonathan Blitt, Colton Dunn, Giselle Forte, Rebekka Johnson, Billy Merritt, Missy O'Reilly
Missy O'Reilly
Missy O'Reilly is an actress/comedian best known as a cast member on MTV's hidden camera show "Boiling Points." She has appeared as various characters on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and Upright Citizens Brigade as well appearing in the film Martin & Orloff and New York City Serenade. She is...

, Eric Wippo and Sauce.

Unusual Occurrences

  • In a skit involving Blitt serving pizza
    Pizza
    Pizza is an oven-baked, flat, disc-shaped bread typically topped with a tomato sauce, cheese and various toppings.Originating in Italy, from the Neapolitan cuisine, the dish has become popular in many parts of the world. An establishment that makes and sells pizzas is called a "pizzeria"...

     slices intentionally flipped upside-down on to a plate, one mark responded to being told to pay again if she wants a new slice by throwing both the drink and the pizza on to Blitt.
  • Johnson was playing a cashier at a supermarket who was irritating a customer by talking with a cellphone ear piece while scanning items for her. The customer lunged over the counter and attempted to snatch the ear piece.

Lady Gaga

  • A young and then unknown Stefani Germanotta aged nineteen, now better known as Lady Gaga
    Lady GaGa
    Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...

    , appeared as a contestant on a 2005 episode of Boiling Points. In the episode, Germanotta and two other contestants would be awarded $100 if they went fourteen minutes without cursing
    Profanity
    Profanity is a show of disrespect, or a desecration or debasement of someone or something. Profanity can take the form of words, expressions, gestures, or other social behaviors that are socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, obscene, desecrating, or other forms.The...

     or making a scene
    Disturbing the Peace
    Disturbing the Peace is the second studio album by Alcatrazz, and is the only one featuring Steve Vai on guitar. One of the singles, God Blessed Video, can be found on the fictional radio station, V-Rock, on Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Weeks on Chart: 7, Peak: #133...

     in a New York City restaurant when a waitress threw away their food and upon request, returned it with trash on top. Germanotta was the only contestant on the segment to lose when she used profanity 1 minute and 27 seconds prior to the end of the challenge. After a brief argument, she told the waitress, "Who would put that in their mouth? Would you put that in your mouth? It has shit all over it! Clearly you would because you're just, like, fucked up."Germanotta laughs when she realizes they are on the show when the waitress gives them the money.

See also

  • Breaching experiment
    Breaching experiment
    In the field of social psychology, a breaching experiment is an experiment that seeks to examine people's reactions to violations of commonly accepted social rules or norms. Breaching experiments are most commonly associated with ethnomethodology, and in particular the work of Harold Garfinkel...

  • Prankville - A similar series airing on Country Music Television
    Country Music Television
    Country Music Television, or CMT, is an American country music-oriented cable television network. Programming includes music videos, taped concerts, movies, biographies of country music stars, game shows, and reality programs...

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