Federline Appearance on "National Bingo Night" a Disaster
Hollywood - ABC has cancelled a planned "celebrity" edition of its game show "National Bingo Night" after the first contestant, Kevin Federline, proved unable to understand the program' rules. Taping was stopped when Federline got stuck in the massive sphere that holds the bingo numbers.Often referred to by network insiders as "a less intellectual version of 'Deal or No Deal," "National Bingo Night" contestants play by making completely random guesses and relying on luck. Producers said they had never considered the possibility that somebody wouldn't be able to play.
"Our research showed that Kevin Federline is very popular with our core demographic: 18-35 year-old women who have failed the GED test at least twice and are preparing to work the night shift at Taco Bell," said host Ed Sanders. "It never occurred to us to ask whether he was capable of picking numbers."
The first game Federline played on the show required him to guess whether numbers that came out of the sphere would be red or blue. His goal was to get ten correct before any audience member got Bingo by using the numbers.
When Sanders asked him to pick "red" or "blue," however, Federline kept pointing to red and blue items on the set. At one point he pulled down his pants to note that his boxer shorts were red. Federline then started rapping the song "Dance with a Pimp" from his album "Playing with Fire," though he forgot the words halfway through.
Hoping to switch to a simpler game that the rapper and separated husband of Britney Spears could understand, "National Bingo Night" producers had Federline play "Lucky 5'." In that game, contestants simply push a button on a stick to make a number come out of the sphere. Their goal is to get five numbers with a 5 in them (such as 35 or 58) before an audience members gets Bingo.
However, Sanders was unable to teach Federline how to push the button on his stick in order to make numbers appear. After pushing the wrong side of the stick repeatedly, K-Fed tried to hit the show' "commissioner," Sunil Narkar, on the head with the button.
When Sanders urged him to push the button down in order to make a number come out, Federline apparently misunderstood and threw the stick into an opening on the top of the Bingo sphere. The host then said that producers would have to get the stick out to continue taping. But Federline again misunderstood and tried to crawl up the chute for balls that roll out of the sphere.
When he got stuck halfway up, model and co-host Yesenia Adame grabbed his leg to try to pull him out and ended up getting lodged in the chute herself. Producers eventually had to bring in a crew to take apart the sphere and free Federline and Adame. ABC executives then decided to cancel the taping.
"We've learned our lesson that we should follow the example of 'Celebrity Jeopardy,' where they make the questions easier for stars" said Sanders. "We're supposed to try 'Celebrity National Bingo Night' night again next week with Jessica Simpson. Maybe we'll just have a number come out every time she smiles."
