Trashed (game show)

At the start of Round 1, each team put three items at risk and Hardwick asked a toss-up question to establish initial control, with no points at stake. The team that won control chose one of their opponents' items; Hardwick then announced a category and asked three toss-up questions worth 50 points each. The challenged team had to answer two questions correctly in order to save the item; if they failed to do so, it was trashed in full view of them and the audience. If the same team won the first two questions, the third one was discarded and the item's fate was immediately decided. The team that won the category took/kept control and chose one of their opponents' items.

The round ended after two categories had been played. Round 2 was played under the same rules, with each question now worth 100 points. Each team's remaining three items were put at risk, and the team that won the second category of Round 1 had initial control.

Categories typically dealt with pop culture, music videos, or random trivia. On occasion, a skit would be presented, after which the contestants would have to answer questions about the skit or from the performers themselves. Examples of categories included "The Naked Trucker" and "Where in the Hell is Mayim Bialik?" (a satire of the computer game/game show, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?).

When an item was to be trashed, plexiglass shields were put in place to protect the teams and audience from flying debris and Mark Fite (referred to as "Mark the Trasher") carried out the destruction, occasionally assisted by show model/announcer Andrea Wagner. Methods of trashing included crushing, detonation, irreparable defacement, and cutting to pieces. If the intended trashing failed to destroy the item to Fite's satisfaction, he would finish the job by smashing it with a sledgehammer.

One member of each team put him/herself at risk of being trashed, while their partners answered 150-point toss-up questions for 39 seconds. Every question could be answered with one of three similar-sounding choices listed by Hardwick, such as "C. Everett Koop", "C. Thomas Howell", and "C. B. DeMille". When time ran out, the higher-scoring team won a prize and advanced to the bonus round, while the at-risk contestant on the losing team was subjected to a messy and/or humiliating punishment. The losers received a cheap, tacky parting gift (such as a Simpsons chess set) and were also required to do 10 hours of community service.