00:00asks for a production team.
00:01It was actually really incredible what it took to pull this off.
00:06We had to transport the cast one at a time to the hotel
00:09from pre-designated meetup spots
00:12so that they wouldn't accidentally see each other.
00:14We had a whole team on walkies.
00:16I don't even think we were saying their name
00:17because we didn't want to risk anybody hearing anybody else's name.
00:20PAs were there to greet them at the entrance,
00:23bring them to the elevator, go upstairs, go to their rooms.
00:25The first few hours of that day felt like Fort Knox.
00:28Every cast member had a PA on them to make sure they didn't stray.
00:32Once they were in their rooms, they were locked in their rooms.
00:34They were told to be like super quiet.
00:35We put buffer rooms in between each player
00:39to account for the fact that their neighbor might hear.
00:42Please help me.
00:45When you think about what else has to go into
00:48planning a show like Ratfish,
00:52you're talking about adding creative producers
00:54to be inside every single room that we shoot in.
00:57And not only were they typing everything that they were saying,
01:02they had to communicate with us what was going on in the room.
01:05We needed to really encourage every player and remind them
01:09to verbalize, to think out loud, to react out loud,
01:13to make for a compelling narrative.
01:14We had audio feeds from each room,
01:17but you couldn't listen to them all at once
01:19because it was just a cacophony.
01:20There's so much that happened that day that I don't even know,
01:24that none of us saw,
01:24and that we're only going to discover once we go into the edit.
01:27We had all of the gameplay going on over Slack.
01:30In a way, we were almost like playing the game with the players
01:34as the production team,
01:36because we only knew as much as we were able to see on Slack.
01:41The scale of it was almost like a full-blown reality show.
01:44This wasn't a game show anymore.
01:46We had to bring on a special team of people that shoot reality.
01:49They were able to build out this amazing system where we could monitor
01:53and control each camera remotely down the hallway.
01:56Walking into that control room the morning of the shoot was like,
02:01it felt like we were in mission control
02:03and we were like sending someone to the moon or something.
02:05It was such a huge production.
02:08We were trying to shoehorn an entire season into a single day.
02:12You have to think on your feet.
02:14Paul and I probably did more redesigning of the game on the fly,
02:19that episode, than we did in any other episode.
02:23A part of me was worried that we would end the game
02:26and that no player would have figured out everyone's identity.
02:31I thought that was a very real possibility.
02:33When Rekha straight up got it,
02:35Sam and I were looking at each other like,
02:36what do we even do?
02:38Okay.
02:39I literally never gotten first place in maybe anything.
02:44What?
02:45Rekha, you got everyone correct?
02:47Inevitably, as happens in the circle,
02:50the game ends up twisting in directions
02:52that you don't necessarily predict it will.
02:55I could never have predicted that Rekha would get
02:58the solution as early as she did.
03:01I don't think Rekha predicted it.
03:02I mean, she was shocked.
03:04But of course, that couldn't be our whole game.
03:08And then Katie figured out the answer.
03:10And so then we were like,
03:12well, should we call it a tie?
03:14I want immunity.
03:15Oh my God.
03:17I'm so happy because I was so close to switching things up.
03:21Yes.
03:21Fuck yes.
03:22Paul and I were sitting there.
03:24We realized that the ratfish had one more advantage left to give.
03:29And that advantage could be a tiebreaker.
03:31But one of you had the ratfish's favorite piece of artwork from the last challenge.
03:41The winner, Katie Merrill.
03:45I think despite the long day, like everybody had a really amazing time.
03:52By the time they were all seated around a table together, there was like so much catharsis in
03:59finally seeing each other's faces after hanging out with each other virtually all day.
04:04You could really feel it.
04:05It's like we were all drunk on that energy.
04:08Not having Eric at that final table, I am fully aware, is going to be seen as a controversial decision.
04:17There was something about leading up to the final moments of the day where I just really couldn't imagine that table being anyone else but us.
04:26Game Changer to me feels a lot like summer camp.
04:34Most of our crew are working on other productions, sometimes with us, sometimes outside of Dropout.
04:38And whenever we wrap a season of Game Changer, there always is a bittersweetness.
04:46As the work has gotten more ambitious, everyone who works in Game Changer has that feeling.
04:53Like, wow, I did it.
04:55We did it.
04:56And we did it without burning the house down.
04:59It's just a leap of faith to be like, okay, I have this insane idea.
05:03Nine rooms, each with super heavy panda decor.
05:07And then it comes together and you hold your breath and then you see the frame.
Comments