Grand Theft Auto (game show) (Johnsonverse)
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Grand Theft Auto is an American game show based on the video game series of the same name. It has aired on G4 since September 8, 2012, and is hosted by Chris "Young Maylay" Bellard, who was the voice actor for the character Carl "CJ" Johnson in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, reprising his role in Grand Theft Auto VI. Before 2020, the host was Lazlow Jones, who had been involved in the series as a writer and producer, as well as voicing a fictionalized version of himself. The series has three contestants attempt to gain the most money by doing missions. The announcer is Michael Hollick, who was the voice actor for Niko Bellic in IV and its episodes, and reprised his role in V and VI.
Shot at the Johnson Studios backlot, the series was critically acclaimed, although there was major controversy due to the use of prop weapons and almost all of its missions involving killing people, often innocent pedestrians and police officers, robbing stores, or hijacking cars.
Format
All three players (one of whom is a returning champion, referred to as a "Surviving Contestant") are given $1,000 to start with, a prop weapon via a wheel (purportedly sponsored by Ammu-Nation). The player must answer three trivia questions about adult topics, and the person with the most dollars must go to the course, populated with "very interesting characters", and do a mission (given through a payphone by the announcer) where they must kill certain characters in the process with the weapon, including prostitutes and police officers, for even more money (if the contestant is wasted or busted, they fail the mission and $100 is deducted from their score), hijack cars and return them to a garage, or rob stores, among other possibilities. All three people keep the money they won throughout the game.
In the bonus round, the winner must do a Rampage, where they must kill gang members with the weapon, each person adding $100 to the score (innocent people being killed in the crossfire adds $250), and evade their shots at the same time. If the contestant kills 25 gang members, they win a prize selected from a series of twenty envelopes, including varying money values (for example, $25,000, $50,000, $75,000, and $100,000) and one of eight cars seen on the set.
The set is intentionally designed to resemble a crime-ridden city, with contestant podiums resembling newspaper dispensers, and the course featuring prop buildings and vehicles, being populated with pedestrians (played by various paid extras). Workers (also played by paid extras) populate the various stores.
Production
COVID-19 pandemic
Seasons
| Season | First aired | Last aired | Episodes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | September 8, 2012 | April 27, 2013 | 30 |
| 2 | September 28, 2013 | April 19, 2014 | 30 |
| 3 | September 5, 2014 | April 10, 2015 | 30 |
| 4 | September 19, 2015 | April 16, 2016 | 30 |
| 5 | September 10, 2016 | April 8, 2017 | 30 |
| 6 | September 16, 2017 | April 14, 2018 | 30 |
| 7 | September 22, 2018 | April 20, 2019 | 30 |
| 8 | September 14, 2019 | April 11, 2020 | 30 |
| 9 | September 19, 2020 | 3 |