‘Game Changer’ Host Sam Reich on Season 8’s 23-Contestant, 90-Minute, Non-Chili’s-Sponsored Finale and ‘Acid Trip’ Season 9 Episode Plans — SkimNews
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- Game Changer's Season 8 finale "Last Talent Standing" aired Monday as Dropout's longest episode ever at ~90 minutes, featuring 23 contestants in a "Squid Game"-style talent show judged by guest stars Kumail Nanjiani, Maria Bamford, and Gianmarco Soresi.
- Oscar Montoya won the finale and received a Chili's gift card worth between $3,000 and $5,000 — funded by Dropout itself after Reich failed to secure Chili's sponsorship, even though the entire 90-minute production was unsponsored.
- Sam Reich said he's permanently done splitting Game Changer episodes into two parts, preferring to "wallop people with one experience" because second halves of split episodes can never surprise viewers as much as a single installment.
- Game Changer had to cut planned mini-games between rounds — including beatboxing faceoffs and runway walks with "resurrection certificate" rewards — after the production day ran so long they became impossible to film.
- Season 9 begins production in three weeks, and Reich described the upcoming episodes as "by a mile, the strangest stuff we've ever done" — "like an acid trip" compared to Season 8's game-design impulses.
Why it matters: Reich's decision to abandon two-part episodes in favor of single 90-minute installments marks a structural shift in Game Changer's format, and Dropout self-funding a $3,000–$5,000 unsponsored Chili's gift card prize reveals how far the company will go to keep ambitious experiments sponsor-free — a stance that matters as the slate expands beyond Game Changer into Dimension 20, Make Some Noise, and Very Important People.
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