NEW YORK: Of the 13,000 cabs in New York City, only one pays you. On Cash Cab, a Discovery Channel reality game show, people plop themselves into the back of a seemingly normal, yellow van taxi. But then lights on the ceiling begin flashing and the driver turns around to inform the passengers they’re on television.

En route to the contestant’s destination, comedian Ben Bailey asks general knowledge questions worth $25, $50 and $100. Get three questions wrong, though, and you’re out — on the street, even in the pouring rain, wherever you are.

Despite little promotion, viewers have responded to the charming simplicity of Cash Cab. Airing twice on weekdays, it has built a loyal following.

Like many TV shows, Cash Cab is adapted from a British original. It’s been licensed to 25 countries, including France, Australia, Indonesia and Peru. And Discovery says the show will go back into production for new episodes to air later this spring.

To observe this TV show on wheels, The Associated Press recently hailed a ride in the Cash Cab.

In his familiar perch of the driver’s seat, the 35-year-old baritone Bailey suggests the ride could be a lucrative one.

“You can win a lot of money on this interview,” he jokes.

On Cash Cab, Bailey is a marvel of multitasking.

Manoeuvring New York City traffic can be arduous even for those not simultaneously hosting a TV show. (A producer feeds Bailey the questions through an earpiece while he drives.)

“I knew it was going to be a lot of work and I had to be careful,” says Bailey. “If I kill just one person, it’s all over.”

Fortunately that hasn’t happened yet — no doubt partially thanks to Bailey’s five years of driving a livery cab before devoting himself to comedy.

Bailey, previously a struggling comedian, successfully passed the test for a taxi driver’s license. The Cash Cab is actually a registered cab.

“Safety was an enormous concern,” says co-executive producer Tony Tackaberry. “Fortunately, he took the idea of being able to walk and chew gum at the same time to the nth degree.”

The show’s contestants are allowed two ‘shout-outs’ if they’re stumped on a question. They can either make a cell phone call to a friend or pull over and ask a random passer-by.

One man desperately called his ex-wife when he couldn’t remember the pig’s name from Charlotte’s Web. (It’s Wilbur.)

The agent of New York Giants running back Tiki Barber, Mark Lepselter, called his star client when he didn’t know the title of the John Steinbeck novel about Tom Joad.

Tiki’s answer? Lonesome Dove. (It’s The Grapes of Wrath.)

“When he said Lonesome Dove, I initially went, “Fumble!” — which was awful because he had, like, the most fumbles in the NFL a few years ago,” Bailey, a Giants fan, says regretfully.

The action is captured by the various hidden cameras inside and atop the cab, or by a trailing van that stealthily shoots contestants as they get in and out.

The show also offers something of a slice of New York life, with city dwellers on their way to a favourite bar in Tribeca or to opera practice on the Upper West Side.

On Discovery, where documentaries on sharks or oil rigs are more the norm, Cash Cab can come off like a nature film about New Yorkers.

“And you see some fairly unique species,” Tackaberry says.

“The main thing I’ve learned is you can never tell who knows what by looking at them,” says Bailey. “It’s totally random.”

The real joy of Cash Cab, though, is seeing the startled reactions of contestants at the moment they’re told their cab is a game show set.

“Are you serious?” is the most frequent reply.

“Some people are suspicious,” says Bailey. “Some people just don’t believe me. And then other people think that it’s something I just set up myself as a joke, even after they see all the lights and everything. They look at me like, ‘This guy is nuts’.”—AP