Cash Cab is a popular daytime television quiz show shown on the British television channel ITV1. It was devised by Adam Wood and made by Lion TV.

The show's host initially poses as an ordinary taxi driver and drives around the major cities of the United Kingdom in a cab. The show pays its passengers for correctly answering questions which may cover general knowledge, culture and history. Contestants are recruited in advance but are not told that the quiz will be taking place in the cab, so although the "pick-ups" are not as random as they appear on screen, the contestants are genuinely surprised when the taxi turns out to be the Cash Cab.

The contestants tell the driver their destination before getting into the taxi and are not allowed to change it. They then have the distance they need to travel to answer questions. The first five questions are relatively easy and worth £10 each, the next five are a little harder and worth £50, the next seven, even harder and worth £100, and any question after that is worth £500. If the contestant gets three questions wrong, they lose the money they have won up to that point and are made to walk the rest of the distance. The host of Cash Cab, John Moody, is in fact a genuinely qualified taxi driver, and has won acclaim for his rapport with contestants and easy-going presenting style.

The format of the show has been sold to numerous countries around the world, including the USA (Discovery Channel), the Netherlands (BNN), Germany (Kabel 1), Russia, Australia, France, Poland, Turkey, Indonesia and Spain. In Norway it has been commissioned as a prime time show.


Series in the United States
The United States version of Cash Cab airs on the Discovery Channel. Unlike the show in the United Kingdom, most contestants are not chosen beforehand (some pre-screening occurs, although the contestants are not alerted to the actual nature of their participation, based upon first-hand reports from contestants). Once a passenger or group of passengers has been picked up, they must state their destination. Season one of Cash Cab takes place in New York City. Anyone that hails the Cash Cab, does not know that they are about to be on a game show until they hire the cab and the driver informs them of the rules. Discovery Channel initially ordered forty episodes (according to Variety) from Lion Television, and taping of the initial run was completed in November 2005.

When the driver of the Cash Cab informs the fare(s) of the rules of the game, though not always shown onscreen, the host does inform the passenger that once the Cash Cab starts, the cab will not take detours of any kind unless directed by a police officer, stop sign, traffic light, or other legal means of diverting traffic, and offers them the chance to get out of the cab if they do not wish to play. Further information reveals that a contestant must stay in the cab until they reach their destination, in order to keep the money they have won in the game. Answering three questions incorrectly, at any point during the trip will force the driver to pull over and dismiss the fare, without the money they had already won.

If the passenger stays in the cab, the game begins. The first four questions are worth $25 each, the next four questions are worth $50, and any question thereafter is worth $100. If a contestant has won more than $200 and the cab is forced to stop at a traffic light, the driver will start a Red Light Challenge. The driver will read a question that has multiple correct answers (usually five), and the passenger will then have 30 seconds to give those answers. Doing so is worth $250 to the fare, and failure to answer the question will not count as an incorrect answer towards the cab stopping.

The passenger is allowed two "Shout-Outs" during the course of the trip, and each type can be used only once. The first type is the Mobile Shout-Out, in which the contestant is allotted a phone call to a friend by means of the driver's cell phone, which is a Motorola RAZR with service provided by Cingular Wireless. The fare is allowed to ask their friend the question and acquire what they think is the correct answer, however, there is a 30 second time limit. The other is the Street Shout-Out. If the passenger chooses to use this one, the driver will stop at the first person he sees and will let the fare ask the person the question and what they think the correct answer is, but there is no time limit for this question.

Should the passenger reach the destination, the driver offers the passenger a choice. The passenger has the option of keeping the prize money and leaving the cab, or the choice of answering a final, more difficult, visual question that is worth double their current prize if answered correctly. However, if the passenger chooses to answer the final question and provides an incorrect answer, the game show host keeps all the money the passenger won previously. Three games are usually played per episode.