Identity (game show)

After a contestant makes two correct matches or makes a mistake, whichever comes first, he or she is informed of the three "helps" available to him or her only once at any point throughout the course of the game. The first of the three helps is simply a rule of the game, while the other two may be used at anytime:

• Mistaken Identity: The contestant is given a "free pass" after sealing an identity to an incorrect stranger. The help can only be used on the first 10 levels, after which the help is simply taken out of play. Upon using the help it can actually make a pair of decisions, with each implying the other via process of elimination.
• Tri-dentity: The contestant chooses an identity and the number of strangers to choose from is narrowed down to three: the correct stranger and two incorrect strangers. The player must choose the correct stranger out of the three that matches the identity. Upon using the help, unless if a "Mistaken Identity" is already used, the contestant must solve the identity but they are not allowed to pick another identity. The help is usable for the first eight levels, after which it will be forfeited when only four strangers remain.
• Ask The Experts: The contestant chooses an identity and a panel of three experts gives their individual informed opinions on which stranger matches it. In the first week of shows, the panel included a body language expert (Mark Edgar Stephens), a psychologist (Dr. Deborah Anderson), and an FBI behavioural expert (Christopher Whitcomb), although private investigator Bill Stanton has substituted for Whitcomb in some episodes. The experts have no inside information about the strangers. They rely solely on professional training and personal experience to make educated guesses. The contestant is not bound to solve that identity once the Experts have given their opinions—nor is the contestant required to abide by those decisions—and may solve another identity or choose to go home. The experts do not have to reach a consensus. Each member of the panel may provide a different guess for a particular identity. This help is available at any point in the game.

In addition to the three explained helps, there are several other points of assistance offered to the contestant:

• During Identity's premiere week, Jillette would ask the contestant which stranger he or she wants to know more about. He will then ask that stranger their first name, and several pieces of information which are not directly related to any of the identities, such as whether they have any pets. When Identity debuted as a weekly series, this was formalized: at the beginning of the game, the contestant may ask for the first names, and a biographical fact, about three of the twelve strangers. After the third correct match, the contestant can ask about two of the remaining nine strangers, and after the sixth match, may ask about one of the remaining six.
• After the fourth correct match, Jillette introduces the contestant's friends and/or family members (in much the same way as Howie Mandel does on Deal or No Deal). The friends and family typically have a suggestion prepared as to the identity of one of the strangers after they are introduced. However, the friends or family members may sometimes lead a person to match an identity to the wrong stranger or take the money when they would have won the grand prize.
• The audience is not obligated to remain silent until an identity is sealed. The audience often voices their opinion on a selection. Occasionally when a contestant fails to recognize a celebrity of some sort and tries to select him or her for the wrong identity, the audience can dissuade the contestant with their reaction.
• Jillette himself, particularly on early identities, has shown apparent intention on warning, or hinting at the contestants when they are making a blatantly erroneous selection, though he also sometimes is prevented from doing so by a contestant's quick sealing of an identity.

The 12 strangers stand on individually numbered podiums and are referred to mainly by their number, though their first names are often revealed in the progress of the show, either by Jillette or the contestant asking.

Usually at least one identity is made blatantly obvious from physical appearance alone (blatant examples include a "Sumo wrestler" in fighting garb, and a "George W. Bush impersonator"). Celebrity strangers may be easily recognizable by the contestant or the contestant's friends (once they are allowed to help). There were no intentionally misleading costumes (e.g., a physicist dressed as a sumo wrestler when both "physicist" and "sumo wrestler" were possible identities), although strangers often break stereotypes (e.g., a female prison guard, a goateed, long-haired nuclear physicist wearing a leather jacket, or a preschool teacher dressed in a bikini). There was even a missionary wearing a bikini in one episode.

Strangers have confirmed their identities in a variety of ways; musicians, for example, have been handed instruments and asked to play if they can (similarly, opera singer Jennifer Wallace revealed her identity by holding a very high note). Some "skill" identities have been confirmed by demonstration; for example, a (male) go-go dancer danced on stage. Sometimes strangers perform from their podiums, while others are brought to the front of the main stage. Other strangers confirm their identities with a remark which pertains to their identity. An NFL player hesitated and then signaled "It's good" with his hands signaling a field goal, while a mall Santa laughed "ho ho ho". Most follow their comment up with "Yes, I am [the identity]" (though the audience reaction often masks this), and some strangers say only that.

In cases where the stranger is prepared to demonstrate his or her identity, but the contestant selects the wrong stranger for that identity, the mistaken stranger will be asked to try to demonstrate that identity, only to refuse at the last moment and confirm that he is not that identity. Strangers that were prepared to demonstrate their identity but were not given the opportunity (in the event the game ends prematurely) may be asked to demonstrate this when the full answers are revealed to the player.

Three contestants had identified all 12 strangers correctly and won the top prize:

• Robert Talon (aired December 19, 2006) - identified a National Football League player (Ray Crockett), a reality television starlet (Brittny Gastineau), an immigrant from Russia, a blackjack dealer (named Pamela), and a belly dancer (named Ava), which was his final correct answer. The remaining unguessed identity was that of violinist.
• Christina Howard (aired March 16, 2007) - the last two strangers were a prison guard and an astronomer; Howard was the only top prize winner without making a mistake during the course of the entire game (i.e. not using "Mistaken Identity").
• Christian Saulnier (aired April 27, 2007) - the last two strangers were a chimney sweep and pickpocket Apollo Robbins; Saulnier made a mistake once on guessing stranger #6 as a air guitar champion (the actual stranger was #1).

Among the contestants, one contestant won $250,000 but opt not to risk the winnings to identify the last two strangers:

• Nicci Guzik (aired December 21, 2006) - Guzik would have guessed the identities for strangers #9 and #11, respectively as a crime scene investigator and a kidney donor; had she took the risk, she would've lost. This final scenario is a prime example of how better strategic thinking might have helped a contestant: Stranger #9 was wearing a knee-length dress, whereas #11 was wearing a shirt and separate skirt. Had she thought about dramatic ways for the strangers to reveal their identities, Guzik might have realized that a person wearing separates, but not a person in a dress, could lift her shirt to reveal the scar from her donation surgery, such that producers might have planned such a "reveal" and advised the kidney donor to wear separates; therefore, all else being equal, the person wearing separates would be more likely to be the kidney donor.