America's Got Talent

I do not like the show America's Got Talent, and hate is not too strong a word. But it's a staple on TV in my house over the summer.  I choose to do other things than subject myself to this popular show.  I did, however, catch the credits after last night's finale, and in a blink saw that the winner gets paid the $1 million prize in a form of a forty-year annuity.  I don't know the terms of the annuity, but at today's interest rates it's probably not much more than the straight-line $25,000 per year.  I saw on another blog that contestants can choose to take a discounted lump sum payment, which would probably be closer to $400,000.  Good money, but nowhere near the advertised $1 million.  What crappy terms.  Come on NBC, pay the winners the full $1 million up front, you can afford it.  I wonder if all reality shows deceive screw their winners in this manner.