Mental Samurai

Was excited to watch this at first, but ultimately was disappointed. Questions aren't that difficult, and the arm gimmick seems a bit over the top. Worst thing about this show is how long they focus on contestant's back stories. Get to the point. We're here for the game.

I was very excited for Mental Samurai the first time I heard of it but as I saw it more and more, I got really confused and when I watched it, I felt confused even more. Mental Samurai is like an amusement ride that only smart people can ride but they have a chance to win $10,000. Now, the people who actually compete are very good and have very heart-warming stories and Rob Lowe is a great host but in general I would have liked to see more from Mental Samurai and hopefully they can change my opinion as more episodes premiere but I do enjoy the concept of it and I think that people can enjoy this show.

This feels kind of insulting to the viewer. How do I even explain it... it's a mix of juvenile "repeat the phrase", "find the missing jigsaw piece of a 3 piece puzzle", and very random pop culture questions sprinkled in. It's a complete toss up as to how far you'll even get.

It seems the idea of the robot arm is to throw off the contestant, but it's a cheap gimmick because all it seems to do is waste precious seconds while the clock is ticking down.

One cringey moment is watching a couple who claimed to be Mensa members and therefore "smarter than 98% of the population", fail in the first round.

On the plus side, Rob Lowe is a pleasant host. Unfortunately he is wasted on this.

Like many others already said, the robotic arm "Ava" (some dude with joysticks behind the scenes) is useless to any game. It does nothing. Rob Lowe is a great host and personality, but you can tell even this show isn't challenging enough for him. This show is just a bunch of questions - some ridiculously easy, and nothing else. I'd rather see Ellen's Game of Games which also has questions, but with fun, laughable and embarrassing moments. Maybe this show would be better if kids were sitting in that robotic arm.

One of the worst game shows ever. The robot arm serves no purpose. (And robot arms don't go "clunk" every time they start and stop.)

Almost as much time is spent on "background pieces" about each contestant as is spent on the game.

About half the questions are embarrassingly simple. Like, repeat four words in order -- really? And then they throw in a ridiculously hard question about obscure pop songs or TV shows.

Contestants are given a time limit to complete all of the questions. Meanwhile, the clock continues to run while time is wasted by the arm moving around. Then the contestant wastes time explaining their answer. Then they say "Lock it in" and have to pull a shifter handle; what's the point of the shifter handle if they have to say "Lock it in"? Then there seems to be a random amount of time wasted until it's finally announced whether the answer is correct. All this makes no sense. If you're going to have a time limit, don't run the clock down with silly theatrics.

And what the heck does this all have to do with Japanese warriors?