ambush television

noun

A television format in which guests are deliberately tricked into embarrassing or upsetting confrontations.

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Meanings

nounambush television (uncountable)
  1. uncountablebroadcastingA television format in which guests are deliberately tricked into embarrassing or upsetting confrontations.

    The reasoning usually goes along the lines: ' Talk shows, which started out innocently, have degenerated into ambush television'.

    2002, Toni Johnson-Woods, Big Bother, page 210
    2 more examples

    The case had focused attention on “ambush” television and titillating daytime TV tactics, with Schmitz's lawyers arguing that the show misled him into believing he was going to meet the woman of his dreams.

    2005, Sherry Diestler, Becoming a Critical Thinker: A User Friendly Manual, page 132

    Having been a former high school cheerleader and beauty queen, Birdee is remembered by everyone and pitied for her embarrassment on "ambush" television.

    2010, Melvin Donalson, Black Directors in Hollywood, page 311
  2. uncountablebroadcastingA television format in which a hidden camera captures a public prank played on unsuspecting people.

    An "ambush" television interview conducted on a public street does not violate the federal wiretap statute.

    1989, LDRC 50-state Survey - Volume 7; Volumes 9-11, page 593
    2 more examples

    An increasingly controversial incarnation of reality television is the hidden camera show, or “ambush television,” in which a prank is played at the expense of an unsuspecting victim.

    2004, Virginia Sports and Entertainment Law Journal - Volume 4, page 82

    Politicians have learned to apply a fixed smile to disguise the blind panic as Chaser representative goes about his line in ambush television.

    2006, The Bulletin - Issues 6527-6535, page 22
Cite this entry
APA

ambush television. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ambush%20television

MLA

“ambush television.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ambush%20television. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ambush television,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ambush%20television.

Source: ambush television on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.