LONDON -- "Round and round it goes, where it stops nobody knows."
The host of a popular British morning show spun a giant glittery wheel live on television, as one caller waited to see if they won a cash prize -- or the chance to have their energy bills paid.
Viewers of "Good Morning Britain" watched as the wheel spun. "It's your energy bill!" host Phillip Schofield shrieked. The caller expressed relief at his prize, which would cover the costs of his bill for four months. "Oh my God, thank you," the winner said.
The new game, started as energy bills soar in the United Kingdom and across Europe, sparked a wave of controversy. Critics branded it "tone deaf," "distasteful" and "dystopian" as a cost-of-living crisis sparked by myriad other crises including Russia's war in Ukraine and the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic pushes millions of households to the brink as winter approaches.
"The Brits are trying to cope with the energy crisis," host Olga Skabeeva told viewers of Russia's state-owned Russia-1 channel this week, noting that the offer to pay energy bills would probably be "more profitable" than prizes of up to 3,000 pounds. "I repeat, this is happening in Britain," she said.
It could be a realistic scenario for many families in the United Kingdom as the government grapples to contain the crisis. By October, millions of households were on track to pay out an estimated 80% more a year on their energy bills, The Associated Press reported, noting that people could pay about $4,100 a year for heating and electricity.
Britain's new prime minister, Liz Truss, has announced a plan to combat such rises. Under the plan, bills would be capped at $2,875 per household per year for the next two years.
"I will deal hands-on with the energy crisis," Truss vowed Thursday. "Today I will take action to make sure people are not facing unaffordable energy bills and to secure our future energy supply."
British TV critic Scott Bryan, whose tweet regarding the game show went viral, compared the scene to something out of "Black Mirror," a Netflix anthology series about the darker side of technology in modern society.
Bryan told The Washington Post that the show makes light of an issue that is crippling many families and will worsen this winter.
"There has been a culture of presenting the cost-of-living crisis to the viewer as something that can be resolved with a small prize or by making a couple of lifestyle changes," he said, adding that other television channels had waded in on the crisis.
Bryan said he was concerned that such coverage passes the responsibility of tackling the rising cost of living to the viewers at home rather than the British government or energy giants.
"On the same day, a contributor on a similar show recommended putting tinfoil behind a radiator to keep rooms warmer, mere days after the energy price cap went up 80 percent," Bryan said. "These tips and prizes simply won't offset rising costs."