In This Case, 'Truth' May Not Set Anyone Free

If you would be willing to divulge on national TV whether you've ever cheated on your spouse or lied to get a job, for the sake of pocketing half-a-million bucks -- has Fox got a reality series for you!

The network that brought you "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?," "Temptation Island," "The Swan" and "Unan1mous" has ordered seven episodes of "Nothing but the Truth."

All contestants have to do is get strapped to a lie detector, answer 21 personal, often embarrassing, questions honestly, and the cash is theirs. Tell a lie, they're out.

"It's simple, yet diabolical -- perfect for Fox," joked Mike Darnell, Fox's recently promoted president of all-things-reality-television.

Uncomfortable-making as it sounds, this show is already such a hit in Colombia that more than 50 percent of the country watches it each night it's on. It's the creation of Los Angeles producer Howard Schultz, who perpetrated ABC's slice-and-dice series "Extreme Makeover" on an unsuspecting public.

And, smelling a good thing, 23 other countries have signed up, including Spain, Brazil, Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom.

The "game" is mind-numbingly simple: You take a polygraph test. Questions are asked in batches of three. Answer the first three honestly and you get a certain amount of the half-mil. You can opt out or move on to the next tier. Once you decide to move on, you must answer the next three questions honestly or you lose the cash you've accrued. And so on, until you're out or you've pocketed the half-million.

According to Fox, a sampling of the questions contestants will be asked, in front of their family and friends in the studio audience, includes:

· Have you ever lied to get a job?

· Do you like your mother-in-law?