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[pleasant music]
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- [sniffing]
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Ah, nothing like bacon and eggs in the morning.
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It's a hearty meal that holds you together for the whole day.
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It's a combination so obvious that it's been around
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for as long as both foods existed.
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Humans naturally loved these foods together,
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so they became a staple of breakfast.
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Or did they?
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What if I were to tell you that the traditional combination
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of bacon and eggs isn't part of our natural history,
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but is instead a corporate conspiracy
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orchestrated by society's true puppet masters?
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It isn't a breakfast for champions.
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It's a breakfast for sheeple.
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[electronic music]
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♪ ♪
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We think that a lot of commonplace things
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are the way they are because of collective free choice,
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when in fact, sometimes,
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one or two people alone
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made a decision and created something
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that is now taken for granted as part of society--
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just part of life.
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Here's the real story behind bacon and eggs.
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It all begins with Sigmund Freud.
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Or rather, his nephew, Edward Bernays.
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Bernays is credited as the "Father of Public Relations,"
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the product of a time when the world
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had become just small enough
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that you could manipulate a lot of people at once
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because of the way that advertising, news,
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and radio could reach a large number of people quickly.
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Bernays took advantage of mass media
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not with the intention to inform,
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but with the intention to control.
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In the 1920s, Ed Bernays asked a doctor
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who worked at his agency whether a breakfast should be
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heavy or light, and the doctor pretty much said,
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"I guess heavy would be better."
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Bernays then had that doctor
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get 4,500 other doctors to confirm that.
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- All of them concurred that a heavy breakfast
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was better for the health of the American people.
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- Then, Bernays lobbied newspapers
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to publish that all these doctors were saying
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you should eat a big ol' breakfast.
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But he wasn't doing this to improve public health.
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He was doing this because Beech-Nut Packing Company,
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a major supplier of bacon,
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was paying him to do it.
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- The sale of bacon went up,
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and I still have a letter
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from Bartlett Arkell,
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president of Beech-Nut Packing Company,
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telling me so.
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- So we collectively, as a country,
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agreed that bacon was our breakfast meat of choice.
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But we didn't actually make that choice at all.
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And that's just breakfast.
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Our lives are full of decisions that we think
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we make of our own free will.
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But do we?
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[dramatic music]
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These days, our markets are inundated
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with products and choices.
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But is having many choices good or bad?
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[dreamy electronic music]
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♪ ♪
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Most people say they like a lot of choices.
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But do they really?
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We took our cameras and a few pounds of jelly beans
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to Venice Beach to find out.
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First, we invited people to pick
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one of two flavor choices.
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- Yeah, good.
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- Yeah, I'm happy with it. Yeah.
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Thank you.
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It was an easy choice to make.
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I chose it 'cause I wanted something fresh in my mouth.
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- I like it--I like lemon and citrus and everything like that.
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Good taste. I'm happy with my choice.
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- Most subjects were content with their selection
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when it was a choice between two options.
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But what happens when we offer more choices?
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Will the subjects be just as happy with their decision?
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- I see.
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Not licorice...
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Okay. Can I do more than one? Or just one?
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- Oh, my goodness.
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Mmm.
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Mm-hmm.
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Well, I'm kind of regretting not trying a fruit one.
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Because with jelly beans, it's more--
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fruit is more natural to me.
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Like, I probably should have gone
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for my first choice, raspberry.
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Maybe I would have been happy.
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- There's, um--I mean, there's a lot to choose from.
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I'm gonna try one?
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- Okay. Marshmallow.
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- I don't know. Uh...
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You're always questioning, like,
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"Did I make the right choice," right?
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Like, initially, I wanted to try pineapple,
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but then I thought marshmallow,
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I don't want to miss out on marshmallow, or peach,
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or blueberry even.
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If I could choose again, I would probably pick peach.
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- All right.
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Pineapple.
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Very good. It's my favorite fruit.
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Mmm, I could have had blueberry,
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which is also one of my favorites.
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- Uh, kind of an impulse decision.
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I kind of wish I looked at the whole
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thing a little bit more. - Yeah.
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- Maybe I would have picked a better flavor.
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- So maybe sometimes we're actually
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happier with fewer choices?
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In fact, researchers have been
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exploring this idea for years.
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According to the famous jam experiment,
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a study by Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper published in 2000,
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too many similar choices may even stop us
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from making any choice at all.
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The study compared two store displays:
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one with 6 varieties of jam and one with 24.
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Although fewer consumers stopped to sample jam
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at the display with limited choices,
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a full 30% of them made a purchase.
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By contrast, only 3% of the consumers
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at the more extensive display
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actually bought a jar of jam.
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This is called "Choice paralysis."
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But life is all about choices.
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We like having choices.
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Don't we?
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Or are we happier
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when we have no choice at all?
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[static]
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Hello, and welcome to "Tea Time Word Scrambles,"
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the game show where the competition is steep
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and trouble is always brewing?
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Some of our contestants will be given a choice
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of caffeinated black tea or soothing herbal tea.
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And the others will be given no choice at all.
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Once the tea takes effect,
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they'll be asked to unscramble some words.
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Which contestants will be happier with their performance?
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Those who have their choice of tea, or those who don't?
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Let's find out. It's "Tea Time."
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My name is Michael Stevens, your host today.
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Let's meet our contestant, Gisele.
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- Yay! - Nice to meet you, Gisele.
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- Nice to meet you too.
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- Tell me a little bit about yourself.
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- I'm from New York, and I've lived in LA for al--
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[bell dinging] - Ooh!
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Gisele, you know what that sound means.
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- What? - That means it's Tea Time.
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- Yay! - Go ahead and take a seat
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in the Tea Seat. - Okay.
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I like tea.
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- Well, you're in for a treat, Gisele.
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- Okay. - Because today you are going
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to be unscrambling words. - Uh-oh.
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- A task that requires energy-- - Yeah.
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- Because there's a time limit, but it also requires focus.
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- Mm-hmm. Okay. - Steady, calm nerves.
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- Got it. - And patience.
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- Yeah. - So,
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today the choice is yours.
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You can either have
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some herbal tea that will keep you calm and focused...
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- Okay. - Or you can have
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some black tea that's caffeinated
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and will give you some energy.
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- Hmm.
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I'm gonna go with black. - Black tea?
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- Yeah. - All right.
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Go ahead and pour some black tea--
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you know what? I'll have some too.
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Mmm, wonderful.
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Now, what made you pick black tea?
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- Um, I want to be energized.
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- Okay. - Yeah.
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- Here's to you. - Cheers.
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- Cheers.
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Mmm. [bell dinging]
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Whoa, you know what that sound means.
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It's word scrambling time. - Okay.
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- Remember, this subject had a free choice
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of which tea to drink.
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Will freedom of choice bring her
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happiness and satisfaction?
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Gisele, these are your words.
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- Oh, my God. When do I start?
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- Well, we're gonna put three minutes on the clock.
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- Okay. - Go ahead.
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You can use these steps
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to access the letters.
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The goal here is to solve
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as many as possible within the three minutes.
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- Got it. - And...go!
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- [sighs]
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[playful music]
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- Starting with word number five.
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♪ ♪
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Gisele has kitten.
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That looks like it could be the right answer.
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♪ ♪
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- Oh, yeah. - Vacuum.
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- Uh...
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Um... - Hearth.
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Looking good.
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- Oh, I don't know what this is.
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Um...
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[bell dinging] - Oh!
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And time is up, Gisele. Come on down.
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And let's take a look at how you did.
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- Oh. Oh, no. [laughs]
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- For number one, you got vacuum,
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which is correct, very good job. - Yay!
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- Very good job. For number two, hearth.
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Correct, very good job. - Yay!
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- Now, number three, you have "Taffrid."
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- [blows raspberry] - It's a very good word,
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but it's not one.
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The actual answer is adrift.
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- Oh, I was so stuck on that.
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- Number five, you have kitten.
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That was the first one you solved, and kitten is correct.
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- Yay! - Very good job.
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Now, down here at the bottom,
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uh, the answer is lounge.
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You have "Lougne."
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- Oh! I spelled it wrong! [buzzer blares]
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- No, we can't accept "Lougne," unfortunately.
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Well, Gisele, you received
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one, two, three points. [bell ringing]
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So, how do you feel you did?
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- I should've probably had the other tea
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because then it would have calmed my nerves.
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I should have chose the other tea.
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- This subject clearly regrets her choice.
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The fact that she chose the tea herself
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gives her the opportunity to second-guess her decision.
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What about the other subjects
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who were given freedom of choice?
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"Noric," we were looking for ironic.
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- Isn't that ironic? - No, it is not.
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What we were looking for was hearth.
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- Hearth? - Adrift.
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Shroud. - Are these words--
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actual, real words? - Yeah, they are.
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Tell me, Heather, how do you feel you did today?
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- Uh, not as well as I had hoped.
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- If you could do it again would you choose a different tea?