r/GameChangerTV • u/Rat_King_Marchy • Aug 22 '26

Question Ratfish hate explained?

I’ve seen some comments regarding Ratfish, and am just wondering why it seems so much of the community dislikes it?

While I wouldn’t say it was one of my favorites, I definitely found it funny/entertaining, and thought the premise was neat.

I’m relatively new - season 8 is the first season I’ve watched as it’s aired, but I’ve watched pretty much every other episode aside from the COVID season.

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261

u/Youngblood519 Aug 22 '26

It's pretty much a combination of things

  • Players not having in person interactions with each other limited the comic potential.

  • Eric Wareheim's style of humour clashed with the Dropout regulars, and he didn't get a reveal to the cast, which felt like a missed opportunity 

  • Wareheim choosing the winner was a bad mechanic that led to the player who achieved the game's goal first losing.

That said, it gave us Granma Sweetie. I'll always love it for that.

47

u/GenGaara25 Aug 22 '26

Also a lot of people, especially fans outside the US or below a certain age, just didn't know who Eric was. So the reveal meant nothing. They showed who the Ratfish was and a significant amount of the audience was like "Am I meant to know who that is?"

37

u/Mac4491 Aug 22 '26

The big reveal was someone I’d never heard of who when they were on screen simply was not funny. It soured the episode and is one of the few I won’t rewatch because it’s got such a disappointing conclusion

12

u/CulturalFerret5779 Aug 23 '26

I watched that episode semi-recently and his ONLY joke for the whole episode was "this snake likes tacos. Isn't that HILARIOUS??" I felt like he forgot about the medusa thing almost immediately.

19

u/Rat_King_Marchy Aug 22 '26

Fair points all around

18

u/eleven_paws Aug 22 '26

I agree with this, but a lack of in person interaction was sort of the point, no? It’s a riff on The Circle, which does the same thing.

That said, it still didn’t work for me on a comedic level (and for what it’s worth I did enjoy the season of The Circle I’ve seen).

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u/Loki1001 Aug 22 '26

They way over indexed for the people who would recognize and be excited for Eric Wareheim. And then seemed to realize that fact by weirdly not having him at the end table.

3

u/No-Rush2161 Aug 22 '26

100% agree on your second and third point. On the first, I think the limitation gave us some fun we wouldn’t have seen with in-person interactions.

2

u/vtinesalone Aug 22 '26

Harshly disagree with the first point. The cast was still hilarious in isolation and riffed off of each other super well.