ATLANTA — RJ Korah stands in a dimly lit room, looking intently at a man who holds the keys to his freedom.Korah owes over $90,000 in student loans. And the man standing across from him can wipe that slate clean for him — provided can correctly answer a question about "Super Mario Bros."Korah isn’t not alone. Americans owe a combined $1.4 trillion in loans, and young people are getting increasingly desperate as they look for a way out of their debt.But Korah isn’t in some shady loan shark’s office. He’s in a sound studio in Atlanta, on a game show that specializes in paying off your student loans.The mechanics for " Paid Off" are pretty generic: three guests, a pile of money, and corny jokes from the host in between rounds. But the stakes are a little different.If you make it to the final round, you have the chance to get your entire student loan debt paid off.The whole thing is led by Michael Torpey, a comedian who you’ve probably seen in a Hanes commercial. For him, this show is part comedy and part political statement — he even closes each show with a reminder for viewers to call their local representatives and demand a solution to the debt crisis.“I think debt forgiveness isn't a handout,” says Torpey. “It's the responsible thing.”VICE News took a visit to the set of Paid Off to see if RJ would be able to pay off at least a little bit of his loans, and to find out why Torpey wouldn’t mind if his show gets canceled — as long as someone listens.This segment originally aired on VICE News Tonight on HBO.
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