You have answered one of the mysteries of life, @jpgaltmiller! 80% of all judgements awarded never get collected is a pretty dismal statistic, so it makes sense why a person would go ahead and risk complete public embarrassment, even for a low compensation of $100. You didn't mention whether the participants get their travel, hotel and meals covered for the filming appearance. That's probably an added perk for a lot of people.

I've upvoted and resteemed this article as one of my daily post promotions for the @mitneb Curation Trail Project. It will be featured in the @mitneb Curation Trail Project Daily Report for 05 MAR 2018. I'm following you now, too!

Cheers!