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I actually remember some of these, although I wasn’t really around during the so-called Game Show Scandal years.
The 10 Biggest Game Show Scandals Ever
But I do recall watching a documentary on the Dating Game episode that featured a serial killer. The woman he picked for his date felt creepy about him after the show was over and she refused to go anywhere with him. Lucky her. He was later convicted of murdering several women.
Funny how many shows in the list wound up featuring a contestant who turned out to be a killer.
I also recall the so-called “impossible” perfect bid on the Price Is Right. Again, not really a scandal if the guy beat the game because he was well prepared.
But the best one of all those that are listed has to be the Press Your Luck story about Michael Larson. He was an unemployed ice cream truck driver who went on the show (a terrible game in my opinion and one I almost never watched) and kept winning and winning and winning. It went on so long, producers became convinced he was cheating. But how?
He later admitted that while out of work, he’d intensely watch the show during its daytime run on CBS and studied the board, ultimately discovering a repeating pattern he used to his advantage. Turns out he never cheated and they had to pay him what he won. But his story led to changes in the way the game worked and no one ever figured it out again.
A few years ago, The Game Show Network in the U.S. did a major documentary on this story and it was fascinating to see how he did it and what happened afterwards. It was called “Big Bucks: The Press Your Luck Scandal” and you can watch it for free here.
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To give you an idea as to how popular quiz shows were in the 1950's, in the 1955-56 season, the $64,000 Question was the most watched television show ahead of I Love Lucy. Lucy was the top rated show in four of its six seasons in production.