Do you believe that certain parts/aspects of your favorite game show are "rigged"? I am defining "rigged" in the sense that producers have full if not partial control in the overall outcome of the game. For example, in Greed there is a terminator round where a "computer" randomly selects a player to have the opportunity to challenge another player. It is possible that this part is fully controlled by someone. Any thoughts on this subject?

I seriously doubt that anything that has to do with the playing of the game has any rigging whatsoever. Ever since the infamous "21" quiz show scandal of the 1950's, there are serious consequences if a show is caught "rigging" a game.
Now, all other aspects are absolutely controlled, from choosing contestants to editing "portions of the show which do not affect the outcome of the game."

My friend Karl is into the whole conspiracy that the wheel on Wheel of Fortune is rigged!!!!!If they like you it lands on big money!!!!He says "I've never seen a little old lady with ten grandchildren on thier go bust!"If someone is too cocky or owns six restaraunts....they never land on big money cuz THEY DONT NEED IT!!!This is his theory...I wont watch the show anymore with him. He also points out that sometimes the Match Game celebritys have six different cards filled out and if they like you they'll pull out the card with your answer on it!!!!

It would be hard to rig Jeopardy.

Originally posted by mamamiasweetpeaches
He also points out that sometimes the Match Game celebritys have six different cards filled out and if they like you they'll pull out the card with your answer on it!!!!

I've often wondered if any of the celebs would deliberately put stupid answers down just because they didn't like a contestant.

....its crossed my mind!

I used to think that Pat Sajak had a pedal to stop or make the wheel keep going....lol, sometimes it seems like it.

No game since the quiz show scandals of the 50s has been rigged. (On some shows like HS, stars were shown answers, but that's been openly admitted and even appears in the credit crawl)

well rigged or not i like watching game shows...

Many years ago I was a contestant on the old 'Joker's Wild" with Jack Barry. I can tell you that they had incredibly strict rules for contestants back stage to prevent any hint of rigging the show. Maybe because it featured Barry who was in the middle of the scandals in the 50's, but you couldn't even go to the bathroom alone. I was about to go onstage and tried to get a look at the mechanism that controlled the board (which was surrounded by a scrim to stop anyone from actually seeing it) and I was grabbed by a coordinator who told me I could be disqualified if I saw the thing! They taped 5 shows in one day and we were holed-up in the green room for the entire time. I was the last contestant on the last show. My friends in the audience were not amused.

Let me see if anyone else notices this...lately on MG 78, it seems that (stupid) star wheel ALWAYS lands on seat 1, 4, and 6...therefore Brett, Chuck, and RD never seem to play anymore. :mad:

When several game shows of the 50's were proven to have been rigged, (The biggest being Twenty-One) Congress made it a FEDERAL OFFENSE to rig any game show after the quiz show scandels. What is interesting, is that when Twenty-One first started out, it was not rigged. But the problem was, the questions were so hard that there would be complete shows with no score! The ratings dropped, so then the producers started supplying questions/answers to "popular contestents" to keep them on the show....Remember the famouse quote from the movie "Quiz Show" (based on the rigging of "Twenty-One.") "A gentile always follows a Jew, and the gentile wins more money." This was documented several times and found to be the case. It's interesting, because SOME contestants on the original "Twenty-One" (The biggest winner of all time won over $200,000, she claimed that she was not coached in advance.) Charles Van Doren was of course coached all the way. (Winning almost $130,000 I believe he was the 2nd highest winner in the shows brief history.) There were two things that always pissed me off about the show. Correct me if I am wrong, but as I understand:

1. Van Doren was exposed as a fraud and a deception on the show, yet he never was forced to return his money won on false pretenses.

2. No criminal charges were brought forth against Jack Barry or Dan Enright (or even NBC) which produced "Twenty-One." I think that this is criminal in of itself. Mr. Enright even lied to the senete committee saying "At no time was I under pressure to favor certain contestents on Twenty-One." Sorry Dan...but that's what the scandel was all about. My question is, how come they never faced any criminal charges, or even civil charges of wrongdoing? Yea, they left TV for almost 20 years, returning to do "Joker's Wild" with tight security. But considering the crap they pulled with "Twenty-One" they should not have been allowed to work another game show again. Why wasn't anything else done, other than a Senete investigation, which "exposed" them? Barry , Enright and his staff violated the public trust and violated profesional ethics. What they did was criminal.

Jack

In regard to King31's message...I assume HS is Holywood Squares? How were stars shown answers? Was this like celebrity milionaire where the stars were garenteed a certain amount of money regardless of how they did in the game? I used to watch Holywood Squares with Peter Marshall years ago.

Jack

<<It would be hard to rig Jeopardy.>>

I think ANY game show can be rigged! And I often wonder how many contestants have been paid off generously in the past to throw a 'round', just to make way for 'fresh meat'

The Mrs and I watch Jeopardy RELIGIOUSLY every night! And she seems to think it indeed IS rigged!

I can't explain...but she seems to have an uncanny knack at predicting the outcome of the games!

For instance...she'll say something like "Well, he's overstayed HIS welcome!" And sure enough...he'll choke and lose it to another player! She NEVER misses!

If you ask me...all the 'Quiz Show scandal' did, was to show game insiders what 'NOT to do'!

pontoon :cool:


"I'll take 'Greek Philosophy' for 1000 Alex."

When I origially started this thread, my main purpose was to raise the possiblity that certain aspects of a game show could be adjusted or controlled to benefit/hurt a contestant's chance of winning. How random are computers? I don't think anybody will ever know. I do agree that today's shows would never attempt to rig a show by supplying the answers as was done in the past. I do think that a show like Jeopardy could influence the outcome by giving a category like "Medicine" and "Poetry" for a contestant who's a Doctor with a minor degree in English/Literature. Of course, the doctor would still have to be smart enough to win the game, but it might give the doctor an unfair advantage. I've seen this happen from time to time. Of course, this could also be explained as a coincidence. If I had the time, I would record the outcomes of the TPIR showcase showdowns for an entire season. Then I would have some empirical data to draw sound conclusions.

I think Survivor is probably rigged, where Jeffrey Probst chooses the winner before hand, but I do not think that the traditional game shows are rigged. They got to much negative press when a show was actually rigged in the 50s, so it is highly unlikely that a show would be rigged today.