Murderers, Cheat Codes, And Marital Confessions — 9 Of The Biggest Game Show Scandals Of All Time

Yahoo

09-05-2025

Behind the glitz, glamor, and grand prizes, game shows have a dark side. Of course, we all fondly remember sick days and lazy afternoons spent watching everyday people guess their way to fortune and fame. Sometimes, however, the contestants, hosts, or even the show itself weren't as squeaky clean as they were portrayed to be...
Thanks to documentaries and films, people have become more aware of these scandals, but there are still many unsavory events that the average person or even game show aficionados don't know about. From criminals to cheaters, here are nine shocking game show scandals that ROCKED the small screen...
Content warning: Murder, rape, and miscarriage.
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2.The Twenty-One rigging scandal (1956):
The history of game show scandals dates back to the not-so-good old '50s. In 1956, game show host Jack Barry and his production partner, Dan Enright, decided to pitch two game shows to NBC, Tic-Tac-Dough and Twenty-One. The latter aired from September 12, 1956, to October 16, 1958. Unlike other game shows of the day, Twenty-One was more akin to Jeopardy due to the difficult nature of its questions and the fact that new contestants challenged returning victors.
Shortly after the show premiered, Herb Stempel, a Bronx native with an IQ of 170, wrote a letter to the producers informing them that he wished to be a contestant and had "thousands of facts and figures at my fingertips." Shortly after, he was invited to take a qualification trivia test, containing over 360 questions, and correctly answered a record-setting 251 of them.
After passing the exam, Enright visited Stempel at his Queens apartment. Stempel later recalled, "[Enright] started to ask me questions. I knew the answers to most of the questions. Some other questions I didn't know the answers to, and he filled me in. Then he leaned back on the couch and said, 'How would you like to make $25,000, just like that?'" He continued, "I immediately understood what he was saying, obviously, because he wasn't about to give me $25,000 for appearing on the program when I could have been easily defeated and gone off with nothing. Once I said, 'Who wouldn't?' I became part of the game show hoax."
Before filming began, Stempel recalled that Enright once again ran him through a series of questions and answers, told him how many points he would earn, and instructed him to appear nervous.
After a few weeks as reigning champ, Stempel was informed that ratings were "going south" and that it was "time for somebody else to take your place." Enter Charles Van Doren, a young professor from Columbia University.
Over fifty million people watched Van Doren and Stemple's first head-to-head on November 28, 1956. After several tie games, the then-33-year-old professor dethroned Stemple and remained on a "hot streak" until March 11, 1957. By the end of his 14-week sweep, Van Doren achieved nationwide fame, won over $129,000 (equivalent to over $1.4 million today), and even appeared on the cover of Time. He used his newfound fame and connections to secure a spot as a "cultural correspondent" for the Today show.
Everything was going perfectly in Van Doren's world...until the summer of 1958, when Albert Freedman, a Twenty-One producer who had coached him, was indicted for perjury. When Freedman was photographed in handcuffs, producers of other quiz shows admitted their games were also rigged, marking the beginning of the great quiz show scandal. The following November, Van Doren expressed remorse before a congressional jury, stating: "I would give almost anything I have to reverse the course of my life in the last three years." He pleaded guilty to second-degree perjury, lost his job at NBC, and became a national disgrace.
After the scandal, Stempel became a legal researcher for the New York City Department of Transportation. Van Doren became an editor and a pseudonymous writer. The scandal was immortalized in the 1994 Robert Redford-directed film, Quiz Show, on which Stempel served as a consultant.
3.The Dating Game Killer (1978):
The Dating Game, which had been on and off the air since 1965, roared back to life for its third iteration in 1978. In September of that year, its most infamous episode would air, in which Cheryl Bradshaw appeared as the "bachelorette" while Jed Mills, Armand Cerami, and Rodney Alcala (later known as "The Dating Game Killer") were the "bachelors."
During a 2021 special episode of 20/20, Mike Metzger, who was then executive producer of The Dating Game and contestant coordinator (and later wife), Ellen Metzger, recalled they initially disagreed over Alcala's casting. Ellen stated that she believed women would swoon over the then-35-year-old; however, Mike claimed that he had a "strange personality" and "a mystique about him that I found uncomfortable."
Despite Mike's objections, Alcala still appeared on the show. When the contestants were introduced, host Jim Lange described the then-35-year-old as "a successful photographer who got his start when his father found him in the dark room at the age of 13, fully developed. Between takes, you might find him skydiving or motorbiking. Please welcome Rodney Alcala!"
Throughout the night, Bradshaw asked the "bachelors" many sexually-charged questions, such as, "I am serving you for dinner. What are you called and what do you look like?" Alcala responded, "I'm called 'the banana' and I look really good. Peel me."
At the end of the episode, Bradshaw chose Alcala, and the pair won a trip to an amusement park and tennis lessons. But, when the couple was officially introduced at the end of the episode, Bradshaw's excitement turned to a "pretty lukewarm togetherness."
Even though all dates made through the show were chaperoned, Ellen Metzger recalled that Bradshaw called the office the next day and said, "Ellen, I can't go out with this guy. There's weird vibes that are coming off of him. He's very strange. I am not comfortable. Is that going to be a problem?" She continued, "And of course, I said, 'No.'"
Unbeknownst to everyone, Alcala, who was born in Texas in 1943, had committed a laundry list of heinous crimes since the late '60s and had even been placed on the FBI's "Most Wanted" list after the brutal kidnapping and rape of a minor. He had also killed Cornelia Crilley, a 23-year-old TWA flight attendant in New York, but got away with it due to the massive influx of murders in early '70s New York and the lack of forensic investigation.
During his appearance on the show, Alcala was in the midst of a two-year crime spree, wherein he raped and murdered at least six women and girls — with only one of his victims managing to survive. He was finally caught in 1979 after the kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old Robin Samsoe because one of her friends remembered him taking their picture days earlier. Police were able to circulate a composite sketch, which one of Alcala's parole officers recognized. He was later sentenced to death. According to the Associated Press, authorities believe Alcala may have been responsible for up to 130 murders.
After decades on death row, Alcala died of a heart attack in July 2021.
4.Michael Larson's Press Your Luck cheat code (1984):
When Press Your Luck, known for its contestants' pleas of "big bucks, no whammies," hit the CBS morning lineup in 1983, ice cream truck driver, Michael Larson saw his chance at a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to game the system, or rather, the prize board.
Larson, born in Lebanon, Ohio, in March 1949, had a long history of get-rich-quick schemes, going as far back as middle school. Between 1969 and 1982, Larson was arrested three times for receiving and concealing stolen goods, larceny by trick, and petty theft.
By November 1983, the then-34-year-old was fascinated by Press Your Luck and bought a VCR to tape the episodes and analyze the "Big Board." He discovered that the board's lights did not move randomly, as claimed, but rather in five predetermined patterns, and he never spotted a "Whammy" in squares four and eight; instead, those squares "always contained a combination of cash and an extra spin."
In May 1984, after six months of honing his "skill," Larson used the last of his savings and trekked to CBS' Television City, where he portrayed himself as a down-on-his-luck, but charismatic underdog. In a later interview with TV Guide, contestant coordinator Bob Edwards claimed he told executive producer Bill Carruthers, "There's something about this guy [Larson] that worries me," to which Carruthers remarked, "But I overruled him. I should have listened to Bob."
Despite Edwards' worries, Larson made his way on the show, with filming taking place on May 19, 1984. The father of three competed against a Baptist minister and a dental assistant. During his sweep, the show's control booth operators realized what he was doing and called CBS's head of programming, Michael Brockman, who told TV Guide, "Something was very wrong...Here was this guy from nowhere, and he was hitting the bonus box every time. It was bedlam, I can tell you." The show's producers wanted to halt the competition, but without any substantial proof that Larson was cheating, the game continued.
When the show ended, Larson had won over $110,237 (equivalent to $340,944 today), a sailboat, and luxurious trips to the Bahamas and Kauai. The network's Standards and Practices department felt Larson wasn't entitled to his prizes, but after executives pored over the game's footage, they could not find any outward wrongdoing, so they mailed the check.
Due to the game's length, Larson's winning episode was split into two, airing on June 8 and 11, 1984, under the condition that it would never be shown again. Afterwards, the "Big Board" was reprogrammed with 27 new light patterns, and a prize cap of $75,000 was instituted. After the changes were made, Larson contacted the show's contestant coordinator and issued a challenge that would remain unanswered: "I know you've added patterns to the board, but I bet I can beat you again. How about a tournament of champions?"
When host Peter Tomarken asked Larson on-air what he planned to do with his prize money, he insisted, 'Invest in houses.' While he did invest some cash in Ohio real estate, he also lost $50,000 in a home burglary. He later became an assistant manager at a Walmart before becoming entangled in what the SEC deemed "a fraudulent multi-level marketing scheme" with a company called Pleasure Time Inc. that involved a non-existent lottery. With charges filed against the company and the SEC, IRS, and FBI on his trail, Laraon fled to Apopka, Florida, where he remained in hiding until his death from throat cancer in 1999.
5.The Super Password fugitive (1988):
In January 1988, a man named "Patrick Quinn" appeared on Super Password and won the largest one-game prize in the show's history. However, he later collected more than just his earnings.
As it would be revealed, "Patrick Quinn" was actually Kerry Ketchem, a former member of the Air Force and a con artist, who was wanted in three different states for various fraud-related crimes. He was spotted by an eagle-eyed informant in Anchorage, Alaska, who happened to be watching Super Password. (Ketchem was under Secret Service investigation in Alaska for his role in a mail-order scheme).
Robert Sherman, Super Password's executive producer, later told the New York Times, that the show's officials ''found some of his [Ketchem's] stories to be a little incredible" — at one point, Ketchem informed host Burt Convy that he had worked in Alaska at a CIA listening post.
After "Quinn" was confirmed to be Ketchem, a sting operation was arranged with the help of the show's talent coordinator, Joyce Weiss-Stevens, and Sherman. They arranged an appointment for Ketchem to collect his prize money. When he arrived at the show's headquarters, he immediately fled the scene after being greeted by Secret Service agents. Later in the day, he was discovered standing on a toilet in a ground-floor restaurant's bathroom.
Ketchem was sentenced to five years in prison, and his winnings were withheld, as it was declared that he had violated the show's eligibility rules by assuming a false name.
6.Manhunt cancellation (2001):
In 2001, a game show called Manhunt began airing on the UPN (United Paramount) network. The goal of the reality-game show hybrid, hosted by John Cena, was for contestants (aka fugitives) to escape actors portraying bounty hunters. However, in the show's short airtime, it encountered many problems.
The most significant blow came when contestant Jacqueline 'J.K.' Kelly filed a complaint with the FCC alleging that she and her fellow contestants were told their prize money would be withheld until the show's last episode aired, but that 'the show would never air" unless they agreed to shoot false scenes. Therefore, the remaining 12 contestants participated in the reshoots in LA's Griffith Park, despite the show advertising itself as filmed "on location" in Hawaii.
Co-executive producer Bob Jaffe and Hash Shaalan, a former Navy SEAL and event producer who served as the "Judge," claimed the show was rigged as well and alleged that reshoots occurred because Paramount executives were dissatisfied with the contestants' performances in Kauai. Jaffe stated that then-president Garry Hart and studio chairperson Kerry McCluggage conferred with him to manipulate the show's races, as they deemed them "too difficult" for the favored contestants — a clear violation of the rules instituted by the FCC after the quiz show scandals of the '50s.
Jaffe and Shaalan both claimed that extensive reshoots occurred in LA, and that the contestants, who all had their heads shaved for the competition, simply wore bandanas during filming, in addition to being provided scripted dialogue. After the fraud claims, Paramount added a disclaimer to the episodes stating: 'This program includes dramatic scenes intended for entertainment purposes only.'
However, in another statement, Paramount claimed, 'UPN and Paramount have not supported and would not support persons or practices designed to manipulate the outcome of the show.'
The show was pulled after six episodes.
7.Moment of Truth lives up to its name (2008):
In February 2008, Moment of Truth premiered on Fox. The premise, which was based on the format of Colombian show Nada más que la verdad, was that a contestant would be administered a polygraph test while undergoing a series of 21 increasingly personal questions. If they made it to the end without lying, the contestant won $500,000,
However, when 26-year-old Lauren Cleri appeared on the show's fifth episode, things got a little too truthful. Throughout the episode, she confessed to being fired for stealing money from a workplace and believing she should have married her ex-boyfriend (who asked the question) instead of her husband of two years. In pursuit of the half-million-dollar prize, Lauren openly admitted to cheating on her husband, Frank, during their marriage, which led to visibly uncomfortable reactions from her family.
Despite all of her effort, Cleri was eliminated after the polygraph showed she lied after answering "Yes" when asked if she believed she was a good person. In a special introduction for the show, host Mark L. Walberg claimed it was the most uncomfortable televised moment he had ever taken part in and that even though the decision to air the episode was highly debated within the network, he was still personally against it.
In a later interview with the New York Post, the Cleris told their side of the story. At the time of the interview, Lauren admitted the couple was "kind of up in the air right now – I want to [get back together], but I don't think he does." Frank admitted that he was aware of his wife's previous extramarital affairs, but wasn't ready to expose it to the world, noting, "It's not very easy to overcome." Even though she had the opportunity to walk away with $100,000 before admitting to the affair, Lauren stated that she wanted the "fame and fortune" that might arise from the show. At the time, she hadn't received any job opportunities.
8.Our Little Genius intregrity concerns (2010):
In 2010, a game show called Our Little Genius was set to air on FOX. Each episode was to feature a child prodigy being asked a maximum of 10 expert-level, open-ended questions. At each level, the parents and a panel of experts would decide whether the game continued or if the family walked away with their earnings.
However, one week before the premiere, Mark Burnett, the show's creator, issued a statement claiming that he had asked to postpone the show due to concerns surrounding its integrity: 'I recently discovered that there was an issue with how some information was relayed to contestants during the pre-production of Our Little Genius. As a result, I am not comfortable delivering the episodes without re-shooting them. I believe my series must always be beyond reproach, so I have requested that FOX not air these episodes."
A month before Burnett's statement, one of the contestants' families had sent a letter to the FCC alleging that a few days prior to filming, a member of the production staff reviewed a list of potential topics that could arise during the show and gave the child contestant specific answers to questions he wasn't previously familiar with.
One notable occurrence was when the child stated he didn't know the British system of naming musical notes and was, in turn, told the name of four specific notes he must know: "He told us that it was very important to know that the hemidemisemiquaver is the British name for the sixty-fourth note."
After the FCC initiated the steps of an investigation and issued subpoenas, Fox indefinitely shelved the series and granted the contestants who had already appeared their prize money. The investigation was then abandoned.
9.The Price is Right discrimination suit (2012):
After eight years of modeling for The Price is Right, former Miss USA Brandi Cochran sued the game show in 2010 after claiming she had been discriminated against based on her gender (however, she was not the first model who had attempted to hold the show liable for mistreatment).
According to the lawsuit, Cochran had witnessed the show's staff harassing other models who had become pregnant over the years and attempted to delay having children for as long as possible. When she finally conceived, she didn't want to tell her coworkers for fear of losing her career. Eventually, she revealed her pregnancy to then-producer Kathy Greco, who allegedly responded that she wasn't surprised because Cochran's breasts had grown larger.
She also claimed that Mike Richards, another of the show's producers, who didn't communicate with her as frequently, implied that she would have been fired had she been forthcoming about her pregnancy. She was then pressured to announce her pregnancy on air.
After her announcement, she was given less work and mocked by coworkers for her weight gain. Pregnant with twins, she went on leave in January 2009 and miscarried her son the following month before giving birth to a daughter with pulmonary problems in March. In February 2010, she asked to return to her job, but alleged she received mixed signals from producers. She discovered her fate upon visiting the show's website and noticing she had been removed. She was officially fired soon after.
In November 2012, Cochran was awarded $7.7 million after the jury ruled the show's producers had acted with malice.
10.The nine-day Jeopardy! host (2021):
Only nine days after being named as Alex Trebek's replacement in August 2021, longtime television producer Mike Richards was forced to step down as Jeopardy's new host after a series of racist and sexist remarks he had made on The Randumb Show podcast between 2013 and 2014 were unearthed, with some examples being Richards calling his cohost a "booth ho."
After his comments were discovered, the Anti-Defamation League called for an investigation into his behavior, claiming on social media that his "disparaging remarks about Jews, women & Asians are no laughing matter."
Richards released a statement to People: "It is humbling to confront a terribly embarrassing moment of misjudgment, thoughtlessness, and insensitivity from nearly a decade ago. Looking back now, there is no excuse, of course, for the comments I made on this podcast and I am deeply sorry."
However, Sony Pictures TV later confirmed that Richards had agreed to step down from the hosting gig, with Richards remarking that the scandal was 'too much of a distraction for our fans and not the right move for the show." Within a few days, the then-46-year-old was also fired from his executive producer roles at Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune.
In a 2024 interview, he alleged that much of what was written about him was partially false or taken out of context altogether, "But by then everyone was like, 'Oh he's just a horrible person.' It was the price you pay for getting thrust into the zeitgeist in a very inopportune moment."
However, he claimed he harbored no ill will towards current host Ken Jennings and is already back at work packaging and selling new shows.
Did any of these game show scandals shock you? Are there any we forgot? Let us know in the comments!
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