Are Game Shows Fake?

I've always looked at game shows and wondered. It's always seemed like there are certain things on the game shows that are scripted and other things. I mean, there are these shows out here that are supposedly giving away 3 and 400 grand, and I just don't buy it. How in the world could you ever afford that as a company? Wouldn't it cut too much into the bottom line?

I'm of the opinion that it's a mixed bag, but I do think that there are some game shows that are faked. The question is why. Personally, I think that it's just entertainment. I mean, it's a great way to get people emotionally involved, especially if you convince them that it's real.

reply to post by AnIntellectualRedneck


That really doesn't seem too high for a prize considering the amount of money they are pulling from commercials

Absolutely, entertainment. Seems to me that the most gullible ones are the ones that watch tv the most.

They are probably scripted AND rehearsed.

TV is a sore subject with me. I've seen loved ones dedicate a big portion of their time to watching TV. Very sad.

How can you afford to give away 200,000 as a prize? How can a show afford to give an actor 200,000 an episode?

Uh, Same thing..... The shows obviously make money which can be used to give out as prizes. As opposed to paying ten decent or in demand actors, they only need a host.

I'm not sure about all of them, but I do know certain ones are rigged somewhat.

If you have ever watched Wheel of Fortune, the wheel is tension rigged. When contestants get too many letters and start getting greedy, the wheel will almost ALWAYS turn against them. (Either lose a turn or bankrupt.) It's as if the producers indirectly say "wrap it up and solve it, or else"

Also Jeopordy seems a little rigged. The buzzer never seems to work properly. This is usually when someone is on a roll and answering all the questions. IF, after a certain amount of time that person who was on a roll fails to buzz in, the other buzzers get a chance. The time delay is only a matter of fractions of a second but to an astute observer, is quite noticeable. It's funny watching certain contestants get coronaries because their buzzer isn't working properly lol.

I beleive these things are meant to dictate a better 'flow' of the game and more desirable to watch. Especially because they have to fit the game into the allotted 22 minutes.

Of course, everything is scripted.
From late nite news to "reality" TV to documentary to
Quiz show, anybody saw that movie?
Its from a real scandal that took place in the 50's, directed by Robert Redford.
Not a bad movie, its fun to look at the debut of advertising in TV.

These days, things are bit more subtle seems to be more subtle
Its still products placement all over the place.

reply to post by Goldcurrent


I think the one that really made me notice it was "Whammy" and "Press Your Luck". In both, it seems that a lot of the time, the board stops when they yell "stop" rather than hitting the button. It also seems like they'll hit a button and the thing will stop on something good, only to do a split-second change to a whammy.

I am a car manufacturer. I want to sell my new car.

I donate car to game show.

Game show hypes my car by giving it away and a thousand people in the audience are instantly jealous. Millions at home are instantly envious of the new owner of this car.

Playing on American greed, jealousy and envy is fun.


Repeat for dishwasher, bedroom, blender. Why do you think they advertise the manufacturer when announcing the prize.

"Brought to you by _________ because you can only own it if you are 1/1,000,000 lucky or load up a credit card you putz!"

I believe game shows have been fixed ever since the 1950's.

It's also true that "reality tv" is staged as well so don't see any surprise to this.

reply to post by AnIntellectualRedneck


en.wikipedia.org... ironically this man conned the wammy one at least and took them for a good deal of money

Paul Michael Larson[1] (May 10, 1949 – February 16, 1999) was a contestant on the American television game show Press Your Luck in May 1984 that aired on TV in June 1984. Larson won $110,237 in cash and prizes, at the time the largest one-day total ever won on a game show. Larson was able to win by memorizing the patterns used on the Press Your Luck game board.

if you can figure out a system i guess ya got a shot?

en.wikipedia.org... this link talks about how in this case game show hosts colluded with contestants

www.law.cornell.edu... and that is the relevent law apparently making fixing of game shows illegal in case any one wanted to read it

For the most part game shows are not fixed. I know a professional game show contestant and she spends all her time reading general knowledge books and applying for game shows all over the world. Everything she owns she has got from a game show in one way or another.

The reason they can give out such hight prizes is that once the show is made they re-sell and then repeat the episodes over and over to different countries. Haven't you seen old re-runs of games shows before? Each time they show an episode the original makers get paid again.

So a show that can boast they give out a top prize of $200000 can pull a lot of viewers and so can be sold for a high price each time it is shown. This works especially well when they end an episode with some thing like "will mrs Smith win win that top prize? well tune in next week to find out.."

The more money they give out the higher price they can sell the show for to networks around the world. Over and over again..

Theres no conspiracy just simple economics.

game shows are not rigged but massaged....

prizes are donated and tax deductions are given
contestants are free
about 15 minutes of ads are sold per hour

they are actually low cost shows in the entertainment business and the host and judges probably get paid a decent amount but their pay doesn't go up unless the show is a big hit....

syndication (AKA reruns) is probably the best market to make money selling ad time.

The American quiz show scandals of the 1950s were a series of revelations that contestants of several popular television quiz shows were secretly given assistance by the show's producers to arrange the outcome of a supposedly fair competition.

In 1956, the game show Twenty-One, hosted by Jack Barry, featured a contestant coached by producer Dan Enright to make the other contestant win the game. This was brought into focus in 1958 when Enright was revealed to have rigged the show and caused networks to cancel the quiz shows. This element of the scandal was portrayed in the 1994 movie Quiz Show.

As a result, many contestants' reputations have been tarnished. The United States Congress passed the 1960 amendments of the Communications Act of 1934, preventing anyone from fixing quiz shows. Due to that action, many networks imposed a winnings limit on game shows, such as Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, and The Price Is Right (the limits were removed by 2008). The scandal even resulted in the declining ratings of quizzes that were not rigged, such as You Bet Your Life.

en.wikipedia.org...

Ever watch the Tonight Show with Jay Leno when he does that segment called Jaywalking?
That is one instance when I pray and hope it's rigged because I refuse to believe people are that stupid when randomly selected off the street.

Originally posted by darklife
Ever watch the Tonight Show with Jay Leno when he does that segment called Jaywalking?
That is one instance when I pray and hope it's rigged because I refuse to believe people are that stupid when randomly selected off the street.

Unfortunately, people really ARE that stupid. I run across it every day, and it makes me wonder just what is going on with the education system in America.........

In Los Angeles they give away tickets for many popular game shows. I went to the Price is Right recently, it is slightly scripted and you are pre-interviewed by someone and the contestants are somewhat hand picked depending on what type of personality they convey in the pre-interview.

It's a fun time, they film two episodes a day and after you get on the list(basically just show up and give them an ID and a name) we went drinking for an hour or two then we waited in line to get into the show. I think that Drew Carrey does lines of coke in between commercials.

I'm not really a fan of game shows.
I do know you are taxed on the prizes.
It can take weeks or months to receive the prizes.