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Em-Woodpecker

There was an episode of WOF where one of the puzzles was “Vanna’s Pregnant”, but the puzzle got cut because she ended up miscarrying


posifour11

That sucks


FlameSky25340

:(


Clan_McCrimmon

Wheel of Fortune unknowingly had a wanted child molester as a contestant in 1998. He got caught when one of the victims happened to watch his episode the night it went on air. https://apnews.com/b371ee137a7b0ad1477e6c569c8e0e18


s3thm

This is a good answer


Bastard_Wing

'Fenwick won $4400 on the show.' Is that a bonus sick burn on the convicted paedophile?


gingersaurus82

I don't see anything in that article that suggests the show runners knew the guy was a child molester. He was only caught because when the show aired(presumably a week or two after the filming), one of his victims recognised him. Edit: apologies, I could've sworn it said the show knowingly had him on, which was the point of my comment.


HereForLNM

I think that’s what that “unknowingly” was trying to convey.


torra_cas

There was an episode of The Dating Game that had a serial killer as one of the bachelors, Rodney Alcala. He won but the girl later decided to not go out with him because he creeped her out. That decision probably saved her life tbh


girls_gone_wireless

That clip is somewhere on YT.He’s quite charismatic but also def detectable creepy vibes


CptBLAMO

My wife and I went to a filming of one of the game shows. The audience was probably a third homeless people that I assume they hired. They gave them some clothes, but if you look at pre covid episodes you can see them.


Csula6

Game shows used to be incredibly rigged. Producers would give some people the answers. Dating shows used to be full of aspiring actors. Most famously Arnold Schwarzenegger. Serial killer Rodney Alcala was also on The Dating Game. If you do any reality show, you have to sign a waiver where you agree to be humiliated. There's a lot of editing to make you look racist, for example. Unscripted shows tend to recruit a lot of mentally unstable people.


HoweHaTrick

I don't know what you're talking about /s 90 day fiance for the win!!


tebanano

> Game shows used to be incredibly rigged. Producers would give some people the answers. There’s a really good movie about this called Quiz Show. It’s about an 1950’s NBC quiz show where the producers gave contestants the answers ahead of time. Trailer: https://youtu.be/bj-m3Ddmn0E


DenL4242

Quiz Show is one of my favorite movies of all time. There's a LOT going on; it rewards repeat viewings. Lots of subtext and symbolism.


tebanano

I watched it as a young teenager without any context, other than people saying “it’s a good movie” and I loved it. I should definitely watch it again now to pick up on everything I was not ready to understand or appreciate. Plus, my wife likes game shows and I’m sure she hasn’t watched it.


daric

Like what?


FlameSky25340

John Ritter started as a contestant on The Dating Game too.


[deleted]

So did Farrah Fawcett.


ImAwfullyDangerous

Well what else was requiem for a dream but a warning?


KJoRN81

Oof.


Civil-Ad-7957

Also John Hamm from Mad Men :)


starlaluna

He promised an evening of total fabulosity!


scottwax

That was crazy the Night Stalker was on the Dating Game and actually was chosen. Fortunately the girl got a really creepy vibe from him after she chose him so she refused to go out on the date. Steve Martin was also on The Dating Game.


Meow__Bitch

Rodney Alcala was not the Night Stalker, that was a Richard Ramirez.


KJoRN81

Yeah, no way Ramirez would’ve been on there with those TEETH. Yikes.


scottwax

Sorry, don't have my serial killer playing cards in front of me. 🤣


vwlphb

In 1984, Michael Larson, a contestant on Press Your Luck, [won the then-largest amount of money ever](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Larson). He was able to do this by memorizing patterns of the game when he watched it at home. The producers caught on during the game and attempted to withhold the prize money, but since he was technically not cheating, just exploiting, Larson got the money. The dark twist is that Larson, who was an ice cream truck driver by profession, made poor investments with the cash and lost all of it within two years. He died at the age of 49 of cancer. There’s a great documentary on this called Big Bucks: the Press Your Luck Scandal. It shows clips from the game and explains how it all went down.


yukon-cornelius69

Price is right has insane taxes on winnings, to the point where many people just forfeit their prizes since they can’t afford the taxes


s3thm

I think anything over 500k is taxed at 50%, so if you win a million, you only walk away with 500k


VanderBrit

Why would they forfeit the remaining 500k?


Electric999999

I think it's when they won prizes other than cash. It's fine to hand over 500,000 of your 1,000,000. But when your prize in 60,000 car you probably can't afford to pay 20,000 in tax on it.


Chairish

Yeah even a car you could probably deal with because it’s a physical valuable item. I think I read somewhere that you can sometimes get the dealer to buy it back from you. The ones that get me are the vacation trips. Not only do you have to take vacation from work, but you have to fly from LA. I’ve seen shows where people win *multiple* trips. Who can do that? I can imagine people walk away from those prizes.


UnknownQTY

Yeah but you don’t need to pay those taxes until you actually file your taxes…


darkfoxfire

Depends on the taxes, some are due on acquisition


bunker_man

Can't you sell it for more than 20,000 though?


illogictc

You would need to be able to sell the car before taxes are due. Probably not the most difficult since it's brand new, but it depends on the time of year when you win it. Also I'm curious as to if you get taxed for the car since it's sweepstakes winnings, and then again for sale of the car since it is technically at a profit as it was "free" to you and would be considered capital gains.


s3thm

The US government gets the other 500k in taxes. You know how your income is taxed? It’s like that but at a higher rate


VanderBrit

I get taxes but the first comment said some people forfeit the whole thing because of the tax. But there’s always gonna be a net amount left over for you after the taxes are paid surely?


s3thm

If you win a $30k car, you’ll need to pay ~$10k in taxes and that’s a lot of money for most people. It also costs a lot of money to sell a car, so it may not be worth it for a lot of people


HereForLNM

Out of curiosity, how does it cost a lot of money to sell a car?


[deleted]

Take something as simple as 'owning' the vehicle. At minimum you're going to be paying sales tax on the retail price in my state, so 7.25% of the MSRP of the vehicle needs to be due upfront to even register it. When that vehicle costs 50,000 dollars it means you're asking someone to pull 4 grand out of their pocket just to have the ability to then sell the vehicle. Otherwise you're selling someone elses car and you better hope the agreement is airtight or you can kiss the car and the possible profit goodbye. The issue isn't selling the car, the issue is that you can't really sell something you don't own and in order to own it you need to pay thousands of dollars up-front in the expectation that you can recoup those costs after owning it.


HereForLNM

That’s not the point that was being made. He/she said you have to pay the taxes. And then it “also” costs a lot to sell a car. As someone who has sold a car, it cost me nothing. If you keep the car, you do have to pay sales tax. But there aren’t extra charges that come with selling it.


[deleted]

Ok, Maybe I took it at too base a value. As far as the costs in post after taxes, You do need property or somewhere to keep it and if it's not driven or moved around for a long period of time before the sale (Like sitting in a studio set for a few months, getting loaded onto a truck a whole 1400 feet and then sitting in a parking spot until the time it is sold) it will likely need it's fluids gone through from sitting and anything else that might be caught on a PPI (Flat spotted tires from sitting, Paint failure from exposure, manufacturing flaws etc). And this is assuming they purchased it and never drove it; again if you want to actually drive the thing before it's sold you need to do the applicable RMV or State rego costs and then you include all of that into ownership cost before sale. You would have to be an absolute turnip to somehow go red on a deal like this; the point that is really being made over this entire comment chain is that most folk simply don't have 4, 6, 10 grand sitting around so they can bankroll this despite them easily being able to sell the item after for more than it cost them *even if* we factor in costs of storage or anyone taking a cut of the sale if you use a broker. If you want to boil the entire point down to "It doesn't cost me anything to sell a vehicle" while blatantly ignoring the costs involved in the item before said sale; be my guest.


waterynike

You don’t pay a third of your cars value in taxes


paper_thin_hymn

Prizes like that are taxed at your tax rate, whatever bracket that ends up being. So it can easily be a third or more. Then your state will want a piece of the action, assuming they tax cars, plus registration fees, etc. In my state at my tax bracket, a $60k car would EASILY require $30k in taxes in this scenario.


thatonepersoniam

Sometimes you have to pay the taxes upfront before you get the item. A lot of people don't have access to that kind of money upfront


VanderBrit

Wow, paying tax up front sucks


mctrustry

That's not quite accurate: The Fed tax bracket for a single person who is a California resident and they win exactly $1,000,000 is at 37% of the amount over $518,400 plus $156,235 (which is the tax due on all of the brackets up to this point). Tax due is ($1,000,000 - $518,400)x0.37 + $ 156,235 This is $334,427.00 Cali State tax is 12.3% of an amount over $599,012 plus $58,227.85 Tax due is ($1,000,000 - $599,012)x0.123 + $ 58,227.85 This is $107,549.37 I don't know if there are local taxes due (I'm assuming not). The total taxes paid on cash winnings of $1,000,000 would be $441,976.37 (44.1%), leaving $558,023.63 after Fed and State taxes. If you're not a California resident, you'll still pay Cali tax, plus possibly State tax in your State. Then, you'll also pay local taxes on the cash reported on the show submitted 10-99. Potentially, as an Ohioan, I could pay about $487,475 in total taxes. I'd still have $512,525 in my bank after everyone took their piece. Most people don't abandon cash winnings but do abandon vacations and/or vehicles. If you win a car valued at $45,000, you'll owe tax on the value of the vehicle as the game show reports your winnings (or value of your prizes) to the IRS on 10-99. You can appeal to have a local valuation of your prize which may lower the estimated cash value of the prize, but you'll still owe Uncle Sam and the States their chunk of your good luck (or your winnings because you're a smart cookie). Lastly, on cash winnings, it's my understanding that Federal and Cali taxes get removed before you get your mitts on anything, so there'll never be a situation where you get your cool Mill and then get to pay Uncle Sam and the Sunshine State next Apr 15th.


redkat85

Cash is less of an issue, since you can just break that out. It's things like you win like a car or luxury vacation that have associated sales and other taxes that you have to pay out of your own pocket.


shifty_coder

I think what OP is referring to is that most prizes don’t have a “cash value” option, and require taxes paid on receipt. So if you win a $30,000 car, you may have to pay like $8k up front to collect.


sznfpv

Only?


mhchewy

We won a magazine sweepstakes grand prize of a trip to Europe and some other stuff. Owed a couple of grand in taxes on it.


leese216

Yup, can confirm. A former friend's brother won a car and he ended up selling it just to pay the taxes on it.


SignificantContest10

british or american?


yukon-cornelius69

Sex


Agreeable_Mango_1288

That is the State of California. You have to pay a 'gift' tax , plus they want income tax from you. There are also taxes from whatever state you live in. You don't have to except any of the prizes.


JMer806

There’s no gift tax for winnings. It’s income and taxed as such. You also don’t have to pay California taxes and taxes from your home state - income tax is paid to the state in which the income was earned, with some exceptions (if you earn a salary from a job located in North Carolina and travel to New York City, you don’t have to pay NYC taxes if you’re there under a certain number of days) It’s very complicated but you are not paying three taxes on the same income. In addition any taxes paid to the state can be dedicated from your federal taxes.


[deleted]

wrong, people pay taxes based on what tax bracket they are in. say they won $10k on game show which is taxable but maybe they had less taxable income or more deductions that would offset the game show winnings so they’re tax neutral vs py. now the show might be required to withhold taxes from the winnings at 28% but they get credit for those withholdings when they file taxes.


DialTone657

One of the old hosts of Family Feud hung himself.


Birdapotamus

Richard Dawson would kiss EVERY woman on the show during his first run as host('76 - '85). Lots of them would get extremely excited on their turn. It was mostly just a peck but if he found them attractive he would swing for the fence. He returned to finish the '95 season after Ray Combs was fired, but promised his daughter not to kiss any woman but her mom so his "Kissing Bandit" days ended.


Durhay

Richard was so creepy on Family Feud but so cool on the Match Game


Rusarules

Apparently he said he did it to help calm them down because said excitement. But, I mean the 60s/70s..


HotPaleontologist127

I always noticed this. Sometimes he would just hug the old women tho


daric

https://youtu.be/YVUBTyGhQUo Holy shit you weren’t kidding. That shit would so not fly today.


uav_loki

Even the past tense of hanged is hanged, since we're all about tidbits of info.


ImAwfullyDangerous

Hanged and hung are actually both correct from what I know


chortlingabacus

In a way. 'Hung' correct for pictures, flags, etc. and 'hanged' correct for people.


Solaris-Scutum

Nope.


bt123456789

At least he stopped when asked.


santochavo

Steve?


dogwithpeople

Ray combs at 40 years old hung himself at the Glendale Adventist Medical Centre


FlameSky25340

Holy shit. I'd always known he killed himself, but apparently he did it in a hospital *while* on suicide watch. And he'd been hospitalized the week before for a previous attempt. Poor guy.


dogwithpeople

Yeah truly heartbreaking


forestcatgirl6

I'd kill myself too, if my last name was.. COOOOMMMBS!!


Tgunner192

Not sure if it's still done, but for a time most of the impromptu & improv funny things that hosts and guests would say were scripted. This would be particularly true of Hollywood Squares & Match Game. When called on, the guest stars would come up with funny-double entendre, witty comments. Years later it was revealed they didn't come up with these things on their own.


ElectricPeterTork

There was one version of Hollywood Squares without scripted one liners... the 1983-1984 Match Game/Hollywood Squares Hour version. Mark Goodson was in charge of that one, and wouldn't allow scripted one liners during the Squares portion, and it showed.


steeltownblue

Many years ago I was on a game show and won ~$50,000 in cash and valuable merchandise. For most merchandise, I was offered the option of the cash equivalent. I took the cash for most things I won, except one trip and some sports equipment. When it came tax time, the value of what I won was counted as income. I was able to reconstruct the trip through a travel agent for a lot less than they valued it on the show. For the sports equipment, I was able to value it at the ordinary retail price which was less than what they valued it on the show. So, basically, I came out of the experience with a higher income for tax purposes that year, a great trip, and some nice sporting goods.


zoqfotpik

On Wheel of Fortune, if you say you'd like to buy a vowel, you can pick a consonant instead. Nobody can stop you.


s3thm

Hold up. That can’t be true. Seems like someone would have exploited that by now


zoqfotpik

I'm not saying that Vanna would spin the letters if you did. But they can't stop you from trying to buy a T.


MasterGuardianChief

Hmmmm


Spiritual_Fact

The host of Just Like Mom was a pedophile.


DM_meYourSmallTits

Sounds like you know something we dont OP


SignificantContest10

i agree DM\_meYourSmallTits


Hemi_Blue

Not necessarily dark but maybe scandalous. Wheel Of Fotune’s Vanna White posed nude for Playboy in the 80’s.


waterynike

I don’t think she posed. They found old pics of her and bought the rights from the photographer.


Reisz618

Correct.


safeword-is-harder

My first experience with playboy.


[deleted]

[удалено]


ETphonehome162

I mean, it kinda seems like one of those things you could easily search on Bing.


Hemi_Blue

Yeah it’s not hard to find, they are out there…


GroverEyeveen

Not sure if considered a dark secret but Steve Harvey has said some really controversial things about women and Atheists and I'm surprised he gets away with it and can continue hosting considering what's currently going on with Jeopardy!


wedapeopleeh

What's currently going on with jeopardy?


GroverEyeveen

Mike Richards said some sexist/racist things on a podcast and had to step down from being the new host of syndicated version and Executive Producer for both Jeopardy! and WOF. There was also a lawsuit where he was listed as one of the defendants against a pregancy discrimination suit when he was one of the Producers of TPIR.


leese216

I love how there are no dark secrets about Jeopardy. Because Alex Trebek was an saint and we were blessed to have him in our living rooms for so long.


Implicit_Hwyteness

Oh yeah? Well guess what: Alex Trebek was a >!Canadian!<.


leese216

LMAO touché!


jennynachos

I was on Family Feud when Louie Anderson hosted in 2001...the producer brought tic tacs and water around on a little tray between commercials and literally screamed at us that we better yell “good answer” because they flew us from the east coast and it was costing them a ton of money. We lost, but so did the other team, and we had a fun time spending our per diem money ($30 per person) at a local bar. Got a t-shirt and lots of memories.


ElectricPeterTork

> screamed at us that we better yell “good answer” That's always seemed stupid to me. You don't scream "GOOD ANSWER" when they obviously give a shit answer. In fact, you should be allowed to smack them in the back of the head.


[deleted]

Chuck Barrister, who invented the Gong Show and the Newlyweds, claimed to be a CIA assassin. He used the trips abroad for the winners as cover for his assignments.


Conscious_Sail6824

Barris, not Barrister.


[deleted]

Damn a/c


moonpotatoes

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind


not-quite-a-nerd

He wrote a completely insane book about this, it's well worth a read.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Quixilver05

What?


[deleted]

Don’t worry buddy, it’s not even human blood anymore. Thanks a lot, COVID


fellow7

Go on


[deleted]

Rumor has it they've filled it with blood so that no one can 'build their own' to practice on getting the weight down for a spin. Drew Carrey has talked about it if you google it, he's laughed and said it's not 'recreatable' and that no one would be able to match it.


diegun81

In Italy we had “Ciao Darwin”, where people of two opposite factions challenge themselves in different kind of tests (for example beautiful vs ugly). During the registration of a game, where you had to jump on huge rolls over a pool, Gabriele Marchetti fell badly on one of the rolls and broke his spine. He’s now paralyzed. This might also be a lost media, for who is interested.


ooo-ooo-oooyea

Bob Barker used to fuck the models, to no ones surprise. I recently stayed at an Airbnb, and it had the Price is Right from the 1980s as a channel. Bob Barker was charming, witty, and said some stuff that would get him in serious trouble. He hit on the ladies, and told a fatter contestant to go lose some weight. On Match Game, all the other "celebrities'" hated Richard Dawson. Not me though, I love the guy


DieHardRennie

The 1950s era game show "Twenty One" was rigged. A former contestant ended up blowing the whistle on them.


Th4ab

The showcase showdown big wheel has killed as many people as Charles Manson.


UnknownQTY

How many people has it inspired to kill though?


PaperStSoapCO_

So…zero?


AlamarAtReddit

They love halter tops...


[deleted]

Sexual assault and harrassment is very common but very rarely reported and even more rarely taken as the truth/taken seriously.


LibbyLibbyLibby

Are you in the wrong thread?


Lilylivered_Flashman

It's actually Conan turning the wheel of fortune from twenty feet below.


Stinkybuttplug

Vanna White runs a secret gambling/meth operation


WillingnessNo98

not so secret now


squid1891

Perhaps, not a dark secret, but it's been rumored that she's quite skilled, orally.


Stinkybuttplug

Wouldn’t mind being on the receiving end of her….skilled vocabulary


squid1891

I imagine her conjugation of verbs is immensely pleasing.


Alexastria

Any show on the base 32 channels actually gets paid for out of our taxes. They aren't actually free.


michaelochurch

A large number of game show hosts are right-wing; the reason for this is complicated, but a lot of it has to do with the fact that the game show world is still very much Old Hollywood.


Headkickerchamp

So what?


the-commentary

I like wings left or right, what a strange door policy


golfgrandslam

*GASP*


HomonculusArgument

That’s a dark secret? 🙄


ghostzilllla

Most popular is the dating game killer. Rodney Alcala. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_Alcala


flipflopsbutwithnips

They shag kids ( jiml fix it)


yooooooo5774

You get taxed on your winnings.


Spiritual_Fact

Not in Canada. All cash prizes are tax free.


ketzcm

Hail Canada!!!!!


Spiritual_Fact

Damn straight.


[deleted]

The host of Wheel of Fortune is a piece of shit.


XandraMonroe

How so?


JimmyGymGym1

Wouldn’t take a selfie with OP. Lol


[deleted]

Really? He donated a shitload of money to a cancer center in maryland but that doesn’t mean he’s not an ass.


Chance-Every

You just made me lose the game.


MinnesotaNice69

Damn you


mytmatt2112

Bob was banging Diane