Without revealing too much...
I worked on a show that involved a timed round. The host made a mistake that required a stopdown and broke the momentum a little bit. The game ended up being close, and the feeling was that it played out fairly. The host, however, personally felt that their mistake had caused the game to swing in a certain direction. The host walked up to the S&P person and asked, "Can I take the losers to a restaurant and treat them to dinner? I feel really bad about this."
The S&P person replied, "Once the game has been played to completion, we can't tell you to do anything." So the losers got a free dinner that night.
Someone who rewarded players out of their own pocket was Bob Stewart. There are a few examples on Pyramid (especially the NY era where one loss and you're gone) where Bob would give extra money to contestants who lost but played EXCELLENTLY. Bob shelled out $200 to a losing contestant in the longest tiebreaker ever. Bob also shelled out $1,000 to contestants who played NINETEEN perfect rounds in a row. Hell, Bob shelled out $10,000 to the charity of the contestant's choice when a gray area reared during a Winner's Circle win that was taken away due to a ruling by S&P. Bob knew S&P can't do anything after the game is completed with no lingering issues, and he got to reward the people who deserved it.
