The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: J.R. on October 06, 2003, 08:49:42 PM
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(Possible spoilers)
Little opinion question for you all. Who is in your opinion the best and the worst contestant in game show history ?
Best: Joe Trela (WWTBAM? 2000) When he used up all of his lifelines at $32000, I was sure he was numbered. His slow climb to the $1,000,000 was nothing short of amazing. Taking massive risks when he no longer had his safety nets, that takes a LOT of courage.
Honorable Mention: Trevor Sauer of Aussie WWTBAM? Endured the same trials as Joe, but decided to take the $500,000 Au. instead of going for a question he knew the answer to.
Worst: Ben (Classic Concentration 1991): If you don't know. Ben had over 7 seconds left to win the car and retire from the show, but decided to purposly throw the bonus round so he could try to win more prizes. He did this by loudly proclaiming that he \"had to wait because\" he wanted to \"WIN MORE PRIZES !!!\" Which led to some boos from the audience and shocked looks from Alex Trebek and Ben's mother. His arrogant attitude during the 2nd match earns this distinction in my opinion. (I believe he lost the next two games in a row, but I'm not sure.)
Dishonorable Mention: That contestant on FoF and his bleepfest. Very bad sportsmanship.
Thats my thoughts, what about yours ?
-Joe R.
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I think that the distinction for best contestant would have to go to Michael Larson. I'm sorry, but anyone that can memorize all of those patterns, realize exactly when to hit the button, and still be able to answer the trivia questiosn correctly to get him enough spins, deserves to be mentioned in this category.
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I agree with you PPatters. I have Curt's PYL game, and every time I play I TRY to do what Michael did!
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Hmmm, I think for this it would be best to go show by show, since comparing someone on a show like LMAD and WWTBAM is a bit apples apples vs. oranges (Though I thought I read that the Supreme Court will be deciding on the latter sometime this term):
Best Contestants
$100,000 Pyramid: I would have to go with Keif Ferrendini (sorry about the spelling butchering). Personally, I have a higher regard for contestants who give rather than receive in the WC, but her play in the tournament was phenomenal, to say the least.
Jeopardy: Chuck Forrest. My mom had the misfortune of being in the same mock game as him at her Jeopardy audition. Although he sounded like a nice guy, she could not possibly compete against him and did not get a call back.
WWTBAM: Nancy Christy (Millionaire #11). Besides the fact that she had no lifelines after $16k, she was so charming that you could not help but root for her. Granted, she had amazing luck in that she had some personal story to almost every question in the third tier, she didn't come off as smug the way I felt John Carpenter did. Although there was no real skill being demonstrated, she was what I would call an \"ideal contestant\" for a game show.
I'll post more bests (and some Worsts) later as I think of them or agree/disagree with others
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Best: Joe Trela (WWTBAM? 2000) When he used up all of his lifelines at $32000, I was sure he was numbered. His slow climb to the $1,000,000 was nothing short of amazing. Taking massive risks when he no longer had his safety nets, that takes a LOT of courage.
Totally agree...not to mention that it took him nearly 5 min to decide on answering the $1M question, and that alone made it one of the most dramatic eps in the show's history...not to mention that neither ABC nor the press offered spoilers which gave away the win. :-)
Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious \"Chuckie Baby\")
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Worst: Ben (Classic Concentration 1991): If you don't know. Ben had over 7 seconds left to win the car and retire from the show, but decided to purposly throw the bonus round so he could try to win more prizes. He did this by loudly proclaiming that he \"had to wait because\" he wanted to \"WIN MORE PRIZES !!!\" Which led to some boos from the audience and shocked looks from Alex Trebek and Ben's mother. His arrogant attitude during the 2nd match earns this distinction in my opinion. (I believe he lost the next two games in a row, but I'm not sure.)
No, he actually won the 1st game on the next show...where he did the EXACT SAME THING in the bonus round, despite having more than enough time to win the car...guess what happened in the next game? :-)
Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious \"Chuckie Baby\")
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No, he actually won the 1st game on the next show...where he did the EXACT SAME THING in the bonus round, despite having more than enough time to win the car...guess what happened in the next game? :-)
Really? Wow....does anyone happen to have that particular episode on tape?
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I think that the distinction for best contestant would have to go to Michael Larson.
I have to agree there. It's easy to sit at home and spot patterns, or other ways to \"beat the system\", but once you're in the studio in front of the cameras and audience, can you do it there? It's a totally different experience, and the fact he was able to pull it off on camera would have to rank him high on the list. It's too bad his story doesn't have a happy ending...
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[quote name=\'ChuckNet\' date=\'Oct 6 2003, 11:04 PM\']
No, he actually won the 1st game on the next show...where he did the EXACT SAME THING in the bonus round, despite having more than enough time to win the car...guess what happened in the next game? :-)
Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby") [/quote]
Some of the cars in the Classic Concentration bonus round in 1991 were more budget-friendly than were often seen in 1987. Maybe he decided he didn't want to win a box on wheels :)
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FAVORITE CONTESTANT: Frank Dillon on The Joker's Wild.
LEAST FAVORITE: Rocky, the Know-It-All, on $ale of the Century.
Thank you, Curtis Warren, for beating him. The $1M you won on Greed was
your belated reward.
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Jeopardy: Chuck Forrest. My mom had the misfortune of being in the same mock game as him at her Jeopardy audition. Although he sounded like a nice guy, she could not possibly compete against him and did not get a call back.
Couple things.
At the audition, the mock game isn't designed to be a competition. They just use it to see how you would handle yourself on stage. I'm sorry if your mom's been using Forrest as an excuse for the last twenty years, but the coordinators wouldn't have excluded her merely because somebody else \"beat\" her in the mock game.
Secondly, while Forrest was certainly the FIRST impressive champion they had in the Alex era, I think many players that have followed have been better. With apologies to Leszek -- who holds the distinction of having NEVER been defeated in competition -- my vote for the all-time best Jeopardy player would go to Bob Verini. He's competed in most of their major tournaments (including Super Jeopardy and the Million Dollar Masters) and always done well against the top players. Plus he has the sort of colorful personality and wit that most coordinators want their contestants to have.
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[quote name=\'Little Big Brother\' date=\'Oct 6 2003, 09:45 PM\']$100,000 Pyramid: I would have to go with Keif Ferrendini (sorry about the spelling butchering). Personally, I have a higher regard for contestants who give rather than receive in the WC, but her play in the tournament was phenomenal, to say the least.
[/quote]
I agree with your post as written. I assume that they put their best players on the nighttime version and lesser players on daytime. If I'm wrong, then I would nominate, as a co-valedictorian of sorts, Kelly Grogan, who became the daytime version's top winner the same season. A bit of history on her: She was on some weeks before the show ended, and a call in the Winner's Circle did not go her way which would have brought her back. (I think they disqualified a clue that her partner gave.) They must have reconsidered their decision because they brought her back for the last week of the show. (I think this is right. She may have appeared the Friday before and earned the right to continue on Monday of the final week.) I don't have the tape here with me, but I believe she won over $60,000. I think if they had realized how good she was, they would have timed her return so that her fifth day (and final day under the rules) was the last show.
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[quote name=\'Jay Temple\' date=\'Oct 7 2003, 01:24 PM\'](snip) ...I would nominate, as a co-valedictorian of sorts, Kelly Grogan, who became the daytime version's top winner the same season. A bit of history on her: She was on some weeks before the show ended, and a call in the Winner's Circle did not go her way which would have brought her back. (I think they disqualified a clue that her partner gave.) They must have reconsidered their decision because they brought her back for the last week of the show. (I think this is right. She may have appeared the Friday before and earned the right to continue on Monday of the final week.) I don't have the tape here with me, but I believe she won over $60,000. I think if they had realized how good she was, they would have timed her return so that her fifth day (and final day under the rules) was the last show.[/quote]
The explanation of Kelly Grogan's reign is pretty much on the money, but here's the whole scoop:
Kelly won $31,100 on her first day -- already a great feat. The next day, when she tried for $10,000, she got all the way to the top, and the $300 category was THINGS YOU ABANDON. After struggling with it for a while, Earl Holliman said, \"A basketed baby,\" and Kelly said the answer. The judges didn't like the clue and buzzed it, but since the audience was celebrating what they thought was a win, Kelly and Earl didn't hear the buzzer. When they returned from the commercial, Dick explained that \"a basketed baby\" was a made-up phrase and couldn't be allowed as a legal clue, so Kelly ended up with $750 rather than $10,000. Her opponent then went to the winner's circle and won $800, beating Kelly's score. Kelly went home with $31,850.
Jump forward about 10 weeks later. Kelly came back on the show. When she got to the winner's circle, Dick asked her how much money she had already won before that day, and she said it was $41,100 -- not $31,850.
My guess is that viewers protested the decision, and the judges reversed themselves. So they \"took back\" the $750 and replaced it with the $10,000 she would have won, and since the $10,000 would have beaten her original opponent's $800, they brought her back on the show. Her final total was $60,050, making her the biggest money winner on the daytime show, beating previous champ Barbara Schnell by $1,100.
I've seen a number of contestants come back on \"Pyramid\" later after a bad call, but I never saw Dick ask them how much money they had won previously, even if was over $10,000. The fact that Kelly's total was so high after they corrected their mistake leads me to think that they wanted people to know that she was close to breaking the all-time record...which she did.
This post could easily tangent into the best \"Pyramid\" contestants of all time. Hmm...
Brendan
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How could you all forget Tic Tac Dough champion Thom McKee? He MOST DEFINITELY ranks right up there among the BEST game show contestants of all time!
I'd agree with a couple of you on Nancy Christy from WWTBaM, however. She also should be among the best.
Cordially,
Tammy Warner--the 'Maureen Reynolds of the Big Board!'
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[quote name=\'Winkfan\' date=\'Oct 7 2003, 08:10 PM\'] How could you all forget Tic Tac Dough champion Thom McKee? He MOST DEFINITELY ranks right up there among the BEST game show contestants of all time!
I'd agree with a couple of you on Nancy Christy from WWTBaM, however. She also should be among the best.
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Well Miss Tammy my dear, we could also count Les Gould from NTT8x among the worst, now couldn't we? Ditto from that show: Alfred from one of the aired pilot episodes, and in the weirdest category, Tommy Simmons. Michael Lagmay(as well as Tammy, of course) could be ranked in the Best category among NTT84 players
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[quote name=\'pyrfan\' date=\'Oct 7 2003, 01:30 PM\'] The fact that Kelly's total was so high after they corrected their mistake leads me to think that they wanted people to know that she was close to breaking the all-time record...which she did.
This post could easily tangent into the best "Pyramid" contestants of all time. Hmm...
[/quote]
Grogan v. Ferrendini. Best of seven. Winner take all. ONE MILLION DOLLARS.
(plus whatever you won along the way, of course. :))
Smell that? That's the wonderful aroma of RATINGS.... :)
(It's also Mo Money, and would never happen. Allow me my fantasy. :))
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[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Oct 7 2003, 08:39 PM\'] [quote name=\'pyrfan\' date=\'Oct 7 2003, 01:30 PM\'] The fact that Kelly's total was so high after they corrected their mistake leads me to think that they wanted people to know that she was close to breaking the all-time record...which she did.
This post could easily tangent into the best "Pyramid" contestants of all time. Hmm...
[/quote]
Grogan v. Ferrendini. Best of seven. Winner take all. ONE MILLION DOLLARS.
(plus whatever you won along the way, of course. :))
Smell that? That's the wonderful aroma of RATINGS.... :)
(It's also Mo Money, and would never happen. Allow me my fantasy. :)) [/quote]
I'll indulge your fantasy and add a new wrinkle, one that I always wanted them to add.
Instead of best of seven, it's top overall winnings after five days of play. Instead of new contestants each day, it's two new celebs each day, from the established pantheon. The new wrinkle is this: On a given day, if you go to the Winners' Circle twice, you must give once and receive once. (This applies only to Kelly and Keif, not the celebs.)
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(separate post from the last one 'cuz it's about a different show)
Worst player(s) on TPIR: In the blackjack game, which I only remember seeing once, a player needed a 10 and picked merchandise where the price didn't end in 0. From what I've read, this is not uncommon, so I nominate all such contestants. I'll also backpedal from saying outright that they are the worst players on the show. They have to be among the worst, but I'm sure people in other pricing games have done things that are comparably stupid.
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How could you all forget Tic Tac Dough champion Thom McKee? He MOST DEFINITELY ranks right up there among the BEST game show contestants of all time!
He certainly is. But my favorite is Frank.
(It's also Mo Money, and would never happen. Allow me my fantasy. :))
It's a good fantasy. I rather like Mo Money--except when they go waaaaaay overboard like on Twenty One vintage 2000 A.D. Of course, if I were in the booth and earned $100,000 for answering two questions correctly, my opinion would change.
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[quote name=\'Jay Temple\' date=\'Oct 8 2003, 09:37 AM\'] a player needed a 10 and picked merchandise where the price didn't end in 0. From what I've read, this is not uncommon, so I nominate all such contestants.
[/quote]
Failing to do this in Hit Me is the best way to win my \"Mah-rone Du Jour\" award. Especially when there is only one product on the board ending in 0.
They have to be among the worst, but I'm sure people in other pricing games have done things that are comparably stupid.
I can't think of another game on the show that permits such stupidity. (I don't really count the people who get flustered and repeat a previous guess in Ten Chances as stupid.) I suppose you could count someone playing Lucky Seven who is down to the final digit with five or six bucks in their hand and DOESN'T select the 5, but even that is almost forgiviable, since it happens so seldom anymore.
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In the category of you-ought-to-be-smarter-than-that, \"Hit Me\" is the best example, but I'd also put my vote in for people who don't play \"Clock Game\" well. It's the only other game I can think of that you can't possibly lose if you use the brains God gave you, regardless of how much or how little you know about prices. (It actually requires even less price knowledge than \"Hit Me\" when you think about it, since the latter requires you to find the ace.) So there's that much more frustration at the \"mah-rone\" who just doesn't get it.
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[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Oct 8 2003, 12:57 PM\'] In the category of you-ought-to-be-smarter-than-that, "Hit Me" is the best example, but I'd also put my vote in for people who don't play "Clock Game" well. It's the only other game I can think of that you can't possibly lose if you use the brains God gave you, regardless of how much or how little you know about prices. ... [/quote]
\"Brian, what kind of show do you think this is?\"
Some pricing games have tricks to them that casual viewers don't pick up on. I remember one 1994 playing of Cliff Hangers where Hans was on 22 with one item to go. The contestant guessed a price that was a good $10 lower than the price of the second prize...CRASH!
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Some pricing games have tricks to them that casual viewers don't pick up on. I remember one 1994 playing of Cliff Hangers where Hans was on 22 with one item to go. The contestant guessed a price that was a good $10 lower than the price of the second prize...CRASH!
Sure, there are a lot of games like that where if you've watched the show a few times you know some of the tricks. And certainly, there are some games (and some products) that you get to know even better with repeated viewing.
My point is that \"Hit Me\" and \"Clock Game\" are the two games that an intelligent person ought to win even if he knows very little about prices and he's never seen TPIR before in his life.
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[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Oct 8 2003, 01:43 PM\'] And certainly, there are some games (and some products) that you get to know even better with repeated viewing.
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Ain't that the truth. I know if I pay a dime over $5.69 for NewPhase Herbal Supplement, I'm getting screwed. :)
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Best: Michele Falco (won $750,000 on Deal or No Deal in September 2006)
Worst: Brooks Leach (won $10 on Deal or No Deal in November 2006 after needlessly going on far too many times)
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What is with these 20-year bumps?
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If your bumps persist for 20 years, see your doctor
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What is with these 20-year bumps?
"Wow, that's a really good question. Imma have to think about it."
<20 years pass...>
"Phew, I think I've finally settled on an answer. To my keyboard!"
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What is with these 20-year bumps?
He's using Internet Explorer.