This is something totally off kilter, and I\'m not sure if it\'s ever happened- I know people have had to postpone defending a championship because of pregnancy or illness, but what happens if a person has to get rushed to a hospital mid game for some reason or another?
Here\'s my example. We\'re midway through Double Jeopardy. Player A, the champion, has $22,000. Player B has $7,200. Player C is sitting pretty with $-1,200. Let\'s strike Player C with the hospital visit, since more often than not, their only effect on the game at this point is keeping Player B from preventing a lock game.
I know this is all speculative (unless someone has a copy of the rules readily available), but what happens? Are Player A and B awarded anything? Is the episode scratched and replayed with a replacement player? Would Player C be invited to play again once they\'re well?
Just wondering.
In the recorded history of game shows, going back to Professor Quiz in 1936, has this ever been an issue?
We may have officially run out of things to talk about.
There was that Sale of the Century contestant that broke out in hives after a balloon drop when she won that Mercedes...
Seriously, would fainting spells count? That\'s about the closest I could think of.
It never happened mid-show, but I know there were instances where a family on Family Feud couldn\'t make the next taping. (In the one that I remember clearly, a team member was sick.) They brought them back at the next taping. I think it\'s enough to say that a good producer will have a plan in place.
In the recorded history of game shows, going back to Professor Quiz in 1936, has this ever been an issue?The odds of this situation having never arisen in the past 77 years are astronomical.
I would think that if you\'re sick mid-game you were sick before going on and should have removed yourself from the pool that day or you tough it out until the game is over.
Wasn\'t there a Jeopardy contestant in the 80s who fainted during Final Jeopardy?
Here\'s another one that just crossed my mind. A Dog Eat Dog contestant was taken to the hospital after going unconscious trying to hold his breath underwater...
I wonder how they would have handled a 2-2 tie in the final.Here\'s another one that just crossed my mind. A Dog Eat Dog contestant was taken to the hospital after going unconscious trying to hold his breath underwater...
Not being \"ill\" per se, but wasn\'t there the guy who injured his foot after winning a game on Whew?
There was a contestant named Gee on \"Password Plus\" in 1980 who started near the end of the show on Tuesday. His celebrity partners were Lucille Ball and Dick Martin. He won his first game with Lucy on Wednesday\'s show. When Thursday\'s show started, Allen Ludden made a reference to back problems that Gee was having. Gee won his second game but only got $200 in Alphabetics with Dick Martin. They went back to the main set, where Allen introduced a new contestant, and then they went to commercial. When the show returned, Gee was gone due to the back problems, and Allen said that Gee would be back at a later date, when he was feeling better. They introduced another new contestant and then flipped a coin to see who would have the first option. Gee did return a few weeks later, with Betty White and John Astin, and the producers let him play that Alphabetics over again.
Later that year, by the end of the Friday show of the Susan Richardson/Bowzer week, two new contestants had played to a $100 tie, which would be broken next week. (Coincidentally, the next celebs would be Lucille Ball and Dick Martin.) On Monday, Allen brought in one of Friday\'s contestants and explained that the other was unable to return due to a \"family health problem\" and that she would come back to the show as soon as she could. They introduced a new opponent for the returnee, and they started a new game from scratch. The returning player did get to keep the $100 she won on Friday, though.
Not an illness-related situation, but on a 1979 \"Hollywood Squares\" episode that\'s on the Internet, it\'s explained that the previous week\'s contestant knew da lovely Lennon Sisters, who were on the show the new week, so the producers asked him to come back at a later taping. His challenger had been in the middle of a game with him, but she started a new game with a new opponent.
Spin-off question: Aside from the above example and the situation with \"$100,000 Pyramid\" champ Keefe Ferrandini being friends with guest celeb Terry Lester and having to sit out a week, can anyone think of other examples of returning contestants having to skip a taping because they knew one of the stars personally?
Spin-off question: Aside from the above example and the situation with \"$100,000 Pyramid\" champ Keefe Ferrandini being friends with guest celeb Terry Lester and having to sit out a week, can anyone think of other examples of returning contestants having to skip a taping because they knew one of the stars personally?
I know one time the contestant coordinator on Password really dropped the ball and paired the male celebrity, a sportswriter, with his roommate.
\\ducks from flying tomatoes
Yeah, wasn\'t that contestant\'s name Aristophanes?
Ridiculous!!!
I remember a story of a contestant on double dare suffering a broken nose during a physical challenge, and was replaced mid game.
I remember this from a GSN rerun, there was a 70s-era \"Family Feud\" where a VERY old man was one of the contestants, and Richard led off by saying something like \"Let us know if you\'re okay,\" which I thought was an odd thing to say. Late in the game, Richard comes to the old man and he has his head down, resting on his hand. Richard looks at him, turns to the folks off-stage, and yells \"Don\'t sound the buzzer! This isn\'t a strike!\" and walks right past him and goes to the next contestant in line.
Spin-off question: Aside from the above example and the situation with \"$100,000 Pyramid\" champ Keefe Ferrandini being friends with guest celeb Terry Lester and having to sit out a week, can anyone think of other examples of returning contestants having to skip a taping because they knew one of the stars personally?
Another Squares incident, where a man who sang in the same church choir as Days of Our Lives\' Bill & Susan (Seaforth) Hayes had to stand down for a week.
Seems like in the past couple years, I\'ve seen a couple ill contestants on Wheel. I remember one contestant whose voice sounded really rough, and she said that she had a sore throat. Another said at the end of the game that she played the entire thing with an upset stomach.
I didn\'t fall ill, but I easily could\'ve. I was dead tired for my episodes of 1 vs. 100. It had been a long day. I got there at 10:45 a.m., and ate a sandwich, waited, watched the show in the audience, watched the show backstage. By the time I got to play, it was 10:30 p.m. I hadn\'t had any coffee since I left home. I felt like I could\'ve fallen asleep at any minute. But the adrenaline of being on a game show for the first time just kept me up. After all the promos and paperwork, it was 1:00 a.m.
And I still drove the 25 miles back home. And went to work the next day at 8:00 a.m.
(Hey, I\'ve got an old-man story to tell the nieces, nephews...)
--Charlie
Charlie, not to get too far off from the thread, how did you do on the show, and was it the NBC or GSN version? Considering how it took roughly 15 hours to tape two or three episodes, I\'m guessing the former. ;-)
If we\'re including injuries, there were a number of contestants throughout American Gladiators\' run who sustained an injury and had to leave mid-game, usually to be replaced by an alternate who inherited their score to that point.
Charlie, not to get too far off from the thread, how did you do on the show, and was it the NBC or GSN version? Considering how it took roughly 15 hours to tape two or three episodes, I\'m guessing the former. ;-)
The NBC version with Bob Saget. Taped in August 2006, aired in November. I won about $250 (when Monique lost her game). This was also the end of the first appearance of Sister Rose.
(Anyone have a Youtube link of epsiodes 104 and/or 105? I couldn\'t find one.)
--Charlie
If we\'re including injuries, there were a number of contestants throughout American Gladiators\' run who sustained an injury and had to leave mid-game, usually to be replaced by an alternate who inherited their score to that point.
If we\'re including injuries, there were a number of contestants throughout American Gladiators\' run who sustained an injury and had to leave mid-game, usually to be replaced by an alternate who inherited their score to that point.
Yeah, but like it was stated, you have to come to expect that in physical competitions. It\'s not like they\'re competing to answer questions on AG.
Although if you had to run the Assault course while answering questions it would make for an interesting quizzer (if for nothing else but curiosity factor).
Gladiators 2000 did this with the Eliminator. Close enough?
There was once a contestant on Global GUTS who became injured after the second event and had to be replaced with another contestant who took over her score.
If we're including injuries, there were a number of contestants throughout American Gladiators' run who sustained an injury and had to leave mid-game, usually to be replaced by an alternate who inherited their score to that point.There was at least one Gladiator (Sunny, during the first half of Season 1) who had this happen, thanks to an elevated Conquer ring that was only used once (http://www.gameshowgarbage.com/ind007_agconquer.html). Put simply, Sunny was pushed off the Conquer ring and her right leg bent in a way it shouldn't have -- she ended up with a dislocated knee and was out for the rest of the season.
If we\'re including injuries, there were a number of contestants throughout American Gladiators\' run who sustained an injury and had to leave mid-game, usually to be replaced by an alternate who inherited their score to that point.
Yeah, but like it was stated, you have to come to expect that in physical competitions. It\'s not like they\'re competing to answer questions on AG.
Although if you had to run the Assault course while answering questions it would make for an interesting quizzer (if for nothing else but curiosity factor).
Gladiators 2000 did this with the Eliminator. Close enough?
I remember this from a GSN rerun, there was a 70s-era \"Family Feud\" where a VERY old man was one of the contestants, and Richard led off by saying something like \"Let us know if you\'re okay,\" which I thought was an odd thing to say. Late in the game, Richard comes to the old man and he has his head down, resting on his hand. Richard looks at him, turns to the folks off-stage, and yells \"Don\'t sound the buzzer! This isn\'t a strike!\" and walks right past him and goes to the next contestant in line.
That\'s the one that popped into my head when I read the first post. I can\'t think of any other mid-episode occurrences; I do know about the ABC Dream House with the couple that couldn\'t return as the wife went into labor between shows, and I read about an episode of 1950s Name That Tune where a contestant wouldn\'t come back because she had to sing in her church choir.
Speaking of Feud, what about the episode where Richard had to be replaced in the middle of the episode?
in Italy a woman fainted on Wheel Of Fortune many years ago.
(skip the first minute) http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xyr0jj_mike-bongiorno-e-gli-svenimenti_shortfilms
Speaking of Feud, what about the episode where Richard had to be replaced in the middle of the episode?
Wait - what? By who?
He stepped out on one show because his back brace was slipping and he didn\'t want to stop tape. So staffer Caryn Lucas hosted the final questions of the game, and Richard came back for Fast Money. Happens around 16 minutes in this link.
-Jason
He stepped out on one show because his back brace was slipping and he didn\'t want to stop tape.
Talk about a different era.
So staffer Caryn Lucas hosted the final questions of the game
I, too, had no idea. But, wow, she did quite an excellent job!
When it comes to fainting, Aileen and Maryella from TPIR immediately come to mind.
Also, didn\'t a contestant break their arm during an episode of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? and someone else had to come in and run the map for her?
When it comes to fainting, Aileen and Maryella from TPIR immediately come to mind.
Also, didn\'t a contestant break their arm during an episode of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? and someone else had to come in and run the map for her?
When it comes to fainting, Aileen and Maryella from TPIR immediately come to mind.
Also, didn\'t a contestant break their arm during an episode of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? and someone else had to come in and run the map for her?
I\'m still waiting for definitive proof of that. I consider anything other than an actual clip from the show hearsay.
I got that e-mail from a WGBH employee confirming the existence of the episode and the fact that it didn\'t air due to a contestant becoming injured.
He stepped out on one show because his back brace was slipping and he didn\'t want to stop tape.
Talk about a different era.
Wasn\'t this Richard more than anything else? I remember him saying in an interview a few years back that he hated to stop tape because it killed the energy in the studio. I think this would also explain that one game where they played Fast Money on cue cards because the board was b0rked.
Don\'t think so - it\'s the era. We have countless examples, such as the Blockbusters match that continued despite one darked-out hexagon, Super Password rounds done on cue cards, a Wheel puzzle where a blank trilon just wouldn\'t turn off, etc.
-Jason
Speaking only in my opinion, I think it has more to do with the culture of TV and game shows now vs. what it was in the \"daytime\" era. Back then, the studios were revolving doors of different shows taping all week. Your work day could have begun with setting the whole thing up - at the very least a rehearsal - and then tearing it down as soon as the shows were over. One half hour stopdown throws in half an hour of overtime for the stage crew on deck to strike the set, not to mention all the folks involved with taping the show. Plus, if you came out of the studio with 4 shows instead of 5 because you had that big of a technical error, there wasn\'t another taping the next day where you could just tack an extra show on. Classic Concentration needed the space tomorrow. So you decide to just go on with the show, rather than stop to fix a busted light. Nowadays, a show gets its order, they build the set, leave it up for a few weeks while they tape, then tear it down the night you stop shooting or the day after.
Couple that with the fact there are more avenues competing for viewer attention and each show is more important. Putting a game show on for 13 weeks was just part of a network\'s operating budget. Now, it\'s a bigger financial decision for, say, a small cable network to buy 8 weeks of a show. Each episode is going to be that series\' handshake with the audience. One person\'s \"aw that\'s a fun mistake, leave it in\" could be another person\'s \"if the viewers see this, they\'re going to give up on the show\" or \"we can\'t have a mistake when we only have 8 shows.\" The whole schedule is accelerated. Whereas you had a pilot and could develop and fine-tune your rhythm on the air in the 70s, you sometimes have a few weeks in the office to develop it now before you go into the studio. So if anybody up and down the chain had a problem with host language, for example, there\'s no choice but to ADR it. That\'s why you might overshoot to get one episode.
That doesn\'t excuse or explain all issues where people fall back on editing when they don\'t have to, but that\'s some of my opinion.
-Jason
Sorry for the bump but this (TPIR) contestant smashes her face on the wheel. Looks like she may have bloodied her mouth in the process...
http://youtu.be/eBnotCYGvbc?t=33m47s