Celebrities as Civilian Contestants Question

[SuperSweeper]

With the recent passing of Blake Emmons, an interesting question came to mind:

Who are other examples of celebrities who appeared as "regular"/civilian contestants on a game show *after* they had appeared as a celebrity on another show?

Examples I've thought of include:

Emmons, who was a celebrity player on Definition several years before he was on The Joker's Wild.

Chuck Wagner, who actually did a sandwich, of sorts - Password Plus as a civilian, shortly followed by MGHSH and Tattletales as a celebrity, and then way later, appeared on Millionaire as a civilian in the Shuffle Era.

I also would include Larry Toffler, who appeared on Greed well after he hosted Finders Keepers.

Anyone have other examples?

[PYLclark86]

Paris Themmen, who played Mike Teevee in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, appeared on a couple of game shows including Jeopardy! and Trivial Pursuit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSSKDggnrB8

[Mr. Matté]

Paris Themmen, who played Mike Teevee in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, appeared on a couple of game shows including Jeopardy! and Trivial Pursuit.

I think the question is about people who've appeared as "celebrities" on celeb shows and then went on to be regular civilian contestants.

I was thinking Henry Beckman as an answer, the Canadian actor who went on Scrabble in the 80s. I don't think he was ever a celebrity on an American game show, but he was one of the guests on Party Game per this post and Definition per a Facebook comment from one of his civilian partners.

[Matt Ottinger]

This doesn't perfectly fit your conditions, but I found it fascinating.  Klinton Spilsbury was a celebrity for a hot minute back in 1981 when he was plucked from obscurity to star in The Legend of the Lone Ranger.  His acting was just short of inept.  Speaking voice had to be completely redubbed by another actor, that kind of thing.  I doubt he made any game show appearances in that small window, but a few years later he appeared with his family as civilians on Family Feud.

[Ian Wallis]

I was thinking Henry Beckman as an answer, the Canadian actor who went on Scrabble in the 80s. I don't think he was ever a celebrity on an American game show, but he was one of the guests on Party Game per this post and Definition per a Facebook comment from one of his civilian partners.

Didn't know that about Henry Beckman (re Scrabble).  He also did a get shot on Bewitched in the late '60s.

I was thinking of Susan Keller (or Gay).  She was a celebrity panelist on the Canadian game show This is The Law, but relatively unknown in the US when she appeared on Match Game in Nov 1974.

[Mike Tennant]

I was thinking Henry Beckman as an answer, the Canadian actor who went on Scrabble in the 80s. I don't think he was ever a celebrity on an American game show, but he was one of the guests on Party Game per this post and Definition per a Facebook comment from one of his civilian partners.

Didn't know that about Henry Beckman (re Scrabble).  He also did a get shot on Bewitched in the late '60s.

Beckman was one of those character actors who turned up on everything but whose name was unfamiliar to most viewers. He worked pretty steadily for half a century--but apparently not steadily enough that some extra game-show winnings wouldn't have come in handy.

[mystery7]

This doesn't perfectly fit your conditions, but I found it fascinating.  Klinton Spilsbury was a celebrity for a hot minute back in 1981 when he was plucked from obscurity to star in The Legend of the Lone Ranger.  His acting was just short of inept.  Speaking voice had to be completely redubbed by another actor, that kind of thing.  I doubt he made any game show appearances in that small window, but a few years later he appeared with his family as civilians on Family Feud.

Yeah, guy sounds like a real winner.

[Chief-O]

I also would include Larry Toffler, who appeared on Greed well after he hosted Finders Keepers.

I believe I've heard about him being a contestant on "Debt" as well.

[trainman]

Comedian Guy Branum, host of "Talk Show the Game Show" in 2017-18, appeared as a contestant on "Jeopardy!" in 2025.

[chris319]

I wasn't involved with contestants on P+, but ISTR you couldn't be a civilian contestant if you were a member of AFTRA and perhaps also SAG. Members of those unions would have to be paid union scale on top of their game winnings.

[That Don Guy]

This doesn't perfectly fit your conditions, but I found it fascinating.  Klinton Spilsbury was a celebrity for a hot minute back in 1981 when he was plucked from obscurity to star in The Legend of the Lone Ranger.  His acting was just short of inept.  Speaking voice had to be completely redubbed by another actor, that kind of thing.  I doubt he made any game show appearances in that small window, but a few years later he appeared with his family as civilians on Family Feud.

I think he appeared on an episode of the one ABC season of The Krypton Factor, where they showed a clip from the film, then brought out six people dressed like the Lone Ranger and the contestants had to pick out the one who was in the film. Does that count as "appearing as a celebrity on a game show"?

[BrandonFG]

I think he appeared on an episode of the one ABC season of The Krypton Factor, where they showed a clip from the film, then brought out six people dressed like the Lone Ranger and the contestants had to pick out the one who was in the film. Does that count as "appearing as a celebrity on a game show"?

I don't see why not.

[Otm Shank]

Although it very loosely fits the topic but it's funny as hell, I'll add Tracy Morgan (played by Eddie Murphy with Tracy Morgan as a generic civilian) on SNL's Black Jeopardy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qYM6bKl57A

[Matt Ottinger]

Well, here's a bump for a weird, unconfirmed one.

Cubby O'Brien was a child star, one of the original Mouseketeers and a drummer on Lawrence Welk for a couple of years.  After his brief stardom, he continued to work as a drummer (most notably for The Carpenters) but only turned up in newspapers as part of "Where Are They Now?" style features, or stories about the occasional Mickey Mouse Club reunions.

According to his Wikipedia page, with all the caveats that implies, he won $5,000 on The Big Showdown.

I kinda think it's true.  There are few attributions on the page, but like so many quasi-celebrity pages, it feels like it's been written by a family member, or maybe the subject himself.  An appearance on an obscure game show seems a strangely unusual and specific thing to just make up.  Finally, if he went on the show as Carl O'Brien instead of using his ursine nickname, he probably would avoid all the "Hey, weren't you...?" drama.

Thanks to our own Mike Burger (mmb5) for noticing the reference in the first place.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubby_O%27Brien

[PYLdude]

Got a couple of other examples, one really being an obscure one, if you will:

Brett Kelly, who was on Jeopardy! during 2024, played Thurman Merman in Bad Santa.

And then you had Brian O’Halloran, from the Kevin Smith universe, play The Floor last year and win $110,000.