Sunday, May 19, 2019

BIG BUCKS: THE PRESS YOUR LUCK SCANDAL

On this day in 1984, one of the most infamous moments in game show history occurred when a guy named Michael Larson appeared on the game show Press Your Luck and famously won $110,237, which at the time was highest a person ever won in one day on a game show. Larson achieved this by noticing months before while watching it that the board wasn't random but had five patterns with squares 4 and 8 never having a whammy which he memorized.


Larson went over 45 spins without hitting a whammy after getting one in his first and it went so long, the episode was split into a two parter. After the show, corrections were made to the board and CBS was so embarrassed that they only aired the episodes once in June 1984 and never again after that. In fact, they were so embarrassed that they even insisted to USA Network and Game Show Network never to air the episode when they sold the reruns and they wouldn't be shown until 2003 when Game Show Network aired a documentary called "Big Bucks: The Press Your Luck Scandal". Since then, the episodes aired on Game Show Network and Buzzr.


No comments:

Post a Comment