Helping your opponent

[pyrfan]

A few times on game shows, I've seen contestants actually try to help their opponents during the game. Once on "Pyramid," after a tiebreaker, a woman went to the winner's circle and said to Dick Clark that she thought her opponent's celebrity partner said an acceptable answer before the buzzer and should have won the game. (She was right...sort of; the answer was acceptable, but the team still had one more word to go.) And on "Super Password," one contestant's celebrity partner gave a response of "gasoline" for the password "gas." The judge made no "form of the word" sound, so when contestant #2's team got the word, contestant #2 turned to the judge and said, in reference to "gas," "Isn't that a form of the word?" Apparently not (which is something I disagree with, but that's a discussion for another thread).

Two questions: One, has anyone seen anything similar happen in their viewing? I must say, these two contestants showed great sportsmanship in doing so, and although I'm sure this kind of thing doesn't happen all the time, I'd like to think it's happened more than twice. Two, I know that contestants are told to wait until the commercial break if they have a dispute with the judge, but I always thought that was in reference to the contestant's own game play. Are they also discouraged from disagreeing with the judge on-camera even if they're trying to help their opponent?


Brendan

[MrBuddwing]

[quote name=\'pyrfan\' post=\'133233\' date=\'Oct 2 2006, 10:04 PM\']
[H]as anyone seen anything similar happen in their viewing? [/quote]


I dimly recall an episode of the original version of "The Hollywood Squares" in which Peter Marshall read the question, the celebrity replied, and the contestant, a young man, said, "Somebody called out the answer." Whereupon Marshall admonished the audience, threw out the question, and proceeded to refer to the contestant as "Honest John Doe," or whatever the guy's name was, for the remainder of his appearance.

Maybe not quite helping the other contestant, but it was a striking display of good sportsmanship.

[JasonA1]

I have seen contestants before admit they heard an answer in the audience. On the completely flip side of that, I think the show was TJW...a man was searching for an answer and it came from the audience audibly enough that I caught it watching the show on tape. The man immediately proceeds to give said answer like it's his own to which Jack said "I'm sorry that came from the audience, we must caution you to remain quiet..." etc.

-Jason

[cweaver]

[quote name=\'pyrfan\' post=\'133233\' date=\'Oct 2 2006, 09:04 PM\']
Two questions: One, has anyone seen anything similar happen in their viewing? [/quote]

It didn't happen on camera, but during the last off-air round of the 1999 TV Land Ultimate Fan Search, the question was "How was the character of Lt. Colonel Henry Blake written out of M*A*S*H?"  I said he died when his plane went down in the Sea of Japan, and the judge started to count me wrong, claiming Blake died in a helicopter crash.  (Common mistake, since we last see him flying away in a chopper, but it was taking him to the airport.)  When I protested and pointed out Radar told everyone his plane went down, my two opponents backed me up.  I was counted correct.

[uncamark]

Doesn't it seem to me that in many cases the contestant coordinators tell the players that they are to speak up whenever they hear an answer from the audience, no matter what?  Of course, a show like "J!" will ask that you wait until the commercial, but that seems to be a thing most shows want their contestants to do.

[alfonzos]

On Narz's Concentration one contestant, a young man, used a "Take One Gift" to take a television from his opponent, a grandmotherly type. When she expressed her disapointment he said, "Tell you what, if I win the game she can have the television." She threw the game and he solved the puzzle.