Contestants getting a second chance...

[Jimmy Owen]

A pre-Thirtysomething Mel Harris is a good example of that Pyramid rule.  She played the 20K version in 1979, and again on the 100K in 1985, both times as a contestant (and IIRC, she won pretty big her second time around.)

I wonder how many other examples of Pyramid contestants playing more than once there are.

Didn't she have a diff. last name the second time?  It might have slipped through the cracks.

[snowpeck]

A pre-Thirtysomething Mel Harris is a good example of that Pyramid rule.  She played the 20K version in 1979, and again on the 100K in 1985, both times as a contestant (and IIRC, she won pretty big her second time around.)

I wonder how many other examples of Pyramid contestants playing more than once there are.

Didn't she have a diff. last name the second time?  It might have slipped through the cracks.

She used "Mary Ellen Harris" the first time and "Mel Harris" the second time... I don't think something like that would have just slipped through.

[clemon79]

She used "Mary Ellen Harris" the first time and "Mel Harris" the second time... I don't think something like that would have just slipped through.

With that common of a last name, and the knowledge that 99% of the time "Mel" on a woman is short for "Melanie" and not a concatenation of two names? I ABSOLUTELY think something like that could have just slipped through.

[snowpeck]

Well, regardless, it still fits the topic.

[TLEberle]

Anyway, don't you have to tender your SS# during the tryout process?

[Bryce L.]

Anyway, don't you have to tender your SS# during the tryout process?

That's what I'm guessing; if so, that would sink the "Mary Ellen Harris vs. Mel Harris" ship completely, from the defense lawyer's point-of-view...

[Matt Ottinger]

Another possibility with regard to Mel Harris is that Pyramid was perfectly aware that she had played before and they let her play again because she was a good game player.  Heck, they may even have quietly invited a number of former players to play their syndicated version in order to have quality games, and Ms. Harris is the only one we've caught because she became famous.  I'm not saying that's what happened, I just think it's a possibility worth considering.

[Bryce L.]

Another possibility with regard to Mel Harris is that Pyramid was perfectly aware that she had played before and they let her play again because she was a good game player.  Heck, they may even have quietly invited a number of former players to play their syndicated version in order to have quality games, and Ms. Harris is the only one we've caught because she became famous.  I'm not saying that's what happened, I just think it's a possibility worth considering.

This is one of the reasons I'm sad to see that both Bob Stewart and Dick Clark are officially "not coming down for breakfast anymore" (thank you Howie Carr for teaching me THAT phrase back on WRKO-AM, by way of WVOM-FM...)

[Unrealtor]

Are we ignoring the shows where it's written into the rules that contestants have more than one try? If not, add at least one format of Classic Concentration and the original format of Now You See It, plus Pointless in the UK.

[Matt Ottinger]

Are we ignoring the shows where it's written into the rules that contestants have more than one try?

We're trying to.