Wheel-related blurb

[geno57]

www.chicagotribune.com/business/columnists/chi-wed-phil-rosenthal-0218-feb18,0,4298009.column

* Speaking of spin work, the syndicated edition of "Wheel of Fortune" marks its 5,000th episode on Feb. 27. Since its 1983 debut, that comes out to more than 15,000 contestants, $200 million in cash and prizes and countless viewers shouting the correct answer at their TVs long before the contestants even come close. Host Pat Sajak earns his salary just by not losing it some days.

[ChrisLambert!]

He pulled that "more than 15,000 contestants" from the official press release. Even when figuring in the weeks where teams play, that can't be true, can it?

[Dbacksfan12]

[quote name=\'ChrisLambert!\' post=\'208410\' date=\'Feb 18 2009, 11:37 AM\']
He pulled that "more than 15,000 contestants" from the official press release. Even when figuring in the weeks where teams play, that can't be true, can it?[/quote]No, not really...how many years did they have returning champions?

[Matt Ottinger]

Well, he probably did the simple-math approach.  Five thousand episodes, three contestants per epiosde, fifteen thousand contestants.  "More" since sometimes there were teams.

Yes, there were many seasons when returning champions meant there were usually just two new contestants per show, but there have also been plenty of team weeks.  Every week of teams adds fifteen extra contestants to the count, the equivalent of three weeks' worth of defending champions taking a slot. I couldn't begin to guess how many team weeks there have been versus how many slots were taken up by returning champions (remember, lots of times in that era, undefeated three-day champs meant three new players), but my gut instinct would be that the numbers have pretty much evened out over time, and that 15,000 is not such an outrageous estimate.

[tvwxman]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'208412\' date=\'Feb 18 2009, 12:11 PM\']
Well, he probably did the simple-math approach.  Five thousand episodes, three contestants per epiosde, fifteen thousand contestants.  "More" since sometimes there were teams.

Yes, there were many seasons when returning champions meant there were usually just two new contestants per show, but there have also been plenty of team weeks.  Every week of teams adds fifteen extra contestants to the count, the equivalent of three weeks' worth of defending champions taking a slot. I couldn't begin to guess how many team weeks there have been versus how many slots were taken up by returning champions (remember, lots of times in that era, undefeated three-day champs meant three new players), but my gut instinct would be that the numbers have pretty much evened out over time, and that 15,000 is not such an outrageous estimate.
[/quote]
And doesn't he remember the season with the Friday Finals? That had shows with nothing BUT returning champions!

GEEZ!!!! whats the point in having a host if he doesn't know what he's talking about!