Contestants getting a second chance...

[rjaguar3]

I was looking through this topic http://phantomstemple.us.to/index.php?topic=2313.0 (warning: last I checked, there was a soft registration wall) identifying Legends contestants who appear on more than one episode.  Apparently, research by forum members has unearthed the practice of the producers' allowing teams who lost at the moat during the first season to compete again on another episode.  I know that most American game shows only allow contestants to appear once, ever (The Price Is Right becoming a notable exception when they instituted the 10-year rule a few years back), but I was wondering whether other games shows have the practice of inviting losing contestants back or allowing them to play again when there is not a production error affecting the outcome of the game.

[Kevin Prather]

Apparently, research by forum members has unearthed the practice of the producers' allowing teams who lost at the moat during the first season to compete again on another episode.

I think inviting back losing moat players would be about equivalent to losing Fastest Finger players getting to try again on Millionaire, and that happened routinely. Granted for that, you had to redo the tryout process, but maybe the kids on Legends had to do the same?

[clemon79]

Granted for that, you had to redo the tryout process, but maybe the kids on Legends had to do the same?

Insofar as there was much of a tryout process for a game show that taped at a theme park, probably so.

[Jimmy Owen]

IIRC, Super Password had a "Tournament of Losers"

[Matt Ottinger]

There are people on this forum who will know the details better, but I recall that there was some weirdness during a Greed taping where they didn't have enough contestants in their pool and the solution was to give somebody (bodies?) who had just lost another opportunity.  It wouldn't surprise me at all if the Legends situation was similarly more about production efficiencies that about actually having kids reapply, retest and replay at some future date. They taped a ton of shows all at once, and rather than having extra kids who might not get to play at all, why not keep some losing kids around as backups for the last few tapings?

/I actually have dreams that involve second chances and Jeopardy.  Really.

[WhammyPower]

IIRC, Super Password had a "Tournament of Losers"

If we're going this route, let's add Karn Feud, and, not necessarily for tournaments, Whammy! and George Gray Weakest Link.

/Did we really need Skyler back?

[Matt Ottinger]

IIRC, Super Password had a "Tournament of Losers"

Several shows (including Millionaire) have had a more formal "second chance" for players whose first appearance didn't go well.  I think the OP was talking more about regular-play contestants with no mention at all made of their first go-round.

There was also the Jeopardy player a couple years back who managed to get through the audition process and play a second time without getting caught until after the show aired.

[JasonA1]

There was also the Jeopardy player a couple years back who managed to get through the audition process and play a second time without getting caught until after the show aired.

Are you talking about the guy who wore the same weird tie to both appearances?

-Jason

[Jimmy Owen]

On "Second Chance," if all three players hit a devil on their last spin, they were invited back for the next show.

[PYLdude]

On "Second Chance," if all three players hit a devil on their last spin, they were invited back for the next show.

..,because they'd be returning champions. Not the same at all.

[clemon79]

..,because they'd be returning champions. Not the same at all.

Hey, you got one, Jimmy! Salmon on the table tonight, eh?

[chad1m]

GSN showed an 80s Pyramid a couple weeks ago where Dick and the losing contestant are talking about what "the period" is for the contestant to be able to apply to try to come back. I think the contestant said it was two or three years. I never knew of such a procedure until I saw that.

Along with Price is Right, Family Feud has loosened their eligibility requirements, allowing people whose last appearance on the show was longer than ten years ago to be potential contestants.

[Jimmy Owen]

If you consider the various poker shows as game shows, which I don't, the same contestants appeared over and over whether they won or lost.

[PYLdude]

..,because they'd be returning champions. Not the same at all.

Hey, you got one, Jimmy! Salmon on the table tonight, eh?

Still trying to figure out how he's trolling...to me he's being 100% serious. Which is worse than trolling considering the subject matter.

[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.