Rooting Against Contestants

[Ian Wallis]

He has vehemently denied manipulating the competition to favor certain contestants over others, the standard by which we usually define "rigging".

Did anything ever come of first-season Stacey's claims that Burnett persuaded two contestants to change their vote from Rudy to her?

If there's any truth to that, that has me a bit suspicious.

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Dec 15 2003, 10:22 AM\'] Did anything ever come of first-season Stacey's claims that Burnett persuaded two contestants to change their vote from Rudy to her? [/quote]
 Nope.  Whether it's true or not (and certainly WE won't ever know for sure) it's been made to look like sour grapes from a losing contestant.  

For the record, Burnett wants to have it both ways.  He says he's never rigged the outcome, but he's also suggested that his show is different from traditional game shows and shouldn't be held to the same rules.  He says he wouldn't ever do it because the public backlash wouldn't be worth it, but he doesn't feel as though he's bound by the same rules Jeopardy is.

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Dec 15 2003, 12:08 AM\'] Well, actually, I HAVEN'T missed any episodes in the last few weeks, and I sure don't remember anything remotely resembling what Eric's talking about.  I'm going to bring this up in the Jeopardy board.  If it happened, especially if it happened recently, somebody there is going to know about it. [/quote]
 The Jeopardy board has spoken, and the consensus seems to be that Jeopardy did have a category like what Eric describes, called "Take In Order", but the most recent time anybody remembers it happening is 1997, certainly not within the last week or so.

http://boards.sonypictures.com/boards/show...&threadid=81419

[trainman]

I have read, in "Jeopardy!" contestants' accounts of their appearances, that they were told before a round started to take a certain category in order, but Alex didn't mention it on air...usually that happened when it was all video clues or something like that.

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Dec 15 2003, 10:52 AM\'] [quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Dec 15 2003, 12:08 AM\'] Well, actually, I HAVEN'T missed any episodes in the last few weeks, and I sure don't remember anything remotely resembling what Eric's talking about.  I'm going to bring this up in the Jeopardy board.  If it happened, especially if it happened recently, somebody there is going to know about it. [/quote]
The Jeopardy board has spoken, and the consensus seems to be that Jeopardy did have a category like what Eric describes, called "Take In Order", but the most recent time anybody remembers it happening is 1997, certainly not within the last week or so.

http://boards.sonypictures.com/boards/show...&threadid=81419 [/quote]
 THe episode in question may be the Halloween 1997 episode, with the category "Universal Monsters", which required the players to take the clues in order. I know this because today's(12/18) GSN J! rerun is said episode.

[tommycharles]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Dec 15 2003, 10:47 AM\'] For the record, Burnett wants to have it both ways.  He says he's never rigged the outcome, but he's also suggested that his show is different from traditional game shows and shouldn't be held to the same rules.  He says he wouldn't ever do it because the public backlash wouldn't be worth it, but he doesn't feel as though he's bound by the same rules Jeopardy is. [/quote]
 So then Burnett would be perfectly willing to rigg the outcome if he knew that there wouldn't be a media backlash? That's....interesting. Although something tells me that CBS isn't gonna send S&P to ruin one of their flagship shows.

Does he still do the "retaping challenges so it looks cooler" bit?

[Esoteric Eric]

THe episode in question may be the Halloween 1997 episode, with the category "Universal Monsters", which required the players to take the clues in order. I know this because today's(12/18) GSN J! rerun is said episode.

My bad, people... I saw (at least, I BELIEVE I saw ((8=D)) ) the same episode on GSN Sunday morning (12/14, 9:30 AM PST; the first episode with Bob Harris, just before they broke for the (Teen? College?) Tournament w/ the semis and finals in Washington D.C. and D.C. Power Players Week... Right?) However...

While I remember the "Universal Monsters" category was played, it wasn't the category that had to be selected in order.  The "Take In Order" category that the J! board and Matt mentioned was played in the same round.  (Now to figure out why GSN aired it again today...)

Esoteric Eric, who once wondered why a St. Louis TV station was running an ad for Your New England Pontiac Dealers for many minutes before realizing he was watching a videotape he recorded in Boston, forgetting to FF through the ads...

[Don Howard]

During the final season of Tic Tac Dough, there was an annoying contestant named Von. He proclaimed himself a "wit" when Jim Caldwell was talking to him before his first game. Among Von's annoyances, when asked a question in which "etchings" was the answer, Von The Wit replied, "Would you like to come up and see my etchings?". Was Von giving us an example of his wit or was he hitting on Jim? The world may never know. At the end of another show while Jim was chatting with The Witster, Von said he was having trouble sleeping. Jim asked why this was. Von The Mon then said he was anguishing over whether he'd rather win a million dollars or have dinner with Joan Collins (a reference to the Canada Dry promotion that was running at the time). Oh, Von. You funny fellow.

[starcade]

Why wouldn't he deny it?

I mean, what he's doing (IMODO) is a violation of American federal law.

He'd be criminally and civilly liable for damages and arrest if he were caught.

And anyone who questions what worth rigging the games would be does not only forget game show history, but also professional wrestling...