Cheaters

[clemon79]

A perfect Showcase bid really isn't the same as counting cards. Memorizing the light patterns on Press Your Luck would be a better comparison.

What's the difference between memorizing a pattern of lights and memorizing a list of prize prices?

and giving a perfect Showcase bid gives no bigger a reward than it would if you bid within $250 of the price. The only problem with that bid was how the show and especially Drew reacted to it.

Apparently it does, depending on how many copies of that book the dude who gave Ted's bid sold.

[BrandonFG]

A perfect Showcase bid really isn't the same as counting cards. Memorizing the light patterns on Press Your Luck would be a better comparison.

With Ted's scenario, you're taking the word of a guy who knows the prices like the back of his own hand. With counting cards, you've memorized the cards being dealt, and using it to your advantage. In both cases, you remember info that the house thinks no one else knows, and you're still trying to game the system.

Major Ingram? Charles Van Doren. They cheated.

Yeah, but not quite in the same way: Van Doren cheated with help from the production, whereas Ingram cheated with help from an accomplice who was unconnected to Millionaire.

My teacher gives me the answers to the final exam so that the class average goes up. It's still cheating, just like if my classmate coughs for A, sneezes for B, sniffles for C. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter who's feeding the info.

[J.R.]

Major Charles Ingram.

I've watched the "Major Fraud" documentary numerous times over the years and it never fails to get a chuckle out of me. It really was comical how they thought this "brilliant" scheme could sneak by the production staff.

/The "*cough*NO!" sequence gets me every time.

[Thunder]

...But Ted? The show's called The Price Is Right, and giving a perfect Showcase bid gives no bigger a reward than it would if you bid within $250 of the price. The only problem with that bid was how the show and especially Drew reacted to it.

Not to me. It wasn't an amazing perfect bid, it was gaming the system. Giving it as little hoopla as possible isn't wrong with me one bit, lest it encourages others to do the same. The damage was done and it was time to recognize it and move along.

[TLEberle]

My teacher gives me the answers to the final exam so that the class average goes up. It's still cheating, just like if my classmate coughs for A, sneezes for B, sniffles for C. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter who's feeding the info.

That was almost exactly the setup for an episode of Monk: the host and reigning champion were in cahoots and the code to each question was that the letter was keyed to which corner of the card the host used to hold the question.

There's a reason there's not a whole lot of entries to the list--it's a very hard thing to pull off these days.

[BrandonFG]

That was almost exactly the setup for an episode of Monk: the host and reigning champion were in cahoots and the code to each question was that the letter was keyed to which corner of the card the host used to hold the question.

There's a reason there's not a whole lot of entries to the list--it's a very hard thing to pull off these days.

The scenario I used was also a plot from Family Matters...I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't used on several other sitcoms as well. :-P

/Which makes it even sillier for Major to try doing so
//I remember that Monk episode

[The Ol' Guy]

An old Simon and Simon episode, "Family Forecasts", used a similar concept as the Monk episode, only in this case, the Vanna-type "hostess" sent signals to the contestants as to which numbers to pick on the game board by "body language".... hand on left hip for one number, hand on right hip for another, arms straight down, etc.      http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0700902/?ref_=ttep_ep16

[JonSea31]

I am wondering if the one-time perfect Showcase bid may have been because the contestant may have autism (and nobody knows about it) and was a die-hard fan of the show, thus having a remarkable memory?

[PYLdude]

I am wondering if the one-time perfect Showcase bid may have been because the contestant may have autism (and nobody knows about it) and was a die-hard fan of the show, thus having a remarkable memory?

One doesn't need to be autistic to have a remarkable memory.

No offense, but it's true. Especially when the show has a lack of variety in what it offers as prizes on a certain basis.

[Steve Gavazzi]

I am wondering if the one-time perfect Showcase bid may have been because the contestant may have autism (and nobody knows about it) and was a die-hard fan of the show, thus having a remarkable memory?

If you're really wondering about that, you can't have looked into it very much.

[Thunder]

I am wondering if the one-time perfect Showcase bid may have been because the contestant may have autism (and nobody knows about it) and was a die-hard fan of the show, thus having a remarkable memory?

There's no easy way to ask this...

What the heck is it with game shows, game show fans and autism?

[Dbacksfan12]

I am wondering if the one-time perfect Showcase bid may have been because the contestant may have autism (and nobody knows about it) and was a die-hard fan of the show, thus having a remarkable memory?

There's no easy way to ask this...

What the heck is it with game shows, game show fans and autism?

We discussed this in the past, but I couldn't find the thread.  I seem to recall a few people saying it has something to do with the "comfort level" of game shows--very few things change unlike sitcoms, dramas, etc. where there's typically a different plot line every week.