What did you do with your Winnings?

[Dbacksfan12]

This is directed to those on here who have actually been on a show.   I know Matt O. related a story about donating the porch swing he won to the local PBS affiliate, but for others on here...what did you do with your winnings?  I'm slightly more curious about those who won merchandise as opposed to cash, but I'd be interested to see if there's any neat stories out there.

[ClockGameJohn]

Since you are asking about  merchandise (I won both cash and prizes), I donated my One Bid which was a washer/dryer to a charity -- I simply didn't have a need for them.  I saved my electric guitar which I have absolutely no talent or skill to play.  I was fortunate on subsequent trips to Price to have it autographed by Bob.  It's worth far more in memories to me, and it currently hangs in my home as a nice conversation piece.

Also when entering my front door, one will find the "antiqued apothecary chest from the Broyhill Attic Heirloom collection" and matching mirror which adorns the foyer to this day.

The remainder was cash on both TPiR and Wheel.  I wish I had a good story to tell like spending it on hookers and cocaine, but I think I just paid down debt!

[Brian44]

A few of you here know I was on TPIR in 1996, played Bonus Game and won.

My IUFB was a collection of Terra Pax travel bags that look similar to this:

https://terrapax.com/collections/all-products/products/clutch-signature

They are under my bed storing the numerous 5K/10K/marathon and other race T-shirts I have received over the years.

In Bonus Game, I won 3 of the 4 SPs. I still have the mixer and globe (the BONUS was in the window with the mixer). I also won a hair dryer which I exchanged at Service Merchandise for a camera.

The BONUS prize was an Ashley dining room group,which I received unassembled and sold a week later via a newspaper classified ad.

I also won a set of Royal Prestige dinnerware like this:

http://holidays.net/christmas/store/Complete-Royal-Prestige-Midnight-Mood-China-Set-For-8-Includes-Serving-Pieces_263424803890.html

Mom got it as a Mother's Day gift that year and she still breaks it out every year for Christmas Eve dinner!

[tomobrien]

Jeopardy! '84: Kept the second-place gift of the Armstrong pressboard bedroom set and Dakotah comforter. But the 50 coupons each for Mazola No-Stick and Niagara spray starch were handed out to friends as parting gifts when they came over to visit.

Millionaire '00: No merchandise but the one big splurge with the money was flying to London on the Concorde.  No regrets there. 

[curtking]

With my $1,000 from the J! Teen Tournament in 1987, I bought my first PC - a Tandy 1000EX.

http://www.pcmuseum.ca/details.asp?id=100

I also won consolation prizes - a mattress cover, panty hose, press-on nails. Honestly, I have no clue what became of those.

In 2000, I won $64,000 in a Millionaire-style radio contest - most of that went to pay bills, student loan debt, and gifts for family.

[colonial]

WWTBAM 2001: Used money as a down payment for my first home four years later. Also gave some of the money to my five phone-a-friends as thank yous for clearing time to do it, as well as my sister for attending the taping (she was a NYC history teacher at the time, and I found out from several third parties she got her pay docked for calling out and going to the taping).

Used the per diem money for lunch at a NYC deli (good) and dinner with a group of contestants at WWF New York (horrid).

2-Minute Drill: Bought a computer with the winnings. If I had won my second-round match, I would have also won a trip to Houston to attend a golf tournament and "hang out with the ESPN golf team". If I had won, I would have blown off the golf excursion and visit family instead.


JD

[Matt Ottinger]

I told this story recently on Facebook.

When I was on Sale of the Century, one of my prizes was a huge lawn swing, impractical and impossible for my apartment life at the time.  So I donated it.  Specifically, I donated it to the local PBS station, which had an annual fundraising auction and was always on the lookout for stuff like that.

A short time later, they gave me my own game show.  Coincidence?

[Adam Nedeff]

Won $2000 on Catch 21. Bought a plane ticket to visit my family at Christmas, bought a bed (which I only just replaced last month) and put the rest in the bank.

[TLEberle]

2-Minute Drill: Bought a computer with the winnings. If I had won my second-round match, I would have also won a trip to Houston to attend a golf tournament and "hang out with the ESPN golf team". If I had won, I would have blown off the golf excursion and visit family instead.

I wonder how many of the trip packages were used and how many of the ESPN experiences were used--I recall that Willy Gibson won a whole bunch of those.

I love all of the stories but especially the Concorde flight--that really is the sort of once in a lifetime thing that game show winnings can facilitate.

[beatlefreak84]

Back in 2006, I had won some money and a Caribbean cruise on WOF.  I remember it was a week-long Windjammer cruise, which was one of the best trips I had taken.  I didn't have a significant other at the time, so I took my dad, and it was a blast.  Not just sailing around the Caribbean and swimming, but just relaxing with a cold drink in the shade and, most importantly, our ship was able to dock at some of the smaller islands, allowing us to check out the nightlife.  In fact, the hotel they put us up at while we were waiting for our plane back to the US was so nice that both my parents and my wife and I have taken separate romantic getaways there since.

Sadly, I had to study for my comprehensive grad school exams at the time of the cruise, but that's what I did during the day while having fun with everyone else at night.  We got to know almost everyone on board, and they were like family by the end of the trip.

With the money, I used it to buy my first decent car, a 2005 Chevrolet Malibu, which was only three years old at the time of purchase.  I kept that car until last year, when I finally sold it to my brother, who is still driving it to this day.  Thus, I can legitimately tell everyone, "Pat Sajak bought me my first car!" 

Anthony

[MSTieScott]

I don't have any game show winnings stories of my own, but there is one story that I enjoy telling.

For a brief time, I was one of the employees responsible for giving Price Is Right winners their prize paperwork immediately after the show. One day, I had a contestant who, when disclosing her prior game show appearances, listed a recent episode of Wheel of Fortune. She appeared on the show during a week that it was taping in Florida; in her game, she won a trip to Los Angeles. So she waited a year, redeemed her trip to L.A., and used one of the days of her vacation to become a contestant on The Price Is Right, where she won Clock Game.

[Jimmy Owen]

I was on Ron Greenberg's show on Shokus Radio on which I won a DVD from the Shokus library.  More than the prize, I am grateful for the chance to tell Ron how much I admired his creations over the years.

[BrandonFG]

No stories of my own (yet), but I remember Randy Amasia saying that he took his Whew! winnings to pay for tuition, gave some to family, and bought a new Honda Civic.

[Kevin Prather]

Quite a boring story on my end. I enjoyed having the money in the bank for about 60 seconds, then paid my credit card.

The most fun part: I still have the check. My winnings were small enough to deposit through the app on my phone.

[TLEberle]

Quite a boring story on my end. I enjoyed having the money in the bank for about 60 seconds, then paid my credit card.

I realize that I have lots of posts for someone who has won $4.95 on a game show, but I do want to make this point: as boring as that may be on an application, it's got to be freeing if you can pay off the trip, buy something for your Plus One/companions and have enough left over to scratch out a debt, and that we're all lying when we say whatever fanciful answer they want to hear.