Pyramid had their share of awarding (or taking away) bonus prizes after a commercial break. I can't think of any Goodson shows that did the same thing, other than this one time on CC. I don't recall it happening on SP or P+.
I only saw it happen once on SP, on the 8/1/85 episode. Here's the clip in question...I don't think they made the right call on this one.
The problem with it is two-fold--not only does it set up an awful precedent, but unless the champion is able to hold her position and win Alphabetics again, Bert's Big Mouth (TM) basically costs whoever eventually wins the jackpot a pile of money.
The only other reason I can think of for why they gave her the money but her answer CLEARLY came after the buzzer was some sort of technical error such as after giving the correct answer to another password, the computer did not immediately go to the next word.
The reason I point this out because of a moment from The New $25,000 Pyramid. The judges had to decide whether the contestant got the word "flannel" out before the buzzer to win the $10,000. If you go back and look at the whole winner's circle, there was a noticeable gap between when the $50 box was turned and the $100 box being turned. Normally, those two boxes would have been turned in synced. If the contestant gave their answer so close to the buzzer, there is a reasonable argument that if that gap did not exist, she would have given her answer before the buzzer. This is why I think they were correct in giving the contestant on Pyramid $10,000. Here is the clip:
So without seeing the rest of the bonus round, I cannot conclude whether they made the correct call to award her $20,000.
Thank you,
Matthew Tad Hudkins, CPA
Government Auditor
