Who's your favorite contestants over the years?

[danderson]

It can be based on gameplay, interaction with the host, etc. Mine are as follows....

Darrell Garrison (final weeks of $ale of the Century on NBC)
Rani White ($ale of the Century)
Mel Harris (100k Pyramid- first big winner, retiring undefeated)
Keefe Ferrandini (100k Pyramid)
Richard Mahaffey and his wife (25/100k Pyramid)
Thomas Van Dyke (The Jokers Wild)
Mary Hunt (The Jokers Wild)
Annemarie Carrera (Press Your Luck in June 1986)

[JMFabiano]

Lois Lambert (from the first year of Card Sharks.  A major meme for me and a friend when I started tape trading...mostly for her bad luck in her first 2 shots at the Money Cards, and her general personality) 

Fran (another Card Sharks.  Just for her similar bad luck, esp. with doubles, and Jim Perry's call of "Fran?  DON'T go to Las Vegas!") 

Joseph from that damn TPIR episode from 1996 that I can't find anywhere.  (this was the week of the 25th anniversary special.  Joseph was a guy who skunked out at Ten Chances, and fell down spinning the Big Wheel to boot) 

Pam from PYL (current run).  "No whammy for Pammy!"  Also we are friends on social media and she's been cool with me. 

[PYLdude]

Got too many to list. Way too many.

I prefer to tell stories connected with some though.

[Winkfan]

Male: Thom McKee (TTD); Runner-Up: John Hatton (Blockbusters)

Female: Toss-Up between Dee Davenport ("Miss Fantastic" from MG '74) and Nancy Christy (1st female WWTBaM Millionaire); Runner-Up: Kandi Doyle (BB, Trivia Trap)

Married Couple: Karon & Phil Livingston (Gambit, 1974)

Non-Married Couple: Pat & Liz McCarthy (Blockbusters)

Team [family or not]: The Dalman Sisters (Family Feud, 1982)

Cordially,
Tammy

[Steve Gavazzi]

Judy from the 411 Operator team on Hot Potato (my first crush too, and I was just 7!)

I'm gonna throw something out here, dude.  Back in 2005, the sister of someone I went to high school with was on The Price Is Right.  I watched the show that day, went on Golden-Road to look at the recap thread, and found some dude who decided she was the image he needed for a character in some novel he thought he was writing on his Talk page on Wikipedia.

Now, yes, that sounds really stupid, but it also creeped me the hell out.  I basically told the guy I never wanted to hear anything like that out of him again or I'd get him banned (which from me was not an idle threat).

Now imagine you're a friend or relative of this contestant from Hot Potato and you stumble onto this board and see this post.  Hell, imagine you are the contestant.  Are you going to want to spend any more time here?

And on a completely different note, but still in the vein of ripping apart your post:

Joseph from that damn TPIR episode from 1996 that I can't find anywhere.  (this was the week of the 25th anniversary special.  Joseph was a guy who skunked out at Ten Chances, and fell down spinning the Big Wheel to boot)

All the episodes that week were reruns, and Ten Chances wasn't played on any of them.

[JMFabiano]

Um, I'd think that was 36 years ago, harmless enough seeing as he was just seven at the time. 

OK, moving right along if I may...I can say that the Joseph episode, as per old Usenet posts, aired 8-15-96. I swear there was a prime time ep that week too.

EDIT: huh, the 25th anniversary was a week later.  Why did that and this episode/fever dream of mine/whatever seem closer together? 

[Steve Gavazzi]

Um, I'd think that was 36 years ago, harmless enough seeing as he was just seven at the time.

And you don't think she might be a little creeped out that it's apparently still at the forefront of your mind at age 43?

[PYLdude]

Um, I'd think that was 36 years ago, harmless enough seeing as he was just seven at the time.

And you don't think she might be a little creeped out that it's apparently still at the forefront of your mind at age 43?

I think you’re taking this a little too seriously, Steve. I don’t see what warranted that.

[TLEberle]

Honestly knowing who the original respondent was gave me all the clue I needed as to how to handle the thread. Chris P is correct that there are so many memorable contestants over the years. I recall in compiling a list of 50 moments that we were right in the middle of Ken Jennings' run. Even in the last ten years Jeopardy has had loads of memorable players. I don't think that the lady who managed to be in the right place in the right time and snag a mammoth Joker's Jackpot would rate but I'm not dan.

[Joe Mello]

As an archetype, I've enjoyed when Wheel has anyone at the upper end of the age range, usually a retired/retiring actor. (The one that really sticks out was a former voice of Barney.) As a specific person, there was the one Jeopardy contestant from I think last year that had Lego bow ties and Lego bow ties are cool.

One of the annual Japanese quiz shows I follow did an "open tryout" this for two contestants (I put that in quotes because I don't know how open it really was, since it's all celebrities, so I'm assuming they were still some sort of talent) but the female winner seemed very happy and please while looking like she could bench press a Camry, so she was easy to root for.

[Loogaroo]

I think you’re taking this a little too seriously, Steve. I don’t see what warranted that.

Disagree. Having had to personally deal with people in the community who failed to recognize boundaries of privacy and/or personal space of female players, it is all sorts of uncomfortable reading about people developing "crushes" on abject strangers who just wanted to go on a TV show in the '70s or '80s to have fun and maybe win some money. That is not information you share with other people, no matter if you think you're directly answering the question posed in the thread. Use common sense.

[danderson]

Loogaroo, personally, i like contestants who play the game well, rather than their looks.

Mel Harris on Pyramid is a prime example. remaining champion for a full week and retiring undefeated, no one could beat her in that week of shows.  Keefe Ferrandini is another example. 

[danderson]

Lois Lambert (from the first year of Card Sharks.  A major meme for me and a friend when I started tape trading...mostly for her bad luck in her first 2 shots at the Money Cards, and her general personality) 

Fran (another Card Sharks.  Just for her similar bad luck, esp. with doubles, and Jim Perry's call of "Fran?  DON'T go to Las Vegas!") 

Joseph from that damn TPIR episode from 1996 that I can't find anywhere.  (this was the week of the 25th anniversary special.  Joseph was a guy who skunked out at Ten Chances, and fell down spinning the Big Wheel to boot) 

Pam from PYL (current run).  "No whammy for Pammy!"  Also we are friends on social media and she's been cool with me.

Fran gets my award for "most rotten luck to a contestant"  just for her bad luck. "Fran?  DON'T go to Las Vegas!"