Odd trips being offered on game shows

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'ChuckNet\' date=\'Dec 24 2003, 11:48 AM\']

That was also offered as the Power Prize trip on Fun House, and was the grand prize at least once on the Travel Channel's 1990 entry, The Great Getaway Game.

 [/quote]
 It also was offered on WOF in the shopping days and on the studio version of Trivial Pursuit.

[Dbacksfan12]

[quote name=\'JasonA1\' date=\'Dec 21 2003, 04:40 PM\'] Anyway, other prizes include the aforementioned Space Camp trip, mini racing car, Apple II computer, Busch Gardens and some other theme park in Texas. By '89 they threw in trips to Puerto Vallarta and other locales.
 [/quote]
 The theme park was "Six Flags over Texas"; they also gave away an occasional trip to the park in St. Louis, which I think is "Six Flags Mid-America".

I seem to recall a trip to Aspen being given away on TPiR in the mid 90s...

[1978-Jeopardy]

I could swear I remember a game show offering a trip to Israel, which wouldn't be fun to visit at this current time (even though the beaches are gorgeous). Was it Marshall HSQ?

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'1978-Jeopardy\' date=\'Mar 5 2004, 06:21 AM\'] I could swear I remember a game show offering a trip to Israel, which wouldn't be fun to visit at this current time (even though the beaches are gorgeous). Was it Marshall HSQ? [/quote]
 Marshall HS may well have offered a trip to it at one point. The USA version of Jackpot offered a trip to Israel as the final "riddler contest" prize in the final season(10 week riddler contests offered $10K to the contestant who solved the most riddles in a week, but 6 week riddler contests offered a trip)

[ChuckNet]

Inspiration Please, a 95-97 Biblical quizzer on F&V (later Oddysey, now the non-religious Hallmark Channel) also offered a trip to the Holy Land as their grand prize.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

[scully24]

On the '89 Jackpot, I won a one-week trip to the Murietta Hot Springs and Resport, transportation not included.

That was a decaying hotel that was struggling to remain open.  (Apparently, promotional mentions on Jackpot were not enough to save it, and it closed not long afterward.)   We got some nice massages, but it included breakfast, lunch and dinner every day in the hotel's health food restaurant, and there wasn't much else around for many miles, so we had far too many meals of lentils and rice.  Bored to tears on the fourth day, we drove two hours to go to Disneyland one day, which was five minutes from where I actualy lived, and then dutifully drove back to our free hotel room for two more days of isolation.

On a more positive note, I just won a trip to Italy on Pyramid, and it turns out to be a five-night deluxe stay in Montecatini Terme, a resort spa town in Tuscany about 50km from Florence.  At least if they force us to eat lentils and rice, I'm sure the Italians will make it taste good...

[Steve Gavazzi]

This is more a case of bad timing than anything else, but near the beginning of Season 30, TPiR offered a trip to D.C. in a showcase about shapes.  I think we all remember what happened to Washington's most prominent shape around that time.  The topic was so touchy that they didn't air the episode until halfway through November.

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'Steve Gavazzi\' date=\'Mar 5 2004, 06:11 PM\'] This is more a case of bad timing than anything else, but near the beginning of Season 30, TPiR offered a trip to D.C. in a showcase about shapes.  I think we all remember what happened to Washington's most prominent shape around that time.  The topic was so touchy that they didn't air the episode until halfway through November. [/quote]
 In fall 2001, they also offered a trip to New York, and on the mural, still had the Twin Towers. I remember someone at ATGS asking whether that could've been edited out.

[tvrandywest]

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Dec 20 2003, 04:53 PM\'] [quote name=\'gameshowguy2000\' date=\'Dec 20 2003, 07:42 PM\'] [quote name=\'Fedya\' date=\'Dec 20 2003, 01:46 PM\'] How about the trips to the Roseland "Dude Ranch" -- in Stanfordville, NY!  (That's about 45 minutes from here, and there ain't nothin' dude ranchy about this part of New York. [/quote]
And that's the destination of the "RANCH VACATION" given away on Whammy. [/quote]
I'm pretty sure I saw it on WinTuition as well. I'm guessing GSN has/had some sort of deal with the ranch? [/quote]
Ah (semi) beautiful Roseland Ranch near Kingston, NY (not far from the original Woodstock) was a prize on all those shows and many more because they all used the same prize broker. Art Alisi and Dan Fox are the principals in Promotional Consideration Inc. and are two of the nicest guys ever in gameshowdom. Art is a producer in his own right and worked the original Hollywood Squares. He's still remembered at the Posada Vallarta Hotel in Puerto Vallarta by virtue of the booze fests that hotel hosted for Art that included some of the original HS celebs.

Like PIC-TV, Game Show Placements, Creative Television Marketing, Exposure Unlimited and other brokers past and present (referred to as "shlockmeisters" in 1950s TV terminology), Promotional Consideration has their regular clients. Art and Dan did the prizes for Wintuition and Russian Roulette among other GSN originals. Read copy for enough shows and often you can actually figure out which prize broker each show uses.

Strangest trip destination I ever read... BELIZE. I think it was a damn war zone when I was growing up!


Randy
tvrandywest.com

[ChuckNet]

On a more positive note, I just won a trip to Italy on Pyramid, and it turns out to be a five-night deluxe stay in Montecatini Terme, a resort spa town in Tuscany about 50km from Florence. At least if they force us to eat lentils and rice, I'm sure the Italians will make it taste good...

LOL...and how much is $50K in lira? :-)

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

[1978-Jeopardy]

Also, would you guys count the trip to hoosin and bakersville offered in the 4/1/87 episode of the price is right?

[vtown7]

tvrandywest wrote:
---------
Strangest trip destination I ever read... BELIZE. I think it was a damn war zone when I was growing up!
---------

Randy, do you mean that it's strange now or strange then?  I hear it's a nice place to go these days.

Cheers,

Ryan

[tvrandywest]

[quote name=\'vtown7\' date=\'Mar 6 2004, 06:31 PM\'] Randy, do you mean that it's strange now or strange then?  I hear it's a nice place to go these days. [/quote]
I have no idea what Belize is like. Before the country's tourism board sends me an anthrax letter, let me say I'm sure it's a fine Carribean vacation destination... especially if the trip is free  ;-)

From thinking that I heard the name Belize on news broadcasts as a kid, my first reaction upon seeing it in the copy as a prize on Trivial Pursuit was that it's gotta be similar to winning a trip to Vietnam or Iraq! It's probably a mistaken impression, but it sure got laughs with the studio audience during a commercial when I joked about it. You know, that the show should probably provide the winner with a bulletproof vest and an uzi. That the winner should be sure to lie down on the beach because that way he's a smaller target for enemy fire. That the trip only included one-way airfare because there was no chance of the winner getting back alive, etc., etc..

And that's what Belize will always bring to my mind  ;-)


Randy
tvrandywest.com

[ChuckNet]

From thinking that I heard the name Belize on news broadcasts as a kid, my first reaction upon seeing it in the copy as a prize on Trivial Pursuit was that it's gotta be similar to winning a trip to Vietnam or Iraq! It's probably a mistaken impression, but it sure got laughs with the studio audience during a commercial when I joked about it.

Which is better than joking about it on-air, the way John Davidson did when a trip to Korea was the Mystery 7 prize on a $100K Pyramid ep from 1991.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")