Given that, IIRC, this episode occurred not too long before Richard's departure, when he was well into \"I'm so freaking bored here, I'm just going through the motions, I'd rather be spending this time on my own show where I'm the star\" mode, I wouldn't be surprised if he was thinking, \"Please don't insult my intelligence by telling me how to spell the question, do I look illiterate to you?\" and didn't bother to listen to Gene spell out P-A-L-L. In any case, it's clearly Richard's fault. Of course, things like that happen in the front game all the time, where one celebrity gives a stupid and clearly wrong answer to a question and it makes the difference between a tie and a loss. I think what's shocking here is that so many contestants put their faith in Richard and his often uncanny ability to pick the correct one of several possibilities to match the contestant. In the early years, you can see that Richard was proud of his ability to match, and when it's clearly got to the point where he didn't care anymore, it's for the best that he left.
Of course, I'm not a particular fan of Richard and never have been, so my opinion may be colored somewhat by that....but I wanted to slap him when he screwed up on that question and cost the contestant several thousand dollars.
As for the Millionaire episode, as others have said, it's entirely the contestant's responsiblity to take the money and run or risk it on a question he or she is not sure about. To suggest otherwise is like saying that it's Kennedy's fault so many people vote \"foe\" just because she points out each contestant's dirty secret from the past when they're at the trust box.
In regard to the \"school riot\" MG episode, it was clearly a rotten call on the part of the judges. Sure, \"school\" without a modifier implies an academic institution, but how is \"finishing school\" all that different from \"college?\" Moreover, if they granted Charles a match on \"scuba diving school\" (albeit after initially buzzing him for it), there's no case at all for buzzing the three \"finishing school\" answers.
Eileen