POLL: Most heartbreaking losses?

[Kevin Prather]

PYL: One contestant falls $3 short of the lead on his last spin, losing the game.

TPiR: One contestant bids $11,500 on a SC worth $11,494.

WWTBAM: Mark McDermott, Lawrence Kaplan, and Kati Knudsen's $218,000 losses.

Greed: Dan Avila's loss going for $2,200,000.

[Don Howard]

[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Jul 5 2004, 09:21 PM\'] Pretty much any 198 or 199 score in Fast Money on FF.

 [/quote]
 I'll add a Family Feud heartbreaker from Louie Anderson's regime. During the playing of Fast Money as the answers were being revealed, Louie would have the family member touch the screen if "he knew" that answer would take the team to 200 and win them the $10000/$20000. Well, one day he screwed up by telling the person to touch the screen because he knew the #1 answer had been given by the contestant. What he didn't know was the answer wasn't enough to give 'em the bonus money and they had to settle for five bucks a point.

[GS Warehouse]

During the Family Channel's run of Shop 'til You Drop, one couple had a final total of $2499.  Two other couples on the original Lifetime had totals of $2495 and $2493, respectively.  Also, early in the first season where $2500 was the target, one couple, due to some confusion in running to the stores, could only get five boxes to the prize table.  The sixth one, which missed by a couple seconds, would have put them over the top.

I've also seen at least five occasions on Supermarket Sweep where the team found the third product in the bonus sweep, but didn't get their hands on the money before the bell.  Ouch!  And I've also seen no fewer than five Double Dare obstacle course runs which the player just missed the last flag at the buzzer.

Speaking of kids' game shows, my Beta-to-VHS transferring recently turned up an ep of Fun House where the girl player was looking in the Chomping Choppers for the cash tag but couldn't find it.  That was the Power Prize tag!  And staying with the franchise but returning to last-second losses, on College Mad House, the Duke Blue Devils just missed the last tag in the house as time ran out.

This is one that I've mentioned before: Getting a Bonus Lingo on the second ball.  Since that player is pulling for the first time, the team might have won the vacation had he/she gone first.

Let's not forget Amie from Whammy!.  Twenty-five thousand one hundred nine dollars lost to a Double Whammy on the last spin of the game.

Finally, it's a borderline game show, but on the season 3 championship of American Gladiators, Mark Ortega beat Joseph Mauro for the men's title by 2 hundredths of a second.  That was more of a heartstopper, but the woman's final that show did have a heartbreaker in the middle of the competition: Kimberly Lentz did not finish the Maze in time, missing out on taking over the lead.  She trailed the rest of the way, and her opponent, Kathy Mollica, cruised to victory.

ObGS: Last weekend we saw the woman later known as Zap battle Bob Eubanks to a draw in arm-wrestle.  Wonder what he would have thought if he saw Zap on AG and recognized her from his show!

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'GS Warehouse\' date=\'Jul 5 2004, 09:27 PM\'] This is one that I've mentioned before: Getting a Bonus Lingo on the second ball.  Since that player is pulling for the first time, the team might have won the vacation had he/she gone first.
 [/quote]
 They also would have been reaching into a bowl which hadn't been stirred around and a ball removed from seconds before. No reasonable person can assume that person had any higher likelyhood to pull the right ball out.

[Steve McClellan]

[quote name=\'SamJ93\' date=\'Jul 5 2004, 08:12 PM\'] I recall a couple "Wheel" eps. where the first- and second-place finishers were separated by $50.  Ouch! [/quote]
 ISTR a WoF rerun on GSN, where a player put the last $73 of his "winnings" on account. He failed to win another round. His margin of defeat? $23.

[Steve Gavazzi]

Earlier this year, around February, an elderly lady played One Away for one of Price's standard-issue cars.  She made the first number a 3.  It turned out that she had four numbers -- the other four, obviously -- right.  As the entire audience shouts, "THREE!" she asks Bob to change the last number.

During the Showcase Showdown, she told Bob she was with a group from her church and pointed out her minister in the audience (who had been among those who had been yelling the right answer).  It turned out that everyone had agreed to donate anything they won to the parish.  You don't get much more heartbreaking than that (even if she did make a really goofy mistake).

[pyrfan]

This was one of my unfavorite game shows moments, which some of you might have in your collections:

In a 1986 episode of "Super Password," contestant Carl Mueller was trying for $50,000 in the end game with celebrity Janis Paige. After a couple of clues, Janis passed the word "frog," but Carl said it right after she said "pass." They got through the rest of the list, and just when they got back to "frog," the buzzer rang and Carl shouted out the answer a fraction of a second after. During the commercial, they checked the tape because it was so close, but the judges said his answer was after the buzzer, so he ended up with $900, not 50 grand.

This was one of the big faults of SPW, in my opinion -- the fact that you didn't get credit for a word after the giver said "pass." I realize that on shows like "Body Language," where most of the clues are related to one another within a puzzle, that you don't want to give a player credit for saying an answer after the giver has said "pass," because they might be responding with the right answer when they're really giving an answer for the new clue word and not actually throwing an answer backwards. (True, this could happen on the old "Pyramid" as well, where you COULD throw an answer backwards and get credit for it, but there was only one instance that I ever saw where a receiver was clearly giving an answer for a new clue word and not throwing an answer backwards, so I think the rule worked very well for them.)

However, in a format like the SPW end game, where each correct answer has to begin with a specific letter of the alphabet, this rule makes no sense. Would the producers really think Carl was answering "frog" to clues for a word that began with the letter "G"?

This episode aired over 18 years ago, but I still think Carl got ripped off. In earlier episodes of the show, the contestant did indeed get credit for saying the correct answer after the celeb passed the word. I never saw the point of changing that rule, especially when it left the contestant at a disadvantage.

Actually, unless I'm mistaken, I believe the starter of this post has this episode in his collection. Exalted poster, did you have the same reaction?


Brendan

[TLEberle]

One of the faults of the show?  Are you serious?  It makes sense.  Once you pass a word, it's out of play until you come back around and get it again.  It just so happens that he couldn't pick up the last one.  Heartbreaking?  Prolly.  Unfair?  Not even close.

I nominate the $46,000 check being passed over in favor of a sure $899 on "Treasure Hunt," and Sal Mecca's Q5 flameout on Millionaire.

-Travis

[Frank15]

[quote name=\'Steve Gavazzi\' date=\'Jul 6 2004, 12:48 AM\']Earlier this year, around February, an elderly lady played One Away for one of Price's standard-issue cars.  She made the first number a 3.  It turned out that she had four numbers -- the other four, obviously -- right.  As the entire audience shouts, "THREE!" she asks Bob to change the last number.

During the Showcase Showdown, she told Bob she was with a group from her church and pointed out her minister in the audience (who had been among those who had been yelling the right answer).  It turned out that everyone had agreed to donate anything they won to the parish.  You don't get much more heartbreaking than that (even if she did make a really goofy mistake).[/quote]
Yeah, but heartbreaking for whom?  The contestant, or her church ?  And you give her a little too much credit:  she wasn't exactly elderly, unless around 45-50 is the new "elderly."

And dare we remember her not wanting to spin again on 40 cents....

[J.R.]

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' date=\'Jul 6 2004, 01:17 AM\'] One of the faults of the show?  Are you serious?  It makes sense.  Once you pass a word, it's out of play until you come back around and get it again.  It just so happens that he couldn't pick up the last one.  Heartbreaking?  Prolly.  Unfair?  Not even close.

I nominate the $46,000 check being passed over in favor of a sure $899 on "Treasure Hunt," and Sal Mecca's Q5 flameout on Millionaire.

-Travis [/quote]
I think the poor gal who whizzed away (I think) $50,000 and her husband stormed out of the audience in spite was more tragic.

My choice for heartbreaker is a contestannt on the UK version of "Millionaire". She said her dream was to reach at least £1000 because she had never had that much money. She flat-out struggeled on her quesions and was out of lifelines by the time she had reached the £1000 question. Instead of taking £500, she took a chance and lost everything. Her (and her mothers) reactions were of shock. She left the studio almost in tears

About that $60K loss on WOF. Does it exist on tape ?
-Joe R.

[Craig Karlberg]

Boy, that $50K heartbreaker incident from Treasure Hunt makes me wanna paraphrase what Geoff Edwards said to her:

"Rose, diid jamacia mistake?"

[bandit_bobby]

There was a contestant last year on WOF who had most of the letters in WINNIPEG revealed in the bonus round, but still lost. And it cost her $50,000 (But it was close to being $100,000).

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'rmfromfla\' date=\'Jul 5 2004, 09:01 PM\'] Here are a couple of heartbreakers from the early seasons of J! (1984-       )

   1.   Season 2 (or 3?)  -  Contestant has correct response in FJ, but fails to
 phrase in the form of a question  -  she breaks down on her podium and the
 audience is silent as Johnny Gilbert begins the ads....

 [/quote]
 A couple of Summer 1997 J! heartbreakers:

1. Memorial Day 1997 saw  the scores 10400-5200-5200 going into FJ!. All three players get it right, with the leader wagering zip to assure at least a tie, one of the other players wagering 5200, and the other wagering..... 5199. WOuld have been the first nonzero three way tie in J! history.

2. July 1997 and the Buenos Aire/Aires incident where leaving off the final S cost a player the win.

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'TLEberle\' date=\'Jul 6 2004, 01:17 AM\']
and Sal Mecca's Q5 flameout on Millionaire.
 [/quote]
 Anyone who wins zip on Millionaire qualifies as a sad loss

[gsnstooge]

One episode of The $20,000 Pyramid where Jamie Lee Curtis spent over 40 seconds on the last subject in the Winner's Circle.