Vehicle's back-ends.

"Designer Jeans" is the only other era-relevant clue I can come up with

Because that extra ten grand adds up. I presume they were budgeted for maybe two wins per week—maybe three?

Also it could set a precedent of every hairy call means the equivalent of a win.

I did not want to post this in the audio section because I don't have the audio to share but Phil Gries Archival TV Audio site which lists a large number of audio recordings of lost game shows of the 50s to 70s has an interesting description for one program that I had never seen before and that I thought was worth sharing because it sheds some light on policy during Pyramid history.   This is the summary for the "lost" Pyramid show of April 8, 1976 and what happened with an incident identical to that of the "Famous Losers" debacle of three years later, with a slightly different wrinkle.

#9781: $20,000 PYRAMID
1976-04-08, ABC, 30 min.
Dick Clark , Bob Clayton , Vikki Lawrence , Rick Hurst , Lenore Lucy , Bob Palmary , Larry Banner , Ruth Pickholtz

NOTE: The broadcast on April 8, 1976 is iconic and is of historical importance. On this program contestant Ruth Pickholtz, a young recently graduated attorney, appears in the second portion of the show playing four rounds with partner Rick Hurst ("Things Associated with Law," "Things People Pull Out," "Things People Join," and "Describe Things that Begin with the Letter K." Ruth Pickholtz wins $10,000. There is great celebration.
However, when returning from a commercial break Dick Clark had the following caveat to say:

DICK CLARK: "Ruth, I've had some miserable jobs in my life and this is not the most pleasant. We have just gone through the exhilaration of your quote, "winning 10,0000 dollars." Human beings are entitled to mistakes. We made a bad one. We have given away 3 million dollars on this show, so a $10,000 gift really means nothing. We cannot in all consciousness give you that because as you will recall in the category "Things That Have Brands," Rick Hurst said something about names of products (Mouton Rothschild) which is really a description and it equals a brand. I just went through a lengthy meeting with our standards, people who have been watching over us all these years. We don't want the money. We cannot give it to you because of people who have gone bye before you and who will follow. We would like you to name a charity and we'll send them the $10,000 and give you another opportunity."   

RUTH PICKHOLTZ: "That's fine. I would like to give it to The National Association of Retarded Children."   

DICK CLARK: "You're a good lady. We'll see you first thing tomorrow."

Ruth Pickholtz returned the following day (broadcast, Friday April 9, 1976), and this time she won $10,000 to keep.

NOTE: In January 2022 Ruth Pickholtz contacted Archival Television Audio, Inc. In a conversation with founder and owner of ATA, Phil Gries, Ruth stated how for many years she had been attempting to obtain/locate this show, but to no avail (very few "Pyramid" broadcasts survive in any form, video, audio, transcript, thru mid 1978).

Finally, after appearing on this broadcast on April 8, 1976, she will be able to listen to herself for the first time in 46 years.

Quote from: BrandonFG on November 13, 2024, 02:37:52 PM

TJW had a similar situation about a year earlier. Guy named Joe Dunn won a bunch of money and Jack said anything over $50K was donated. I think Joker and Tic Tac aired on CBS O&O’s right after Thom’s run ended.

Off the top of my head, not too many other syndicated shows of the era allowed you to win more than 50K as a returning champ, so the O&O rule prolly didn’t need to be a thing. Case in point, looking over J-Archive, most of the first season undefeated champions retired with about 40K.

I remember that sometime during Joker's Wild's first syndicated season, Jack said something to the effect of "when we were on the network we were bound by their winnings limit, but we have no winning's limit now so if you can win $100,000, go ahead and win it".

I was puzzled when Joe Dunn was "retired" because that went against what he earlier said.  I guess it wasn't on an O&O when he said it.

I remember seeing TTD ads in the TV guides where the captions would say "The Sky's The Limit", referring to the unlimited winnings potential. 

I also remember sometime during the CBS PYL era the cap went from from $25K to $50K, but the contestant got to keep all winnings, but had to retire after the game.

Still odd to see a game show LOWER a winnings cap midstream.