A perfect Showcase bid really isn't the same as counting cards. Memorizing the light patterns on Press Your Luck would be a better comparison.
With Ted's scenario, you're taking the word of a guy who knows the prices like the back of his own hand. With counting cards, you've memorized the cards being dealt, and using it to your advantage. In both cases, you remember info that the house thinks no one else knows, and you're still trying to game the system.
Major Ingram? Charles Van Doren. They cheated.
Yeah, but not quite in the same way: Van Doren cheated with help from the production, whereas Ingram cheated with help from an accomplice who was unconnected to Millionaire.
My teacher gives me the answers to the final exam so that the class average goes up. It's still cheating, just like if my classmate coughs for A, sneezes for B, sniffles for C. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter who's feeding the info.