Have you ever been on a TV game show?

[+ purplekow]

I must admit to more than 50 years of failure in trying to get onto a TV gameshow.  When I graduated college, I applied to Jeopardy and had an interview scheduled but my care broke down on the way to the studio.  

I applied numerous times to Who wants to be a Millionaire.  I took the test on line and in person.  I passed each of the in person tests and was interviewed.  They asked me one question on one occasion. Are you a football coach?  That was the entire interview.  When they had the phone in to become a contestant, I called each week without success though I passed the test most weeks.  I attended a taping of the show and they gave the questionaire to be a contestant to each audience member.  I was the only one called from the audience to be interviewed.  Same very brief interview as each of the other times.  

I once applied to be on a game show which asked you to sell all your possessions and then go to Las Vegas to bet it all on one spin of the roulette wheel, Black or Red.  A man in the UK had done this and LMN productions was going to make it a game show where you followed one person for the entire hour of the show and then at the end, the bet was made.  I was interviewed and they asked me to be on the show.  They aske for my financials and I was told I had too much money, the show could not afford the liability.

I have sent in video tapes to the Amazing Race and Survivor. No so much as a nibble.  

I enjoy game shows very much and I think I would be an interesting contestant but apparently the show runners do not.

On the other hand. my parents went to a taping of The Price is Right and my father was picked out of the audience and eventually wound up on stage.  He won a freezer but could not identify which was more expensive a dinette set or two snow mobiles.  Despire loud yelling from the audience otherwise, he picked the dinette set.  1500 dollars, snowmobiles 3500.  

So any other game show applicants out there?  Any successfully make the show?  Any winners?  Anyone have any connections to get this off my bucket list?

 

[samhexum]

I went to a taping of $10,000 Pyramid when I was a young'n.  That's as close as I've come.

[jeezifonly]

No, but on a summer family trip to NYC, I saw a taping of Password. Recorded in black & white at the Ed Sullivan Theatre. After, seeking autographs outside stage door, we met the greatest game show player of all time, Betty White. Dimpled, brunette, and just married to Allen Ludden. She was not playing that show, just hanging out. (Hugh O'Brien and Eydie Gorme on the panel)

Who needs $100,000?

[+ poolboy48220]

I passed the first test for Jeopardy contestants, but failed badly in the second round of tests.

[dutchal]

9 hours ago, jeezifonly said:

No, but on a summer family trip to NYC, I saw a taping of Password. Recorded in black & white at the Ed Sullivan Theatre. After, seeking autographs outside stage door, we met the greatest game show player of all time, Betty White. Dimpled, brunette, and just married to Allen Ludden. She was not playing that show, just hanging out. (Hugh O'Brien and Eydie Gorme on the panel)

Who needs $100,000?

You are really dating yourself.  They were married in 1963.

[jeezifonly]

3 hours ago, dutchal said:

You are really dating yourself.  They were married in 1963.

At my age, it's called Carbon-dating.

[ShortCutie7]

I have several friends who have auditioned for the TV singing contests (American Idol, The Voice, etc). A couple made it pretty far in their respective competitions, but there was no rhyme or reason to who got in and who didn’t. The consensus is that what we see on TV as the “first round” is actually the umpteenth callback, and the selection process has really nothing to do with talent.

[samhexum]

9 hours ago, poolboy48220 said:

I passed the first test for Jeopardy contestants, but failed badly in the second round of tests.

you probably couldn't even correctly answer this:

 

 

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

My friend appeared on Venezuela's version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire".  It was called "Who Wants to Win a Cup of Rice".

[+ sniper]

I was on a TV quiz show in high school. we made it to the finals then got clobbered.

[samhexum]

On 2/4/2026 at 3:25 AM, jeezifonly said:

No, but on a summer family trip to NYC, I saw a taping of Password. Recorded in black & white at the Ed Sullivan Theatre. After, seeking autographs outside stage door, we met the greatest game show player of all time, Betty White. Dimpled, brunette, and just married to Allen Ludden. She was not playing that show, just hanging out. 

I just watched Allen and Betty be the mystery guests on what's my line right after their marriage.  Arlene Francis guessed "is the password marriage?"

[+ BOZO T CLOWN]

36 minutes ago, samhexum said:

I just watched Allen and Betty be the mystery guests on what's my line right after their marriage.  Arlene Francis guessed "is the password marriage?"

This is the episode to which you are referring.
The Betty White/Allen Ludden segment comes on at 15:25.  Even at this early stage of their marriage, one can tell they are truly in love.
The segment immediately preceding the Betty and Allen segment - the guy who makes sauerkraut - is pretty funny.

BTC
🤡

[TonyDown]

A coworker and family had tickets to Price is Right but did not get called on stage.

Another coworker was on Wheel of Fortune and was a big winner.  Our office is not far from Culver City where it's taped.

 

I was in the studio audience for a late-night talk show.  Was a fun experience.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited Sunday at 08:50 AM by TonyDown

[D21howie]

Good morning.  I seen a taping of Win Lose Or Draw with Robb Weller.  The celebrity guest were Sally Struthers, Roz Ryan, and I forgot the men but one was in the karate kid movies.  I have a friend that made it on stage of The Price Is Right twice.  
 

When I was growing up in Blythe, California.  There was a high school from our high school that won Teen Week on daytime Wheel Of Fortune in 1986.

[theplayerking]

I was on the local high school quiz show that was televised in my hometown. But that was 30 years ago.

[+ Gar1eth]

I was never on a quiz show. But, and I may have related this before, I was on the local Shreveport Romper Room equivalent called The Miss Barbara Show for a day or two when I was 5 or 6. It had previously been Romper Room, before it changed to The Miss Barbara Show. I don't know if they quit paying the Romper Room Licensing Fee or what. 

[MikeBiDude]

31 minutes ago, Gar1eth said:

I was never on a quiz show. But, and I may have related this before, I was on the local Shreveport Romper Room equivalent called The Miss Barbara Show for a day or two when I was 5 or 6. It had previously been Romper Room, before it changed to The Miss Barbara Show. I don't know if they quit paying the Romper Room Licensing Fee or what. 

Along the same lines…I 4-5 and was on a SoCal local “Chucko the Clown” show, it was a birthday party for a friend. I was called up on TV and “interviewed” by Chucko. Apparently during the interview - he asked where I was from (Wilmington, Calif.) I replied “Wilmas!” which was a local nickname for the town…this apparently caused much hilarity among my parents and other adults.

 

(With apologies to our own much more famous @BOZO T CLOWN)

[BuckCanucked]

On 2/4/2026 at 5:58 PM, samhexum said:

you probably couldn't even correctly answer this:

 

 

The "anti-Trump"? How prescient.

[+ Gar1eth]

6 hours ago, Gar1eth said:

I was never on a quiz show. But, and I may have related this before, I was on the local Shreveport Romper Room equivalent called The Miss Barbara Show for a day or two when I was 5 or 6. It had previously been Romper Room, before it changed to The Miss Barbara Show. I don't know if they quit paying the Romper Room Licensing Fee or what. 

 

5 hours ago, MikeBiDude said:

Along the same lines…I 4-5 and was on a SoCal local “Chucko the Clown” show, it was a birthday party for a friend. I was called up on TV and “interviewed” by Chucko. Apparently during the interview - he asked where I was from (Wilmington, Calif.) I replied “Wilmas!” which was a local nickname for the town…this apparently caused much hilarity among my parents and other adults.

 

(With apologies to our own much more famous @BOZO T CLOWN)

I think I remember the day we got the notice that I was going to appear on the show. If I recall correctly, we were at home. It was around lunchtime or afternoon snack time. I think I had been arguing with someone-possibly my Dad or my older brother. My Mom answers the phone. She gets off and says something like, "Do you know who called while you were arguing?"  And it was the Miss Barbara Show. If that wasn't the occasion-then the phone call was when I sent in a dental slogan to the Papa John show-at about the same age-and won a water-pick. 
 

After we moved back to Texas, I  have a vague memory that I was supposed to be on a local show called Chuckwagon Charlie for someone's birthday when I was about 9. But I was sick that day, so the people of N. Texas  were deprived of my brilliance. 

[studchaser]

Yes. Where in the world is Carmen San Diego? As a kid 

Edited 8 hours ago by studchaser