They way you worded your title it makes it sound like she was robbed of 15k and then robbed of another 30K. You should have said robbed of 15k, and then wins 30k.
Not robbed....Simmons clearly gave an illegal clue. On Password Plus, when they played for $5K, an illegal clue with a correct guess would deduct $1K from the contestant's winnings, and he or she would win $4K.
No, she shouldn't have won...it was an illegal clue (2 words.) The rules cannot be bent for anyone, it's against the law and it isn't fair to the other contestants. NBC and Mark Goodson Productions did the right thing and disqualified it. It sucks, but the rules of the game stated clues must be given 1 word at a time, if an illegal clue is given the jackpot is out of play and it's $100/word.
Another rule in the end game rule is that the one word clues must be valid words which is the reason they disqualified KARATE when Edie McClurg gave the clues Kung, Fu with a pause and then Kick.
She wasn;t 'robbed'. "Romeo AND" is 2 words - ad there was no 'pause'. And she said 'QUICK", not 'QUIT". You people seem to think that these people should be GIVEN these prizes. You have to EARN them - and do it by the rules.
That was a good job on the judges to beep him on "Juliet." There was no pause, and I even noticed it. Also, good decision for letting her play again for $30,000. I would have let her try again because she was honest to what she said on "Q"--Good Sport, and glad that she finally won!!!!
I remember watching the Richard Simmons endgame during its original broadcast during a summer vacation at my grandmother's. Thanks for reminding me of happy times.
They didn't "let her" play again after the Richard Simmons one, yes. But with the Black lady, they did indeed let her play again since it was the judges' error that threw her.
I'm surprised he wasn't disqualified for wiggling his hips while giving the clue for "hips." They are usually sticklers when it comes to gestures when giving clues.
The second one they almost had too. Both Bert and the sound effect guy signified that she said the right answer, which as Bert alluded to, threw her off. Ever since the game show scandals of the 50s game shows always err on the side of the contestant. The first one which Richard Simmons was clearly illegal though
Towards the first one with Richard Simmons, I had to listen a few times to hear if there really was a pause, but the judges were right. Richard said "and" under his breath the moment he finished saying "Romeo," and I have to be honest. It was a fair call, but doing something like that is very easy to do. That was a tough break.
Years ago somebody did a Supet Password website and it showed pivotal moments wherr contestants won. All on all it made it look like a heartfelt show. And Bert's hosting made it that way
I think that she should have gotten the $15K because Richard Simmons said "eh" instead of "and". Even though he started to say "and", he didn't complete it. Besides, it came out "eh". If I was the judge, I would have given her the $15K.
this poor woman. i thought she said "quit" too. i'm glad she finally got to play again. the "romeo and"...that's so arbitrary. when they're clearly 2 unrelated words, the clue giver often gets away with barely pausing in between. he paused a bit...what's a pause anyway?
This is why I think they should've always required the receiver to say something, even just "clue", before the giver can give the next clue. The idea of the game is supposed to be one word clues and answers, not multiple word clues with a slight pause in between... too arbitrary to determine whether there was a pause or not.
It was sad when Richard did phrase the clues together as Romeo with a semil silent and in one fell swoop, luckily it was correctly buzzed out as a illegal two word clue, only to get back in the same week on her fourth attempt only this time because of the technical error on the staff ringing a correct password when it wasn't, she was afforded the second chance at the shows expense to win that 30k. She did literally went through a war with the show that week but ended up winning big good for her. This was titled incorrectly as this contestant wasn't robbed at all. At the 30k endgame, she kind of was from the technical gaff, but again it was all done legit on all three counts and she did win eventually so this had a dramatic happy end to it all.
This is why you filthy casual viewers need to pull your heads out, turn up your volume, and turn on closed captions. You'll hear game shows better that way. As well, you'll also find a hidden subliminal message somewhere on each game show telling you that if you think you know better than the judges... *YOU DON'T KNOW JACK*
Unfortunately there was no notable pause, to distinguish 1 clue from the next clue... they were said way to close together, almost like it was under his breath.
This is why I think they should have always required the receiver to say something, even just "clue," before the giver could say the next word. So many times the celebrity would say two words with hardly a pause between.
What we have here is a failure to communicate. Note the flashing "15000" while the buzzer is continually sounded. Also, wut? Has the video been damaged? All you hear Richard Simmons say is "Romeo".
These celebrity shows are unfair, because if the celebrity screws up like Richard did, it does indeed "rob" the contestant of a lot of money. Richard should have given the contestant the $21,100 not awarded by Password. He's RICH, after all.
I heard him say "and"..and I too thought he took a pause...I think he said "and" under his breath, but even in those circumstances the judges heard it..and buzzed him.
The contestant actually ended up winning more $ than if she'd been awarded $15K the first time, as she won $900 that game then won $15K + whatever amount she won for the next 2 games + another $15K of buildup on the award for winning. It was of course a lot harder on her and everyone else.
Earlier this week, another contestant was robbed of $10,000. The word was GOPHER and the contestant said GROUNDHOG. Tom Poston said SAME THING and the contestant got $900.
Just yestersday on the 2/12/08 show, we had another contestant robbed of $20K, when Edie Mclurg on KARATE, did'nt pause on Kung, Fu. Actually "Kung" was not a valid word.
In my opinion, I like the concept, of a illegal clue given, the entire jackpot. Would it be fair to say that if someone gave a illegal clue on any version of "Pyramid" that 20% be taken off?
First of all, I don’t think Pyramid did the 20% off rule. If an illegal clue is given, it’s treated as if the right answer was not given and no money is awarded for that clue. Secondly, no I don’t think the contestent should get the winnings minus 20%, because if that was the case, and time was running out, the celebrity might intentionally give an illegal clue, figuring that winning $4,000 (taking 20% off of $5,000) is better than winning only $900.
Robert Lopresti Well, they did that on the Pyramid shows in the 1970's, the 1981 show and also on the GSN's 2012 version and currently on the Michael Strahan-hosted version. This was an option on the 1980's Pyramid shows, the 1991 version, hosted by John Davidson and the Donny Osmond-hosted version. However, most contestants did not exercise that option. On the shows in the 1970's and 1981 it was about 50-50 total. The GSN show and current show, the contestants exercise this option every time.
+Danny Eyheralde When she first said "Quick" at 1:20, which sounded like "Quit" to just about everyone (including me), a bell was played indicating that she had answered correctly, and Bert said, "R", indicating that she had gotten the answer correct and they were moving on to the next word. Someone in the production heard correctly that she said "Quick" and didn't advance the graphic. The combination of all of that resulted in a significant amount of lost time, and ultimately the inability to win the game. Yes, she did not initially say the correct word, but a mistake was made by the show when they gave her a bell and Bert prompted them to move to the next letter. I think it was fair to give her another crack at the bonus. Yes, it gave the contestant the benefit of the situation, but it was the best way to handle what happened.
+knagl so many production problems on this show from bert giving away clues and puzzles to production openimg the whole panel when only one wprd was being revealed
I still think it's silly to compare SP to those. Counting all the Password franchises, the show has a 40+ year history (despite the fact that no new incarnation existed between SP's end in 1989 and Million Dollar's beginning in the last couple years). Even so, anything that lasted five seasons is hardly a flop, regardless of whether or not it's part of a series.
