American game show winnings records

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American game shows through the years have had their fair share of high money winning contestants. No matter when the shows aired, there has always seemed to be at least one contestant who's made some sort of run at a record total.

This article will look at some of these records and the progression, as well as some people who have held them over the years.

Contents

[edit] Daytime game shows

[edit] Cumulative records

The daytime all-time winnings record (for a cumulative run on the show) is held by Tom O'Brien, a contestant on Sale of the Century in 1987. A contestant during the Winners' Board era of the show, O'Brien won all 11 games he played in, winning 10 prizes off the board plus a $50,000 bonus for winning an 11th consecutive game. That, plus over $20,000 in winnings in Tournament of Champions play, gives O'Brien a grand total of over $173,000 in cash and prizes.

The record for most winnings by a woman in a cumulative run is held by another Sale contestant, Stephanie Holmquist, whose $150,000+ record run (actual total, see Sale page) was the all-time daytime record as well until topped by O'Brien.

(It should be noted that O'Brien's total is not the highest total in Sale history. That belongs to contestant Tim Holleran, who won over $180,000 in cash and prizes. However, most of Holleran's winnings were from his run on the 1985-86 syndicated show, with a little over $20,000 in winnings coming from tournament play on the NBC network show.)

[edit] Single-day record

Michael Larson's record, which stood for over 22 years
Michael Larson's record, which stood for over 22 years

The single day record, for many years, was held by Michael Larson, who won $110,237 on Press Your Luck in 1984. Larson's record was achieved due to his memorization of the board patterns the show used. Alhough his episode was split into two episodes that aired on June 8 and June 11, the format that was spread over these episodes, with the second episode predominantley being the extended fourth round which is otherwise always confined to no more than seven or eight minutes.

In 2006, Larson's record was broken by Vicki-Ann Chrobak-Sadowski on The Price is Right, who also set a regular show record in the process on the show's 35th season premiere. She won both Showcases, and on top of her regular game winnings ended up with $147,517 in cash and prizes.

[edit] Overall winnings record

[edit] The beginnings until 1999

The record for overall winnings on American game shows has changed hands quite a few times over the years. From the big money, scandal ridden quizzers of the 1950s to today, American game shows have had their fair share of big winners.

Although the fifties had their fair share of big money quiz winners (Herb Stempel and Charles Van Doren of Twenty One infamy being two of the most notable), the biggest winner of them all was Teddy Nadler, who set a record that would stand for the next two decades by winning $252,000 on both The $64,000 Question and The $64,000 Challenge.

Thom McKee (left) in his last game on Tic Tac Dough
Thom McKee (left) in his last game on Tic Tac Dough

It wasn't until 1980 that Nadler's record fell. During the summer of that year, a US Naval officer named Thom McKee began a run on Tic Tac Dough that carried over into the following season. Since champions on Tic Tac Dough played until they were defeated, and games on the show could end in ties with the pot carrying over, McKee was able to keep building his total as long as he kept winning (which wasn't always true on other shows). Altogether, McKee won $312,700 in cash and prizes in winning 43 games, which included eight cars (on Tic Tac Dough and its sister show, The Joker's Wild, a contestant automatically won a car after every fifth game they won).

In 1999, McKee was passed by Michael Shutterly, who was the biggest winner in the first airing of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in the United States. Shutterly was the first contestant on the show to get to the 15th and final question, but elected to walk instead with $500,000, which made him the highest winner in game show history.

(Some people have regarded McKee's record as standing until 1999. This is technically untrue, as nine couples on The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime, which debuted in January 1986 and ran until September 1987, won the show's top prize of $1,000,000 in cash and/or prizes. The couples that won the top prize in season one split $1,000,000 in cash, which totalled $500,000 each. The second season couples split $900,000 in cash, giving them $450,000 each. However, these prizes were won by teams of players instead of solo players, unlike McKee's, which he won all by himself.)

[edit] From 1999 on

John Carpenter
John Carpenter

It was during the second airing of Millionaire in the United States that the show crowned its first million dollar winner. On November 19, 1999, John Carpenter climbed to the top without using any lifelines, save for a phone call on the final question to tell his father he was going to win the million dollars. After Carpenter answered the final question, which concerned Richard Nixon's appearance on Laugh-In in 1968, host Regis Philbin called the answer "the final answer heard 'round the world", then proclaimed Carpenter as the show's first millionaire.

Carpenter's record stayed safe until the following year. In early 2000, Rahim Oberholtzer, a contestant on the revival of Twenty One, won four games in his appearances on the show, and combined with $120,000 he earned in the show's "Perfect 21" bonus round, he ended with $1.12 million in winnings, just enough to pass Carpenter (Maury Povich proclaimed him "the new game show king" when he topped Carpenter's mark).

Curtis Warren
Curtis Warren

Oberholtzer's record did not last long. Late in its run, the Fox show Greed began bringing back contestants who had won money on previous shows to try for $1 million extra. Curtis Warren, who was part of the first team to win $1,000,000 on the show, was one of the contestants brought back to do so on February 12, 2000. After answering an elimination question, Warren was given a question about TV shows that had been made into movies, with 8 choices (of which he had to identify the four correct answers). He successfully did so, earning an additional $1 million on top of the $410,000 he had won in his first appearance on the show, giving him $1,410,000 and the record.

Warren's record was even shorter lived than Oberholtzer's had been, lasting only four days.

Three days before Warren's big win, a contestant named David Legler on Twenty One began a run to the top. Four days after Warren's win, the run continued, with Legler earning a grand total of $1,765,000 in six wins to surpass Warren's total and become the third contestant in a span of two months to top $1,000,000 on a game show. (It should be noted that shortly after Rahim Oberholtzer's win, Twenty One changed its payoff structure, which is part of the reason why it took Legler 5 wins to reach $1 million in winnings and 6 to top the record instead of the four it took Oberholtzer to top Carpenter's record. For more on the structure, see the Twenty One page.)

Legler held the record for well over a year. Around the turn of the year, Millionaire, deciding that it had been too long (five months) since their top prize had been won, began offering an accumulating jackpot, which increased by $10,000 each time the top prize was not won in a game. The prize reached $2,180,000 on April 10, 2001, the night that Kevin Olmstead took the hot seat.

After answering all 15 questions, including the final one about Igor Sikorsky's invention of the helicopter, Olmstead became the first contestant to top $2 million in total winnings on a game show and supplanted Legler as the all time leader. It was said among some that the record might last forever.

Ken Jennings
Ken Jennings

However, for its twentieth season which began in 2003, Jeopardy! changed their rules to allow contestants to continue playing until they lost. Theoretically, a person could accumulate millions of dollars, just as long as they kept winning. On June 2, 2004, such a streak began.

Ken Jennings, a software engineer from Utah, dethroned the reigning champion that day and began a streak that continued for the next two months to finish the season, and the first 3 that season 21 spanned. By the time his streak ended on November 30, 2004, Jennings had won $2,522,700 in cash, which was over $300,000 more than Olmstead had won.

Shortly after Jennings' streak ended, Jeopardy! decided to see how he would fare in tournament play. On February 2, 2005, the show launched its Ultimate Tournament of Champions, inviting back 144 past champions (including the highest-winning five-time champions and all tournament winners (save those from the defunct Seniors Tournaments)) to compete over the next three months in a five-round elimination tournament with a $2 million grand prize. Jennings received a bye into the finals of the tournament, where he faced Jerome Vered, a record-holding champion from the 1990s, and Brad Rutter, winner of the 2002 Million Dollar Masters tournament.

Brad Rutter after winning the Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions.
Brad Rutter after winning the Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions.

In the tournament's three-day final, Rutter handily defeated Jennings and Vered to win the tournament and $2,000,000. Including the $1.18 million he had won in his previous Jeopardy! appearances (five regular season games, a Tournament of Champions win, the Masters win, and three matches in the earlier rounds of the UToC), Rutter has won $3,255,102 in cash. Jennings won an additional $500,000 for his second-place finish and is thus second behind Rutter in all-time winnings at $3,022,700.

[edit] All Time Winnings List

All information listed is from the best data available. This list includes only Quiz and Game Show Winners and does not include winners of "Reality TV" Shows (I.e Survivor, For Love or Money). The list includes all Network Primetime and Daytime Shows, Syndicated Shows, and Cable Shows. Winners totals includes totals won on all shows they have appeared on and include all cash and (if applicable) prizes won on those shows.

[edit] $1,000,000 and over

Rutter's total includes $100,000 he won in a Tournament of Champions, $1,000,000 for winning the Million Dollar Masters tournament in 2002, and $2,000,000 for winning the Ultimate Tournament of Champions in 2005.
Jennings won $2,522,700 in his original run on Jeopardy!, $500,000 for his second place finish in the UToC, and $714.29 while in the Mob on 1 vs. 100.
Olmstead's win occured during the Mega Millionaire shows, and was the record for over three years.
  • Ed Toutant, Jeopardy!, The Challengers, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: $1,871,000
Toutant's original run on Millionaire, during Mega Millionaire, was marred by a production error. He returned later in the show's run with his jackpot intact, and was the last top-prize winner on Regis Philbin's Millionaire.
Twenty-One's biggest winner.
Warren won $700 on WBSM, and $136,288 in cash and prizes on the syndicated Sale in 1986.
First top-prize winner on US Millionaire, highest winning contestant in Champions of Millionaire tournament ($125,000).
Second $1,000,000 winner in television quiz history.
  • Bernie Cullen, Jeopardy! and Millionaire: $1,069,102
Won $63,102 on J! as a five time champ and $6000 additional in ToC and Ultimate ToC play. Won top prize on Millionaire several days after Kevin Olmstead won his.
Biggest winner in show's brief history.
  • Joe Trela, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: $1,000,500
Third top prize winner on Millionaire, won $500 in Champions of Millionaire tourney.
  • Dan Blonsky, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: $1,000,500
Second top prize winner on Millionaire, won $500 in Champions of Millionaire.
  • Jon Kenney, Pepsi Play for a Billion: $1,000,000
One of two million dollar winners on this one-off game show-based program.
Highest winner on the Super Millionaire shows.
  • Richard Bay, Pepsi Play for a Billion: $1,000,000
Second big winner on this show, first to win the $1,000,000.
  • Kevin Smith, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: $1,000,000
First contestant on Meredith Vieira's syndicated Millionaire to win the top prize.
  • David Goodman, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: $1,000,000
  • Kim Hunt, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: $1,000,000
Won prize 5 days before Goodman, shortest span between winners.
  • Bob House, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: $1,000,000
  • Nancy Christy, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: $1,000,000
So far the last top prize winner on syndicated program, highest winning woman of all time.

[edit] $750,000 to $999,999

Show's biggest winner.
  • Lauren Griswold, Greed: $810,000
Show's second biggest winner, behind Curtis Warren.
  • David Juliano, Greed: $800,000
Teammate of Lauren Griswold's.
Highest winner in US DoND history. Held case throughout game.

[edit] $500,000 to $749,999

Biggest winner on short-lived show.
  • George Elias, Greed, Pyramid: $725,000
Won $600,000 on Greed, added $125,000 on Pyramid in 2002 from two winner's circle wins and a $100,000 tournament win.
  • Kimberly Chastang, Deal or No Deal: $701,000
Second highest win in DoND history.
  • Monique Jones, Greed: $610,000
Part of $1,000,000 win by team.
  • Melissa Hall, Twenty One: $600,000
Highest winning woman on Twenty One.
  • Michael Shutterly, Jeopardy!, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: $549,900
Was four-time champion on Jeopardy!, highest winner in original Millionaire run with $500,000, later won $500 in Champions of Millionaire.
  • Tim Shields, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: $516,000
Shields' original appearance on Millionaire went unaired until Champions Week, where he added $16,000 to his total.
Highest winner on Winning Lines with $500,000.
Won $106,801 in original J! appearance and subsequent Tournament of Champions appearance, first to win $5000 on WBSM, won $389,801 in Ultimate Tournament of Champions, finishing 3rd overall.
  • Pat Headly, Super Millionaire: $500,000
  • Scott Hoff, Super Millionaire: $500,000
  • Jason Carter, Super Millionaire: $500,000
  • Todd Kim, Super Millionaire: $500,000
Kim appeared on Jeopardy! shortly after his Super Millionaire appearance, but was forced to forfeit his $2000 second place prize because he had appeared on a game show in the previous year.
  • Mary Burke, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, $500,000
  • Tom Hoobler, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, $500,000
  • Moe Cain, WWTBAM, $500,000
  • Steve Perry, WWTBAM, $500,000
  • David Stewart, WWTBAM, $500,000
  • Gary Gambino, WWTBAM, $500,000
  • Jim Matthews, WWTBAM: $500,000
  • Justin Ray Castillo, WWTBAM: $500,000
  • Pat Thompson, WWTBAM: $500,000
  • Phil Gibbons, WWTBAM: $500,000
  • Joe Kelleher, WWTBAM: $500,000
  • Tom O'Brien, WWTBAM: $500,000
Not the same Tom O'Brien that won $173,000+ on Sale of the Century in 1987-88.
  • Dr. Mike Menz, WWTBAM: $500,000
  • Stephanie Girardi, WWTBAM: $500,000
Highest winning woman in history until record topped by Catherine Rahm.
  • David Fite, WWTBAM: $500,000
  • Rob Coughlin, WWTBAM: $500,000

[edit] External links

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