Thom McKee

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Grand Slam History
First appearance: 2007 Grand Slam*
*first Grand Slam

Thom McKee was a United States Navy officer who was a long-running contestant on the television game show Tic Tac Dough in 1980. He set a number of game show records for the time.

[edit] Records

McKee's records at the time were:

  • Most won in regular play - $312,700 in cash and prizes
  • Most wins - 43
  • Most consecutive days on a game show - 46
  • Most consecutive games played on a game show - 88 (Record: 43-1-44).
  • Most games played on a game show - 89 (Includes Tournament of Champions)
  • Most questions answered correctly - 353 (As of his defeat in 1980)
  • Most questions answered wrong - 32 (As of his defeat)

He was defeated by Erik Kraepelien to end his winning streak. The wins and consecutive days records were broken by 100% contestant Ian Lygo in 1998, while the winnings record was broken by Michael Shutterly during the original 15-night run of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in 1999, where he won $500,000. McKee still holds the record for most consecutive games played, due to the nature of Tic Tac Dough making ties possible (and frequent), however Jeopardy! contestant Ken Jennings (who himself set a new cash winnings record), beat the wins record with 74, and most consecutive days with 75 in 2004-2005.

[edit] Trivia

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  • Also, in the annals of Tic Tac Dough, Thom won the second-biggest pot in the history of the game, worth $36,800, after surviving four tie games. Randy James would later win a $46,900 pot after a series of tie games which lasted for six shows.
  • On Tic Tac Dough, if a player won five games, he won a car. Since Thom won 43 games, he won eight Buick Centurys. (He later said he sold all but one. According to Wink Martindale he had a vanity license plate made for the car which read "TIC TAC".)
  • McKee's run on Tic Tac Dough is mentioned in Jennings' book Brainiac, on page 213.
  • During Jennings' run on Jeopardy!, McKee mentioned to ESPN2's Cold Pizza, "I'm pulling for (Jennings). Records are made to be broken, and Ken is an amazing contestant. I want to see it happen." McKee was also to have offered both an e-mail congratulating Jennings and inviting the Jennings family to dinner at the McKee home in Maryland and for some Trivial Pursuit. [1]
Preceded by
Teddy Nadler		 All-time American game show winnings leader
1980-1999		 Succeeded by
Michael Shutterly