The most memorable moments in game show history
Game shows are among the best sources for laughter, enlightenment, heartwarming triumphs and scandals.
Whether it's a jaw-dropping blunder, or a contestant's shocking intellect, game shows have found themselves as a part of pop culture history.
From dramatic victories to cheating schemes and everything in between, here are the most memorable moments in game show history.
Read on to see them all.
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Wheel of Fortune plot twist
Anyone looking at this could guess the solution would be 'Give yourself a round of applause,' but one contestant had a very different vision.
Will said he'd "like to solve the puzzle," offering the following phrase: "Treat yourself to a round of sausage."
After being told he was incorrect, his fellow contestant Kitina provided the correct answer, although Seacrest then joked to Will, "I kind of like yours better."
"That sounds better than just clapping right now," he added.
Wheel of Fortune correspondent Maggie Sajak spoke to Will after the show.
"Alright Will, we had a little missolve in the first game... that's OK, could you walk me through how you're feeling?" she said in a video shared on social media.
Will explained: "I tell you, when the lights are on, and you know, the stars and Ryan Seacrest, Vanna White... I just went blank."
Maggie father is former Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak, and Will said perhaps he'd find the answer amusing.
"But, if your dad, in retirement, is watching this show, maybe cracks a beer and gets a laugh, it was worth it," Will joked.
"I will make sure that we tune in that night, OK? That's a promise," Maggie said.
"Awesome. And I'm sure I'm gonna have sausages in my locker and police car when I get back, so we'll try and have some fun with it," Will replied, referencing what may happen when he returns to work as a police officer.
Aussie wins record-breaking TV prize
Aussie TV personality David Genat won one of the biggest cash prizes ever awarded on network television in March 2025.
The competition involved Genat and 12 other contestants fighting to find a hidden briefcase worth millions.
The Survivor Australia alumnus won a whopping $US5.8 million in the finale of NBC's Deal or No Deal Island, the equivalent of $9.2 million in Australia.
The biggest prize Australian Deal or No Deal contestants can win is $200,000.
Upon his win, it became clear a family holiday was on the cards.
"We're going to do a really big, fun trip with my kids and we'll ball out a bit," Genat told 9Entertainment.
Naked Grandma answer on Family Feud
During a game of Family Feud, contestants were asked by Steve Harvey to "name something a burglar would not want to see when they break into a house."
Without hesitation, one contestant shouted, "NAKED GRANDMA," causing a frenzy among those playing.
The answer was taken as "occupant," and he was awarded 33 points. Harvey's look is priceless.
Wheel of Fortune contestant's wild answer
In one of Wheel of Fortune's most jaw-dropping moments, contestant Tavaris Williams made a hilarious butt blunder.
Clearly confidence he knew the solution to the phrase being spelled out on the board, he declared, "Right in the butt!"
His answer didn't even match the puzzle's letter count, and everyone was wheezing and laughing.
Host Pat Sajak could only reply "No" before the correct answer, "This is the best," was given.
Kellie Pickler's geographical fail
Kellie Pickler was arguably at the height of her fame after placing sixth on American Idol and building a successful singing career until a fateful game show appearance.
The rising star appeared on the celebrity edition of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? when she was asked a straightforward question.
Pickler was asked to name the European country with Budapest as its capital, the response was hilarious.
"I thought Europe was a country ... I know they speak French there. Is France a country?" she asked.
A third grader then correctly responded that the country was Hungary.
From there, Pickler stuck to singing.
John Carpenter's iconic Phone-a-Friend
In one of the most iconic moments of game show history, an Internal Revenue Service agent won Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
John Carpenter was featured on the November 19, 1999, episode and advanced to the million-dollar question without having used any of his lifelines.
He decided to use his Phone–a-Friend, but not for assistance.
Instead, he called to tell his father he was about to win a million dollars and become the show's first millionaire.
And win, he did.
Michael Larson's iconic cash swindle
In 1984, Michael Larson pulled off a major win on the game show Press Your Luck, though it wasn't a fair game.
At the time, Larson's winnings were the most money ever won in one day on a game show, pocketing $110,237 ($AU169,656).
The game includes three players and two rounds. Competitors answer trivia questions to gain "spins" on the "big board;" every correct answer earns three spins.
When spinning, a series of seemingly random lights moved around a board and stopped at different dollar amounts or prizes.
Players would have to hit stop to pause the light and find out their winnings, Larson studied the show to hack this board.
After 40 spins and overwhelming winnings, Larson later revealed in a 1994 Dayton Daily News article: "Six weeks into it, it just came to me. I finally determined there were only six patterns of 18 numbers."
Initially, CBS didn't want to pay Larson and tried to catch him cheating, though there were no rules they could use to disqualify him.
Larson pocketed all the winnings, reportedly using the money to buy real estate.
Sass Family's flop on Family Feud
One of the saddest moments in Family Feud history was when the Sass family made a very costly mistake.
The family only needed 18 points to win themselves $20,000 ($AU30,780) and had made it to the "Fast Money" round.
They had to answer five rapid-fire questions, and Tim Sass went first, scoring 182 out of the 200 points needed.
Anna Sass was next and she only needed 18 points, but her answers (in Italics) derailed her success:
1: On a scale of 1 to 10, what chance do you have of dating a girl who's a '10'? "Four."
2: Name a kind of place where people keep checking their watch. "Restaurant."
3: Name a noisy insect. "Pass."
4: Name something a person's belly does. "Throws up."
5: A married couple might be deeply in …: "Marriage."
"That was bad," she told Harvey. And bad it was, earning the family 0 points.
"I'm sorry, folks," Harvey said, and the family walked away with nothing.
A potato blunder on Wheel of Fortune
During a Wheel of Fortune episode in 2009, contestant Lolita McAuley gave the game show one of its funniest moments.
In a memorable segment, the fifth-grade teacher attempted to solve a puzzle in the "Thing" category.
As the board neared completion, it became clear the correct answer was "self-portrait," though McAuley was yet to catch on.
Instead, she confidently answered "self-potato," sending viewers and the audience into fits of laughter.
The mistake instantly became a viral sensation and one of the show's funniest fails.
