Who hasn’t dreamed of being on a game show? Or maybe a game show hosts?
Getting the opportunity to duke it out in a battle of wits and luck on live television for the chance of winning stacks of cash or luxurious prize packages sounds pretty amazing right?
Not to mention, you get to meet one of the TVs legendary game show hosts, and how exciting would that be?
We grew up watching the likes of Alex Trebek on Jeopardy and Pat Sajak on Wheel Of Fortune – and maybe they seem like perfectly pleasant professionals with nothing to hide, but nobody featured in this video has a perfect track record. That being said, some hosts have definitely overstepped their bounds more than others.
Well, we here at Facts Verse got out our trusty magnifying glasses and did a little sleuthy detective work to dig up some dirt on some of television’s most recognizable personalities and turns out, they aren’t nearly as innocent as you think they are.
Facts Verse Presents: 9 Times Game Show Hosts Went Too Far
But before we divulge the uncomfortable truths about these renowned media figures, make sure you like this video, subscribe to our channel and turn on notifications by tapping the bell icon.
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Stick around for the whole video to see who we think was the biggest game show host creep of all time. You won’t believe what this guy was all about – it’s nothing short of shocking.
But first,
Pat Sajak and Vanna White Kiss
The host and hostess of Wheel of Fortune have had a long history of working with each other. Over the years rumors flung around that maybe their relationship was something a little more than platonic, but Sajak denied that speculation and insisted that there was no “funny business” between them.
Well, that all went out the window in 1989. Pat was leaving Wheel of Fortune to go work on his short-lived late-night talk show and so the episode was a bit of a farewell. In the final moments of the episode, Pat grabs a hold of his assistant and former Playboy bunny and plants a big sloppy kiss on her.
It actually looked as if he were attempting to suck her face off or something. Immediately the world started wondering whether the shocking event had been planned or if Pat had made the move spontaneously. Either way, Merv Griffin, the creator of the show snuck up behind the kissing co-stars to show them his immense disapproval.
We dug a little deeper and uncovered a 1987, interview where Pat described his and Ms. Whites’ relationship as being somewhere in-between ‘lovers and feuders”, so it’s feasible that the two already had something going on despite the fact they weren’t in a public relationship.
Gene Rayburn and Match Game
It was hard to choose which one of Gene’s over-the-top antics earned his spot on this list. So what the heck, let’s just include 2 of them.
The first one:
Gene introduces contestant Karen Lesko and intends to compliment her smile and very pronounced dimples. Instead, a Freudian slip comes out of his mouth, much to his embarrassment.
He accidentally compliments her lovely nipples!
He can’t stop blushing after the flub, and Karen looks pretty uncomfortable too.
Gene reiterates that he meant Dimples! But we all know where his mind was.
The next time he took things a bit too far happened in 1973, when one of his contestants was wearing a very short skirt. When she suddenly stands up, she has a bit of a wardrobe malfunction giving everyone a glimpse of her undies.
Gene is apparently so excited by what he had just seen that he starts undressing. Celebrity contestant McLean Stephenson decides he needs to run up and hug Gene at this moment to prevent him from taking off any more of his garments.
Woo-eeee, is it getting hot in here, or is it just Gene?
Hey, by the way, did you ever get around to tapping the like button and subscribing to our channel?
Just wondering…
Alex Trebek being a creep
Jeopardy has always tried to keep it classy over the many years its been on the air but it looks like Alex let some of his true desires slip out in 2008 when he was hosting Teen Tournament of all things – which definitely makes matters worse.
Maybe he shouldn’t have shaved off his 70s porn star stache, because at least then we knew what to expect from the guy.
Anyways, when he’s introducing his 3 contestants, he pauses after the third teenage contestant Haley Batz and creepily mutters “so young, so young”
Sure this comment could have been completely innocuous but it sure sounded to us like he had other things on the mind.
Bob Barker and his Hundred Dollar Pocket
You seriously can’t make this stuff up. Long before the days of political correctness, TV show hosts could get away with a lot more than they can today.
Bob Barker was the host of The Price of Right up until 2007, in the 1970s however he had a very special pocket that he would invite his lady contestants to reach into.
Yup, that was his magical Hundred Dollar Pocket, and boy did he ever look excited when a contestant would dive on in there in search of the hidden treasure.
In addition to his sleazy money pocket deal, Bob would be the subject of multiple sexual harassment allegations from his model assistants years after they left the show. Dian Parkinson and Holly Hallstrom are just two of the ladies that have alleged that Bob made inappropriate advances towards them and shamed them for things like gaining weight and refusing to spread lies in the media to cover up Barker’s wrongdoings.
Meredith Viera
This one borders on sexual harassment.
Meredith took over for Regis Philbin after he left Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and for the most part, she did a great job in her role as chief trivia commandant.
In 2002, one of his contestants. Max Schuman came on the show in his Naval Officer uniform and apparently that’s all that it took to get Meredith a little hot and bothered.
Despite the fact that Max looked wildly uncomfortable with the situation, Meredith continued to lay it on a little too thick. If the situation was reversed with a male host and a female contestant, you could be sure that the lady would be filing a harassment suit – and she’d probably even win because Vieira was relentless in her pursuit that definitely took things a little too far.
Wink Martindale
With a name like Wink, you can expect this Game Show Host veteran to be into a little bit of kink – and to be fair, theirs nothing wrong with that. But when this Tic Tac Dough ringleader played a little ‘Would You Rather’ with Trisha Paytas, things got a little too hot and heavy. Not only did he keep making sexually charged statements, but he made it clear that he wanted to get to know Ms. Paytas a little bit better – if you know what we mean.
But can you blame the man? Trisha is definitely a voluptuously curvy goddess and was a good sport about it and old man Wink probably hasn’t seen any action in ages.
Richard Dawson Family Feud
What on earth was going on in the 1970s?
Family Feud host Richard Dawson not only made it a point to show up to work every day absolutely hammered but he also had a rule where he would kiss every one of his lady contestants for good luck. Not only did this create fertile ground for some pervy moments over the years but it’s estimated that Richard kissed over 20,000 women during his tenure with Family Feud.
It looks like most of those kisses were of the French variety too.
But one particular episode featuring The Greek family, Dawson made the startling announcement that it was the first time that he had ever became aroused because of one of his female guests.
Come on DICK! Keep it in your pants!
Fergie Olver
Trigger Warning: This guy is a slimy sleazeball
This Canadian game show host is definitely the biggest creep on our lists. So much so, that we here at Facts Verse have to strongly condemn his disgusting and shocking behavior.
It makes you wonder how on earth this sort of thing could have ever made it to the airwaves or how it would stay popular enough to be renewed for four whole seasons.
Olver was the host of the Canadian game show “Just Like Mom”. Part of his signature shtick was to forcibly kiss his underage female guests who were between 6 and 12 years old.
Even when they flatly refused his advances, he would make threats like they’d never be allowed to win the show unless they kissed him, or he would go in and coerce them to kiss him without their consent.
All of this repeatedly played out in front of a live studio audience and with the cameras rolling. Some of his guests would express their immense uncomfortably with Olver years later but it still makes you wonder how this sort of thing went on for so long without being stopped.
Fergie’s career definitely took a hit after the show came to an end though. He never found success ever again ever since and has quietly lived out his life in seclusion to avoid the harsh reality of public scrutiny and opinion. If you ask us though, this man should have been sent to jail long ago. It’s clear that he was very much so an active pedophile with complete disregard for the concept of consent.
Career Path
Well, if you ever wanted to be a game show host, maybe now you’re having some second thoughts about that career path. It seems like every one of these folks all had some weird skeletons in their closets or secretly perverse fetishes that seemed to find their way on screen for all to see.
Some of these hosts probably even committed crimes on tapes. The world has definitely changed since the 70s and 80s when people like Richard Dawson and Fergie Olver were making people feel so uncomfortable with their unwanted kisses. Which one of those two do you think was the creepiest? Let us know what you think in the comments section.
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