28 Game Show Contestants Share What Really Happens At The Show When The Cameras Are Not Rolling

The wheel in Wheel of Fortune is heavy!

Chelsi

• Published in Film & TV
• June 25, 2022

Game shows have maintained their popularity despite society's gradual shift from cable television to streaming. There is something special about watching a group of people competing for a prize that gets our hearts pumping.

We used to religiously wait for a block schedule to witness people spin a wheel and guess letters of the alphabet. We feel their emotions and get frustrated when they got the answer wrong.

We yell as if they can hear us and swear if it were us, we wouldn't make the same mistakes they did. TV viewing like this used to be a family event and it was entertaining for people of all ages.

The format of the games also changed as time went by. We went from guessing the prices of things, to quiz shows, to competing for love, and survival games.

All of them are entertaining and whether you would like to admit it or not, at one point in your life, you were heavily invested in at least one game show. Some of us even tried our luck at becoming a contestant in our favorite reality competition.

You must wonder how different these shows are behind the cameras versus how they're presented to us on TV. Those who have worked on these shows or participated in them as contestants shared their experiences during filming.

Read the behind-the-scenes "secrets" below:

1. You can't randomly hail the Cash Cab in New York. The producers screen the contestants but they don't reveal what for to capture genuine reactions.

2. The wheel in Wheel of Fortune is incredibly heavy and they film a week's worth of episodes in one day

3. They screen the audience on The Price Is Right to see if they are worthy to be on the contestant's row. The set is tiny as well.

4. A winner on The Price Is Right says after the show, the winner is taken into a small room to complete some paper work and discuss the prizes.

If you win a on any CBS game show, you cannot participate in their other game shows for 10 years

5. Aspiring contestants on the X-Factor have to audition for off-camera judges before they go in front of the celebrity judges

6. Iron Chef America is the realest cooking competition show but the judging takes a long time to film

7. A person that participated in Married At First Sight still goes to therapy years after appearing on the reality relationship show

8. A contestant on My Kitchen Rules was edited in a certain way to make her appear as the villain of the season which ruined her career outside of the show

9. In an MTV show called Fist of Zen, a group was told to deliberately fail one challenge for added drama but were still given the full prize money

10. A contestant won a lifetime's worth of WD-40 on the Australian version of Wheel of Fortune which turned out to be 4 cans of the lubricant

11. A tattoo subject on a tattoo competition show was given headphones but wasn't allowed to use them because they were just for product placement

12. Modern-day game show producers are more vigilant to avoid any rumors of fixing or cheating like what happened in the 1950s

13. Who Wants To Be Millionaire contestants who make it past the first round are told how to act when they celebrate

Families of the contestants are in the audience and sometimes give the wrong answers on purpose

14. Deal or No Deal picks contestants that are exuberant and they reserve the right to air your episode or not based on how you come across on camera

15. American Ninja Warrior films in the dead of the night

The audience on the stands are told what colors to wear and they can't have anything that has a logo on it

16. On the British show The Chase, opponents are not allowed to be in the same room to avoid any compromises or cheating

Bradley Walsh did not interact as much but he was nice

17. None of the scenes were shot in sequence in an unnamed family game show

18. In a show (is it Project Runway?) the scene was made to look like the contestants were rushing and competing over materials but in reality they had enough time and a lot of space

19. Jerry Springer is technically not a game show but this is still interesting

It seems the show is messy even in between takes

20. Also not a game show, but Conan O'Brien deserves the love

21. Alec Baldwin likes to keep the temperature chill, Lemon

22. Robot Wars is really, really cool if you get on the right episode

The tension is also palpable and exciting

23. Seeing how game shows are made can take the magic out of the shows after seeing scenes filmed repeatedly to get the right shot

24. The Big Brother House is inside a warehouse and the housemates are watched 24/7 a la Truman Show

25. The slime used in Nickelodeon shows like Double Dare is apparently delicious. They say it's made from applesauce and tapioca pudding.

26. The MasterChef judges have a lot of stylists. The timer also doesn't work in real time.

The contestants also have ample time to prepare their dish and are briefed about the ingredients a week prior to filming

27. Richard Dawson kissed every woman on set

28. Jeopardy contestants were not allowed to talk to Alex Trebek to avoid any possibility of leaking the answers or questions beforehand

What happens behind the scenes of our favorite game shows is incredibly fascinating. Reading about them admittedly takes a little bit of the TV magic away.

It's still great learning about them but, of course, take those stories with a grain of salt. It's good to know that showrunners have learned a little bit from the game show scandals of the 1950s and are trying to keep things above board.

Chelsi