The Press Your Luck Scandal
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What happened on May 19, 1984, during the Press Your Luck episode?
It's May 19th, 1984, and the audience in a Los Angeles television studio is going absolutely wild. The man sitting on stage in front of them is as euphoric as they are. In the background is a giant blinking game board that he has just conquered. The man claps his hands, shakes his head, and makes a sound that no one has ever heard before or since. Not quite a scream, more like a high-pitched yodel. The outburst is a mix of excitement, exhaustion, and utter disbelief. It's basically his way of asking, what the hell did I just do? This is Michael Larson, and what he has just done seems impossible. Or at least, fishy. That day, he appears on Press Your Luck. It's a pre-taped daytime game show on CBS. In every half-hour long episode, three contestants take turns playing a massive game board.
Each square on the brightly colored grid holds cash, prizes, extra spins, or... little red monster well you heard that correctly a little red monster the tiny animated boogeyman or boogie woman is a whammy what's a whammy well it's a a day ruiner if you buzz in and land on a whammy you instantly lose all of your winnings it's the show's signature gimmick About one in six spins results in a whammy.
How did Michael Larson achieve an unprecedented winning streak?
This prevents contestants from piling up big sums of money. Usually. But on this fateful afternoon 42 years ago, Michael Larson goes on a hot streak that leaves those who witness it flabbergasted. The network brass, the host of Press Your Luck, Peter Tomarkin, the studio audience, and most of all, Michael himself. He racks up a whopping 45 consecutive spins without a whammy. The shocking run helps him win $110,237 in cash and prizes. If you adjust for inflation, that's a little over 350 grand. At the time, it is the highest single payday in the history of game shows, and it's a spectacular TV moment. but there's still one mystery left to be solved. How exactly a schlub with a thrift store dress shirt, slicked back gray hair, bushy beard, and a chipmunk smile manages to take Press Your Luck for 100 grand?
Is he a cheater? Is he just supernaturally lucky? Or has he made his own luck? Welcome to Conspiracy Theories, a Spotify podcast. I'm Carter Roy.
What is the significance of the whammy in Press Your Luck?
You can find us here every Wednesday, and we would love to hear from you. So if you're listening on the Spotify app, swipe up and give us your thoughts, or check us out on Instagram at theconspiracypod. Stay with us. As Michael Larson is making history, the constant beep-boop sounds of the game board become almost hypnotic. While the audience is transfixed, the producers of Press Your Luck start to panic. It doesn't take a genius to realize that he has figured something out. It's just unclear what. The mood in the control room is pretty grim. Darlene Lieblick Tipton is a practices department executive at CBS. Here's how she says it went down. After about the third spin, the question that is sort of mentally being asked of everybody is, how is he doing that?
And then it was just, how is he doing that? And then it was just, oh my God, he's doing that. And it got quiet. The quick and dirty theory is that Michael must be running some kind of scam. No one could be that lucky. Michael certainly wouldn't have been the first game show contestant caught up in a scandal. The game show scandal is practically an American tradition. In the 1950s, several network quiz shows get in hot water for pre-arranging outcomes. The most notorious of those incidents involves a Columbia University lecturer named Charles Van Doren. He becomes a celebrity after winning $129,000 over the course of several months in 1956 and 1957 on the NBC game show 21. The feel-good story curdles when news breaks that the show's producers have rigged the game in favor of the telegenic Van Doren.
Four decades later, Robert Redford makes a movie about the scandal called Quiz Show. It turns out that Michael Larson is nothing like Charles Van Doren, but there is a conspiracy afoot. Well, sort of. By definition, conspiracies involve two or more people working together, but, you know, conspiring. Michael is a lone wolf.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What happened on May 19, 1984, during the Press Your Luck episode?
0:06–1:42
2
How did Michael Larson achieve an unprecedented winning streak?
1:42–3:08
3
What is the significance of the whammy in Press Your Luck?
3:08–5:36
4
What strategies did Michael Larson use to memorize the game patterns?
5:36–8:02
5
How did CBS executives react to Michael Larson's performance?
8:02–10:09
6
What were the consequences of Michael's game show success?
10:09–12:52
7
How did Michael Larson's life change after his game show appearance?
12:52–15:35
8
What lasting impact did the Press Your Luck scandal have on game shows?
15:35–38:03
Speakers
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