Michael Larson - genius or cheater?
Michael Larson was just an ice-cream truck driver who applied to be a contestant on the CBS’ quiz show - Press Your Luck back in 1984. What happened after the quiz show finished taping that day’s episode caused a big furore, with the public split into admiring what he had accomplished while the rest were calling him a cheater.
It was because, at the end of his romp, he had won a total of $110,237, with over $100,000 of that in cash.
First, a little background on the show itself.
The contestants on the game show need to collect “spins” by answering trivia questions, and then used the “spins” on an 18-space gameboard full of cash and prizes. On top of that, contestants can also get free spins along with the prize. To win something, the contestant must hit a buzzer as the “random” pattern are shown on the screen and wish that the light will stop at a spot with cash and/or spin.
However, there is also a whammy spots where the red cartoon creature takes away all of the contestant’s money. The person who amassed the most in cash and prizes at the end of the game won.
During the taping of the show, the host couldn’t believe what was going on as Larson kept on winning the big bucks with free spins and avoided the whammy along the way, effectively building his money and kept the other 2 contestants with nothing to do except watch. They even had to split the show into two episodes as Larson took close to an hour to amassed all that money.
