30 People Share What Happened With Their Prizes After Winning A Game Show

My brother was on pyramid in 77 or 78, he got a lifetime of rice a roni. It was a case of like 48 boxes every year for like 3 years. We got a letter that the show was going off air and out of the rice a roni business. Cut us right off.

P.S. my wife said it was a show called $25000 dollar pyramid.

I was on "Let's Make a Deal" in 2016 and I won a new car. It was actually perfect timing because my old car was on its last legs and I had started saving for a new one, then I won a new one and the money I had saved paid the fees and stuff.

I won the car in August but didn't actually get it until November when the episode aired, but they drove it to my apartment and had me sign the deed and it was all pretty painless. I had heard rumors throughout life about winning on gameshows "costing you" and things like that, I guess because I already had some money saved for fees and taxes it ended up really painless. Got a brand new car work 16k for about 3k in fees and stuff. Totally worth it and would totally recommend it!

Here's a tip: If you ever go to one of those game shows that pick contestants out of the audience, they have a producer briefly interview EVERYONE (usually in groups) beforehand, and as long as you're lively without being theatrical, and seem interesting without being crazy, you have a good shot at being picked. When the producer was interviewing the 20 member slot of audience members I was grouped with, he asked everyone their name and what they did and one interesting fact about themselves. And one random guy who desperately wanted to be on TV started doing the worm there in the interview area. You could immediately see on the producer's face that though he was forcing laughter, that's definitely not what they're looking to put on TV. Loose cannons are a big no go.

My grandmother was Queen For A Day. It’s an older game show. She won a new living room set. Pretty nice for the times.

When I was about ten, there was a gameshow on Spanish TV where you would call in to play the game. My mom and I got through one night and won a grocery store certificate for $100. We were so excited as this was big money in the eighties. We get to the store, by bus, and do our shopping. We get to the register and let the check out person know we won the prize and she tells us the manager isn’t there and that we would need to come back another day for verification. My mom explains that we arrived by bus and how it is difficult to make the trip again. I remember feeling so sad. Thankfully, another employee at the supermarket stepped in and let us take the groceries home. I still remember the feeling of relief when he allowed us to do that.

My girlfriend (now wife) won a year's supply of pizza as a consolation prize on the Price is Right. Only problem was we live in California and the pizzeria was in New York.

So what did they do?

You guessed it, they shipped the pizzas via regular delivery (not even overnight) from New YORK to our apartment in California. When the pizzas got there they were often three or four days old, and were not refrigerated, thus moldy and disgusting.

After about a week of this we contacted the show and they agreed to a "cash value" of just over $100 (far less than the value of the pizzas).

Ever since then I have had a dislike for the Price is Right.

I was on a Game Show called "Let's Ask America" in 2013 and I ended up winning $24,000. It was so insanely surreal and I couldn't believe I had actually won that amount of money until after the show aired and they sent me a physical check in the mail.

It was absolutely life changing for me. I was 26 at the time of filming and had been working 3 jobs (marketing firm, restaurant, bar) just to get by in and otherwise s****y economy. I wasn't exactly drowning in debt or anything, more so just getting by pay check to pay check. I also didn't mind working at all. It was just that I had all these travel plans that I was constantly dreaming about.

I pretty much felt like I was in this constant cycle in which I could never really save much. So, when I received this relatively large sum of money, I decided to sell everything and plan out some travels. I ended up getting a one year work & holiday for Australia and arrived here in 2014 with nothing but a backpack and a duffel bag.

My experience has been nothing short of amazing. I ended up finding work at a marketing agency within my first week here and they went on to sponsor me. (side note: I made way more at that firm in an initial entry level role than I did a the agency back in the US). Six years later, I have tripled my income since arriving here and now have a great role at an agency I love.

I'm now a permanent resident of Australia and have about 6 months until I can apply for citizenship. Since living in Australia, I've been to 12 different countries which for some reason always felt impossible when I was living back home. I've just loved my overall experience and am so grateful that those winnings were the catalyst for it.

[Winning Clip](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVc_2dlXLNk) "Let's Ask America"

Bonus: I ended up on the Australian version of "The Chase" but didn't win any money on that one haha.

My mom and I went to The Price is Right and my mom got called down, got onstage, and won her game. She did not win her wheel spin unfortunately. But she won $10,000 cash from her game so that was pretty good. Can’t complain about winning a bunch of cash. I think about 30-40% went to taxes.

Was the closest guess in a "Sweets in the jar" game at our local Community Centre. I won a hamper of wine, cheeses and crackers.

I was 9.

I won $1600 on Cash Cab. Who would have thought that knowing the name of George Clooney's pet pig would prove to actually be useful someday?

We were given "money" on the show, but after filming wrapped, the producers took it back and the money was sent to us after the episode aired. None of our earnings were taxed because this wasn't in the US.

My mom got on (and won) Wheel of Fortune. I’ll try to be vague to protect her identity.

Per the show, she officially won an all expense paid trip to a country I won’t list, a (at the time) brand new infinity (2010 range) and like $25,000 cash.

She said she was required to pay tax on the car, which was several thousand dollars up front that she just had to pay as her game show winnings took a while to arrive so she couldn’t use that. She took out a short term loan using the car as collateral to pay that tax. She sold the car, paid off the loan, and kept the difference.

Something they don’t tell you is how heavily taxed income from game shows is; I remember her only keeping a few grand out of her 25k. She did, however, get to keep most of the money from selling the car AND the trip to a foreign country was legit (including the spending cash they give you when you’re out there). Overall, she used the money to pay off some debts and lived basically the same after the show (minus some debt and with the added life experience in another country).

For any wheel of fortune fans, she said Pat is short in person, that everyone stands on pedestals to make them appear identical in height, and that Vanna White is extremely nice.