- Although any recording of it seems to be lost to history, Art Fleming recounts in The Jeopardy! Book that he was the chosen Secret Square for one particular game on the original series. Asked a question about tennis players, he genuinely had no idea (the celebrities were briefed in advance on some questions, but not for the Secret Square ones, which were always more serious than the "regular" set of questions) and guessed one of the three choices at random. Asked to agree or not, the contestant said "Art Fleming would never lie. I agree!" Thankfully, Fleming's guess was correct and won the contestant over $11,000 in prizes. note
- When asked to name the country with the highest ratio of doctors to population, Buddy Hackett jokingly said Israel because it's "the country with the most Jews!" He followed it up by saying "We have a doctor in every family, it's a cousin, could be an uncle. Couple of specialists." He was shocked when the contestant agreed with him, and everyone in the studio was equally amazed his answer was right.
- Any time a contestant wins a Secret Square that has, through going unclaimed for several episodes in a row, has accumulated to a large amount. In the late 1970s, Secret Square jackpots often reached $25,000 and at least one topped $40,000, while at least one Bergeron-era episode grew to $50,000 before being collected.
- For die-hard game show fans, the two Game Show weeks in 2002 and 2003, where veteran game show personalities such as Bob Eubanks, Charles Nelson Reilly and Brett Somers, and Wink Martindale were on the panel. Former Let's Make a Deal model Carol Merrill, Wheel of Fortune letter-turner Susan Stafford and High Rollers model/dice roller Ruta Lee modeled the prizes, and Rod Roddy announced on the first week (with Shadoe returning for the second week). And, of course, Peter Marshall was the center square, and traded places with host Tom Bergeron on the first week's second-to-last episode.Peter: Object for the players is to get three stars in a row, either across, up-and-down or diagonally; it is up to them to figure out if a star is giving a correct answer or making one up; that's how they get the squares. A game is worth a tho — A THOUSAND DOLLARS?! [stunned] Whoa! Times have changed...!
- Certain contestants fall under this category as well:
- Tarek Tolba, who not only won three cars during his five-show run (for a total of $154,521), but never lost a game. He went on to reach second in that year's Tournament of Champions, earning another $14,500 and achieving a career total of $169,021.
- Jenny Thomas, who became the biggest winner in the history of the franchise. She won a "Close but No Cigar" week (highest scores among non–five-day champs competed for a slot in the ToC), and went on to win the Tournament and $50,000, ending up with a grand total of $196,175.
- Mike Walsh, from Ohio State and winner of the 2001 College Tournament, who managed to get a total of $77,529, including a $25,000 savings bond. And a cool little trophy too. Once he descended from the desks, all the other college contestants that had been competing for the past 2 weeks ran over to congratulate him, and so did the celebrities, too (minus Whoopi; she was out sick that week). And the celebration was accompanied by the main theme, to boot.
- Anytime a player automatically won the bonus round from the H2 era, either by winning enough squares to ensure a win, or getting all nine right in one try (which provides the above image, of the gameboard bathed in white light).
- The maligned Bergeron season 4 bonus game's biggest win, to the tune of $60,000.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Awesome/TheHollywoodSquares
FollowingAwesome / The Hollywood Squares
Go To