Jackpot Trivia Bowl: Most Hilarious Moment

As you probably know by now, I am the host, producer, etc. of one of BuckeyeTV's original game shows: "Jackpot Trivia Bowl." Game shows, because they are basically unscripted, provide the potential for a variety of unexpected hilarity...which is why TV shows that highlight such moments, such "World's Most Outrageous Game Show Moments" and "Game Show Moments Gone Bananas", will always have virtually limitless material to work with. In fact, when I finally put together the video for one of the moments I'm about to share with you...don't be surprised if it appears on the next edition of one of these TV shows.

This happened during a taping of "Jackpot Sports Trivia Bowl", a collaboration I did with BuckeyeTV's Sports Department. The Sports Department provided most of the questions for this special edition...I provided a few of my own to make sure there were enough for the two contestants who would be playing. We were in the middle of our second game with Andy, one of the Sports Department's seasoned veterans...he had made it all the way to this question for the Double Jackpot of $27,000:


Personally, I thought he was going to pull it off. He successfully eliminated three of the wrong answers...leaving himself with Bobby Hoying, Art Schlichter, and Troy Smith. Then, to my disappointment, he said:


"I'm gonna go with Bobby Hoying...final answer." You should've heard the groans from his fellow Sports Department colleagues in the audience.


"Is it Schlichter? Is it?"


"S***! S***! I was going Schlichter!"


As Andy stormed off the stage, he forgot to completely disconnect the microphone, which was caught on his chair....


"Security...?"

Anyway, as Andy skulked around the studio shouting (to our amusement): "I was going Schlichter...God! I was going Schlichter!", I chimed in with:


"We're going to call the Psychiatric Ward to pick up our friend Andy here...."

The next thing I was going to say was: "But he did win $10,000 for the O.S.U. general scholarship fund (even though we weren't playing for real money)," at which point I was going to end the show...I assumed Andy would keep the $10,000 instead of giving it back and risking doing worse. However, to my amazement...Andy stormed back onto the stage, declaring:


"Hit the 'Reset.' We're going back."
"You really want to use the 'Reset' button?"
"I wanted the Jackpot! I'd have been the first one...damn it!"

While I checked to make sure we had time to start a new game, Andy continued:


"I was going Schlichter! I thought he started his freshman year! Germaine transferred in, Krenzel...can't throw the ball...damn it!"
Still amused, I responded by cupping my hand over my mouth as if speaking into a walkie-talkie: "Security to the set, please."

So, against the advice of his colleagues and my reminder that he actually had to give back the $10,000 to start over...we restarted the game. Andy blazed through the first two questions to reach $200, and then we reach one of the sports questions I'd written for the show:


I had actually run out of $300 questions at that point, and borrowed this one from my remaining $800 questions. I thought: "Surely our resident sports expert would know that it takes 12 strikes to score a perfect 300 in bowling, right? Right?!"


Wrong.


"That's bulls***! Bowling's not a sport! Who sent in that damn question?! Whoever wrote that shouldn't do sports questions anymore!! That's bulls***!!"


"It's not even a sport! It's not even a sport! What kind of sport is bowling?!"
One of his Sports Department colleagues answers: "Dude...it's on ESPN." At that point, I informed Andy that I had written that particular question. There wasn't much more he could say after that.

Anyway, because Andy and Matt (the first player) had only made $1,000 between them out of the possible $39,500 we were offering (the combined maximum for their respective games)...we decided to bring them both back to work together on one final Double Jackpot question:


After hearing the choices, Andy and Matt select Tom Cousineau....


...which was wrong.

After I explained that Tom Cousineau only held the single-season tackle record(211), while Marcus Marek was the one who actually held the career record(572)....


...Andy reacted by tossing away some of the blank index cards I provide for the contestants' use. In all seriousness, though...the whole escapade was hilarious. While I'm a little disappointed that neither of the Sports Department representatives could hit the Jackpot on sports-related questions, what happened instead made for much better television than if either of them had won...especially Andy.