– Could you spot a cheater on a game show?- Let's talk about that.
♪ (theme music) ♪ – Good Mythical Morning.
– As a kid, I was absolutely.
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obsessed with game shows.
– Yes.
The great thing about them is that youget to put yourself in the place of the contestant and say, “Ooh! Would Iget these right? Would I get these wrong? Would I win the big bucks? What would Ibe willing to do to go all the way.
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to the cash top?”- “To the cash top” is what they call it.
– “To the cash crop.
“- That's the official name.
Well, lots of people have been willing togo to great lengths to get to the cash.
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top, and maybe even too far.
– Mm! – That's what we're talking about today!- Yes, I wanna take you to 2001.
– Take me there.
– The British version of “Who Wants to.
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Be a Millionaire?” in particularCharles Ingram.
He was a former major in the British Army, and thenhe was a contestant in the hot seat on Millionaire.
Now, he answered the firstseven questions right.
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– Hm, good.
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amassing £4, 000, but he already.
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used two lifelines in the processto get to this point.
– Ooh, yeah.
Not good.
– So, you know, not quite halfway there.
Not lookin' good.
But he was rescued bythe end of that episode.
'Cause they said, “Okay, come backtomorrow, audience, and see.
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– Right.
Cliffhanger.
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how Charles the Major does.
” – So he had some time to regroup.
– Yeah.
And he did some strategizing, andhe came back the next day with a new plan to go all the way to the top.
Hopefully! So this is what I wanna do.
I wanna play a montage of his finalanswers for you and you and see if.
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you can identify his strategy, okay?- Mmkay.
I would've thought that it would beAristotle Onassis.
– (someone coughs)- Yeah.
I'm gonna go for.
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Aristotle Onassis.
A1 or Craig David.
– (coughs) – No, I'll go Craig David.
– (Rhett) Okay.
– (Link laughing)- If I had to guess.
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– Has something to do with that woman.
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take Cricket.
– (someone coughs)- I'm going to play Googol.
– Yeah.
Final answer.
– (announcer) Final answer? (Link) This is it, here.
This is the last one.
– (announcer) You just won 1, 000, 000!- (crowd cheering) – (Link) Yes! What a surprise!- (announcer) 1, 000, 000! – (Link) Listen to what the host says.
– (announcer) You are the most.
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amazing contestant we haveever, ever had! – Yeah, you sure are.
– “You are the most amazing contestant.
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we have ever, ever had!”- You and that woman you brought.
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with you.
(coughing)- (laughing) So, he was amazing.
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because he was cheating.
Can you guess how, Rhett? – The coughing.
That's my guess.
– This episode never aired.
– Mm.
– But this footage was used in.
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a documentary, which I highlyrecommend, look it up.
It's called “Major Fraud, ” which documents this wholething, and that's why the mix was altered for the coughs to be so loud.
But yes, he came back on day two and orchestrated a whole plan, where that woman who wascoughing and covering her face was.
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his wife.
And then he also got the.
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– Oh!.
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help of a contestant who was waitingin the wings named Tecwen.
– (Rhett exhales)- And the two of them would cough.
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whenever he would say the answer theythought was correct.
– That's effective.
And he would read all of the answers and.
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then wait for the cough.
– I heard the cough.
Yeah.
Everyone started to hear it overthe course of the game, except for the host, who was so dialed in that henever noticed and kept things going.
– People cough.
It happens.
– (Link) Here's a picture of Tecwen.
(Link in a nasally voice) “Hello, I'm Tecwen.
I'm willing to cheat for.
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someone else.
“- (Rhett laughing) I wonder what his.
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agreement was: how much he wasgonna get.
I don't know, but at one point, Charlesforgot his system, and instead of reading every answer, so that he couldcough at the correct one, he just said, “I think it's so-and-so.
” And then Tecwenwas like (through a cough) “No!” – (laughing)- He literally coughed, “No!” – You can hear it, audibly.
– Sometimes you have to do that.
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kinda thing.
– So the producers obviously caught on.
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to this, and then they gave him a phonecall a few days later, and they recorded.
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the phone call.
Let's listen to that.
– (producer) I have to tell you that we.
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have suspicions from viewing the.
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– Oh, really.
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recording of last Monday's, uh, program.
I've subsequently studied the.
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tapes carefully.
There wereirregularities during the taping of the.
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show in which you participated.
– Specifically coughing.
– (Charles) Oh, good Lord, no.
– (producer) Because of that.
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I have to tell you that thesesuspicions have been referred to the.
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police.
And thus.
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– (Charles) Right.
– The po-po?- .
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we will not for the moment be.
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airing the program or indeedauthorizing payment of the check.
(Charles) Right.
Yeah, well, I mean, you know, I completely refute.
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that, obviously.
– (Rhett) Of course.
(Charles) Good Lord, [inaudible].
All right, well, thanks for.
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letting me know.
Cheers.
Bye.
– (producer) Okay, thank you.
– “Cheers.
Bye.
” (laughing)- “Okay, thanks for letting me know.
– Uh, you caught me cheating.
That's fine.
“- Sounds a little guilty to me.
– (laughing) Yeah.
– That's now how I would have denied.
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if I wasn't doing it.
– Ya think? Just get off the phone as.
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quickly as you can.
He was foundguilty and fined £115, 000.
-Whoa.
– And he is now known around town.
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as the “Coughing Major.
“- Oh.
That name sticks with you.
But Tecwen testified that his coughing wasa combination of hay fever and.
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a dust allergy, And I believe it.
– (through coughing) No, it wasn't.
– (laughing)- (through coughing) No, it wasn't! – So top that one.
– Okay, you remember this show.
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Press Your Luck, from the '80s.
– I love this show.
You would play a game where you answerquestions, and you would win spins that you would get to take on the bigboard.
And when you got to the big board, you could win more spins and money, or if you hit a whammy, you would.
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lose everything.
So here's how the.
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– Yes.
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game worked once you got to thebig board, just so you understand.
– Go for it! Go for it!- (male voice offscreen) Here he goes! Come on, big [bucks].
I need a 5000and a spin for [Toby].
– Come on.
Stop!- (Link) He got it.
– (crowd cheering)- (Rhett) Look at that.
– (Link) He got the 5000 and the spin.
– Come on again for Tommy.
Stop! – (Link) Ooh! He got a whammy for Tommy.
– (Rhett) Whoa.
Look how.
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unhappy he is.
Oh, thumbs down.
(descending tone) “I tried to do it for Tommy!”Who's Tommy? – Very, very dramatic.
– Is that his name? Probably not.
That's how the gameis played.
– Mhm.
– But there's a guy named Michael.
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Larson who was an ice cream truckdriver from Ohio.
– Okay.
– He played the game a little bit.
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differently.
Let's watch Michael playthe big board.
– (Link) He looks like an ice cream.
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– (Rhett) Okay.
4000 and a spin.
(Rhett) Yep.
5000 and a spin.
– (Rhett) 1000 and a spin.
– (Link) Yeah! (Link stammering) Yeah! – (Link) Whoa! (clapping)- (Rhett laughing) He's so happy! – (Rhett) Keep going! Do it! Do it!- (Link) Yeah.
(Link) Press your luck! (Link) Stop! Stop! (Link) Go! go! Go! (Link) Gah! (laughing) (Rhett) Can you believe it? – (Link) I can tell you right now.
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– (Rhett) $110, 000! (Link) I did not see this episode, becauseI would remember it.
(Link) And I would act like that ifI were him, too.
– Look at that.
– Celebration dance! – Okay.
– No whammies, no whammies, STOP! – Link, what did you think was going.
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– STOP! – .
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on there?- I think that his voice shook.
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something loose and the whammiescouldn't come.
– (laughing) Yeah.
– It's like, “STOP! STOP!” – That is exactly what didn't happen.
– (laughing) Here's what happened.
So this ice creamtruck driver had been studying the big board for an extensive period of time.
And he figured out there were two squares that a whammy never showed upon.
And he also figured out there were.
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five different patterns that you couldfollow the highlighted box around.
So he would sense which pattern it wasand he knew when it was gonna go to one of those two spots and he wouldSTOP! the board.
And he did this.
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45 times in a row.
– 45 times in a row? Meanwhile, producers are backstagefreaking out.
They can't bankroll this.
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ice cream truck driver like this.
The only reason he ends up stopping.
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– We gotta STOP him!- .
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is because he hit one of them that.
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wasn't one of the ones that he wasthinking about and he lost confidence.
And so he stopped.
He had more spins.
He stopped at 110, 000.
Okay.
They figured out what he did.
They analyzed the tape.
They realized.
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that he had figured out the pattern.
– Well, first of all, that's not cheating.
And they determined that it was notcheating.
– Yeah!- He got to keep all his winnings.
They went on to change the system sothat it couldn't be gamed as easily.
But listen to what Michael Larson endedup doing.
He ended up pressing his luck even further.
This guy couldn't getenough.
He goes back home.
There's a radio contest where you can win $30, 000if you have a matching serial number on a one-dollar bill that the radiostation is reading out.
He gets all $110, 000, after taxes, printed intoone-dollar bills.
So he has bags of – one-dollar bills around his house.
– (Link) You're kidding me.
He's checking the serial numbersto win 30, 000 more.
Well, his last whammy was when he went to a Christmasparty and someone stole all of his money.
Oh, no! That is horrible! Sorry, Michael.
Now he's also dead, which is kind of a big whammy, but.
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I wonder what he would've said if he camehome while they were stealing the money.
– STOP!- Yeah, that's probably it.
All right, I got one for ya.
(announcer voice) “Terry Kniess! Come on down! You're the next contestanton The Price Is Right!” In 2008, he makes it to contestants' row.
And this is no normal contestant.
This guy is a veteran blackjackcard-counter.
– Yes.
– He is a casino surveiller.
And he is a former TV weatherman.
And you know what that means.
He can forecast how cold it's goingto be in the studio.
– Patterns.
Patterns.
– Oh.
Yes.
That too.
First of all, when he gets down there, everyone's gotta bid on one item.
It's a grill.
He guesses that it costs$1175.
Pretty exact bid.
– And exactly right.
Hm!- Oh! – Raises a little suspicion.
– Lucky.
Lucky.
He then earns the right to go on stage.
he makes his way through The Price.
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Is Right to get to the very end.
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– Showcase Showdown! .
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the grand finale where he's pittedagainst someone else.
They present a whole bunch of prizes you can win, but you've got to give the total price – of the total showcase.
– Without going over.
Without going over.
And if you're within$250, you win both showcases.
– I love it.
– Now, this is the longest-running.
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show in television history.
But whathe did was amazing and outta nowhere.
– Let's watch the finale.
– (host) You've got the tailer, jukebox.
You bid $23743.
Actual retail price$23743.
You got it right on the nose.
– What?! (bells ringing)- Double showcase.
– (Link) Right on the nose!- That hasn't happened since '72.
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or '73.
Right on the nose.
He won$56, 437.
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– (Rhett) Drew Carey is very subdued.
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in prizes today.
– (Rhett) He was new at his job, I guess.
– Don't forget to get your pets spayed.
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or neutered.
– (Rhett) What is that smile about? We'll see you next time onThe Price Is Right.
Bye bye.
Listen, whenever I have a big milestone, in my life where I do something amazing.
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I know who I'm not inviting.
– (laughing) – Drew Carey!- “Ah, could've been anybody.
” Listen, here's the story.
The reason why.
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– “I hate my job.
“- It wasn't that.
He's great at his job.
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and he loves his job.
– Mhm.
But he was convinced that the guy wascheating because it had never.
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happened, basically.
– (Rhett) Right.
It's impossible.
And the producers were kind of havinga conversation backstage.
But here's the facts.
He wasn't cheating.
It was a combination of studying patterns and luck.
He and his wife hadtaped and reviewed every single night all the products and prices onPrice Is Right, and it turns out that they repeat them.
And he remembered whatthey were.
And then when he got to the end, his wife's in the audience saying”23, 000, ” and then he just adds 743 because it's their PIN.
That's what he said.
That's quite a system.
So there was someluck involved.
Some luck in it.
But Drew Carey wasconvinced that he was cheating and that he was cheating and that it wouldnever air.
That's why he was so subdued.
But they did air it.
They just buried itin December when nobody watches Price Is Right as much.
And then PriceIs Right had to change their whole system in the wake of Terry Kniess taking homeall that stuff, including a karaoke machine.
Well, there you go.
If you wanna win agameshow, study the patterns, drive an ice cream truck, and putyour PIN number in wherever possible.
Peter Tomarken, give me a call.
Big fan.
Have your pet spayed or neutered.
Help control the pet population.
Thanksfor liking, commenting, and subscribing.
– You know what time it is.
– Hi, I'm Natalie.
– And I'm Bobby.
– We're from St.
Olaf College.
– In Northfield, Minnesota.
– (both) And it's time to spin.
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The Wheel of Mythicality!- You know, Peter Tomarken is dead.
He's not gonna be giving youany shoutouts.
– Yeah, okay.
Then don't call me.
– He's also not on Twitter, but we are! @rhettandlink.
That's what we areon Twitter.
If you really like tweets.
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– .
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you should really follow us over there.
– And click through to Good Mythical.
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More.
Click the “i, “, because we'regonna find out the story behind Rhett's vision quest in solitary confinementon the desert.
– But not before we have a prize winner!- ♪ (celebratory fanfare) ♪ In the desert.
Not on the desert.
Well, he was on the desert.
– (Link) Congratulations to — (Rhett) Ashanen.
You win.
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merch of the month: a GMM t-shirt!- (both) Wooo! Congratulations! [Captioned by Kevin:GMM Captioning Team].
