25 Wacky Cheating Scandals from Game Shows and Pro Sports

A true athlete doesn’t sully his sacred flesh vessel with supplements, muscles and good posture. Look no further than Babe Ruth — that slob would slurp down a cigar as he waddled around the bases after a grand slam. That was when men were men. Unlike these cowards…

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25

Terry Kniess THE PRICE IS RIGHT DOUBLE SHOWCASE WINNER! CRACKED.COM Drew Carey accused Kniess of colluding with audience regular Ted Slauson via intricate hand gestures. It seems more likely that he had just memorized every item in the Showcase Showdown, being a meteorologist by trade, and a card counter by a remarkable lack of hobbies.

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24

Lauren and Frank Cleri MOMENT OF TRUTH CRACKED.COM This show hooked couples up to a lie detector and asked them embarrassing, potentially marriage-ending questions. The Cleris agreed to yes-and each other, and basically gamed a polygraph test in order to admit (falsely) to infidelity and pining for an ex-boyfriend.

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23

Thomas Hurley (was cheated) JEOPARDY! what is the Emansiptation Proclamation? CRACKED.COM The judges are the bad guys here, as they ruled that the slight misspelling disqualified this 8th grader. But Trebek did, oddly, classify the one-letter typo as badly misspelled.

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22

Korilla BBQ THE GREAT FOOD TRUCK RACE IONY I Alkorillo CRACKED.COM Producers said they were eliminated due to an unfortunate decision, which, at the time, was rumored to be: putting their own money in their cash register to artificially increase sales. They later said they merely struck a shady deal with a meat purveyor during a meat-less challenge.

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21

Production staff OUR LITTLE GENIUS CRACKED.COM A parent alleged that producers were sneaking kids the answers to upcoming questions. The show's creator made the tough call to axe it before it aired, depriving countless families the opportunity to exploit their gifted children.

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20

Coolio CHOPPED CRACKED.COM After time had expired, Coolio snuck a lemon under his arm and armpit-farted some zest onto his beef and broccoli. It was... well-documented, to say the least, but Penn Jillette called him out nonetheless.

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19

Adriana Abenia PASAPALABRA CRACKED COM After correctly guessing the titles of several songs, she revealed she'd been Shazam-ing from her lap the whole round.

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18

Gabe Okoye, Brittany Mayi (were cheated) MILLION DOLLAR DROP CRACKED.COM The couple lost $800k when they guessed that Post-It Notes were sold before the Walkman, which was true in every sense except technically. Producers argued that Post-Its were test-marketed before they were sold, and the Walkman went on sale in the interim.

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17

Rick Rockwell WHO WANTS TO MARRY A MULTI-MILLIONAIRE? CRACKED.COM A more accurate title would have been Who Wants To Marry An Out-Of-Work Comedian With A Toilet In His Backyard? Winner Darva Conger found out she'd just married a dud while they were on their honeymoon. She went on record saying they never consumated.

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16

Charles Ingram WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE? A number one followed by one hundred zeros is known by what name? GRACKED.COM Ingram and his wife had devised a scheme wherein he would list the answers out loud to himself, and she would cough, from the studio audience, when he said the right one.

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15

Herb Stempel, Charles Van Doren TWENTY-ONE MR. VAN DOREN MR. STEMPEL GRACKED COM All will Stempel won for 6 straight weeks, before Van Doren dethroned him and went on his own tear. It was revealed to be contrived, and that, in fact, tons of gameshows of the era were being run like the WWE-- wins and losses were all scripted for maximum drama.

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14

Michael Larson 00 BACK $1250 $300 PRESS YOUR LUCK TWO SPACES $100 - ONE SPIN - ETM $550 GRACKED COM $500 Larson noticed the animated sequence wasn't actually random, so he painstakingly memorized it, timed it, and turned it into his own personal ATM. Eat sh*t, Whammy!

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13

Khaled El-Katateny MILLIONAIRE HOT SEAT CRACKED.COM This self-described Alpha Male bragged in interviews after his win that he'd gleaned the answers by watching the body language of the host: I didn't play the game, I played the man. Producers decided it was both not against the rules, and probably a sad little lie.

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12

Neil Tejwani THE BIGGEST LOSER CRACKED.COM Out of allegiance to his old team, Neil sabotaged his new team by sneakily gaining 17 pounds of water weight before the weekly weigh-in. It was a cruel and dangerous stunt, and one trainer said I am so f*ing mad I cannot even see straight.

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11

Joshua Adam Garcia (JAG) THE NEXT FOOD NETWORK STAR CRACKED.COM This jag beefed up his background to make for a better personal story. Не lied about graduating from a renowned culinary school and about seeing active combat in Afghanistan.

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10

CRACKED FENCING Boris Onischenko was disqualified from the 1976 Summer Olympics after it was discovered that he had an illegally modified épée, wired so he could activate a switch to register a hit.

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9

CRACKED 20 BASEBALL Groundskeeper Emil Boussard moved Cleveland's portable fences as far as 15 feet when Babe Ruth visited. His son was also a groundskeeper who would supposedly freeze balls, raise baselines, and soak the area around first base.

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8

CRACKED BASEBALL In the 2017 season, Houston Astros players in the dugout supposedly stole signs by watching a monitor and banging on trash cans to warn the batter of the catcher's signs.

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7

CRACKED SOCCER The masseur of a Brazilian football club ran onto the field and blocked two goals. Probably not actually cheating since it doesen't seem like the team was in on it, but we had to mention it for creativity.

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6

CRACKED 53 26 4 5 2 54 64 S FOOTBALL Bishop Sycamore High School didn't exist, but their football team did. With an incredibly overworked, post-high school team, one of their games was even televised on ESPN.

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5

CRACKED FORMULA 1 At the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, Nelson Piquet Jr. allegedly intentionally crashed into the wall to give his teammate Fernando Alonso an advantage, winning him the race.

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4

CRACKED RUGBY In what is now known as bloodgate, a fake blood capsule (from a joke shop) was given to Tom Williams to fake an injury so that the Harlequins could get a better player on to the pitch during the 2009 European Cup quarter-final.

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3

CRACKED MARATHON Rosie Ruiz won the 1980 Boston Marathon by sneaking in a mile before the finish line. Supposedly she placed first by accident, rejoining the race without realizing no other woman had placed yet.

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2

CRACKED FISHING Jake Runyan and Chase Cominsky won a recent fishing tournament, but a viral videeo appears to show the officials inspecting their fish and discovering they were stuffed with lead weights and other types of fish fillets.

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1

CRACKED HORSE RACING In 1990, Jockey Sylvester Carmouche was accused of hiding out in the thick fog and jumping back in towards the end of the race, placing first despite being a 23-to-1 long shot.

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