Fans Demand ‘Family Feud,’ ‘Jeopardy!’ Cut Loose More Money

Steve Harvey & Ken Jennings - YouTube

When people go to game shows, they dream of winning lots of money or prizes. Winning prizes is fun, but one thing many people don’t know is that winners have to pay taxes for the prizes they win on shows like The Price is Right before they can get them. When a person wins money, the taxes are taken out before they get the money.

Recently, dans have looked at some game shows and feel the prizes are too low for the competitions.

Fans Feel Jeopardy! and Family Feud Needs To Increase Prize Money

While winning money on a game show isn’t like working a job, fans at home feel that the shows need to be paying out better prizes to the winners. This comes down to how much money the shows are making and how little they pay out in comparison.

Family Feud: Steve Harvey
Family Feud: Steve Harvey

Family Feud is the biggest offender for many fans. The show pays out $20,000 to the winning family on the show. There are five people in each family. After taxes, each family member takes home about $2,500 or less.

While that might seem like a lot to some, is it fair for the game show? Steve Harvey reportedly makes $10 million a year for hosting Family Feud.

Jeopardy! pays more, and there is no limit on how much someone can make if they keep winning. Plus, their winnings are based on how much they win in a game, and that is based on their bids. However, there is a limit since the questions are $200-$1,000 and $400-$2,000 per clue.

The show doubled the money in 2001 for the first time since 1984. Now, it has been 22 years later, inflation is high, and it hasn’t been raised since.

Fans chimed in on Reddit about both shows:

  • “I thought of that a long time ago. 20k sounds good … Not exactly life-changing money. It needs to be at least 50k to make it more worthwhile.”
  • “I know they increased 2nd and 3rd place consolation prize money, but isn’t it about time to double the entire game’s values?”

On a positive note, Jeopardy! did increase the consolation prizes by $1,000 each for second and third place.

Fans Also Feel Survivor Award Is Not Enough

Reality TV fans are also looking at the Survivor prize fund. That is something many feel needs to be raised. Since the show debuted 24 years ago, the winner each season takes home $1 million (before taxes).

Isaac Hirsch - Jeopardy!
Isaac Hirsch – Jeopardy!

However, once again, fans feel that the winners should get more. They go through a lot of torture and pain for fans’ amusement to win the money. However, when measuring inflation, $1 million from 24 years ago is $1.82 million now, so the winnings based on the cost of living have decreased a lot.

Another fan even said, “Honestly, I feel like CBS should also just go ahead and cover the taxes too” (via U.S. Sun).

Do you think game show prize funds should be higher? What do you think the players should get on Jeopardy!, Family Feud, and Survivor? Let us know in the comments below.

Shawn Lealos
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