User blog:Gameshowguy2000/Are cable game shows made to give away big money?

Halfway through last year, one of my Facebook friends talked with me on IM about cable game shows not being made to give away big money. He told me that the budgets were small, citing examples like Win Ben Stein's Money (Comedy Central), Whammy! (GSN), 2-Minute Drill (ESPN), Supermarket Sweep (Lifetime/PAX) and Cash Cab (Discovery).

I gave him an example of one big money cable game show, that being GSN's Russian Roulette, which offered a top prize of $100,000...just like Wheel (except now it has the Million Dollar Wedge, and there are only 3 winners there, just like there were 3 winners of the $100K Russian Roulette...one of whom beat the odds and survived 5 out of 6 drop zones!). But even then, he told me that there was a small budget, which explained why there were few people who won the $100K.

Then I told him about 2-Minute Drill, and learned it was a tournament (similar to Jeopardy!), and that the winner of the tournament could win $200,000 in cash and nine ESPN Experiences, which were trips to sporting events or sporting-related events with behind-the-scenes ESPN perks. Willy Gibson of Ohio, who won the first 2 tournaments before being dethroned in the third and final one, won over $200,000 in cash total along with his ESPN Experiences to become the biggest cable game show winner in television history.

As for Win Ben Stein's Money...I suggested that Ben could've put up $10,000 instead of $5,000. But again, I was given those words of cable game shows not being for big money...not even the "Double Your Money" weeks on Supermarket Sweep were really considered Big Money (again, depends on how you look at it).

I will now open the floor to comments. Tell me what you think? If cable game shows aren't really for big money, how come we have some of those big money moments like the ones I mentioned? Gameshowguy2000 (talk) 22:55, February 6, 2016 (UTC)