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THE PRICE IS RIGHT CONTESTANT MADE A MOVE THAT CONFUSED VIEWERS, THEN THEY SAW
HIS END GAME

Dan Fitzpatrick
This article was originally published on WHerMoments

People who try their luck on game shows usually walk away disappointed, their
pockets filled with nothing but missed opportunities and lost prizes. But from
time to time, a clever individual will figure out how to game the system. Most
of them do it in secret, but in 2008, a middle-aged man named Terry Kneiss did
it in broad daylight. In fact, he pulled off the impossible in front of a
televised audience of millions.


TERRY'S TRIUMPH

Terry Kniess' moment of truth came on an otherwise ordinary episode of The Price
Is Right in 2008. Terry and his wife, Linda, cheered with the rest of the studio
audience when he was selected to be part of Contestants' Row.

The Price is Right Productions, Inc./ Freemantle for CBS
He was smiling — but it wasn't just for the cameras.


AN ACE PREDICTOR

See, Terry felt like a The Price Is Right ringer. He'd been mastering the art of
analysis his entire life, actually.

The Price is Right Productions, Inc./ Freemantle for CBS
He began his career as a Nevada TV meteorologist and quickly set himself apart
from other weathermen by making startlingly accurate forecasts.


A BRIGHT FUTURE

Terry was so good, in fact, that he quickly moved to better, higher-earning
jobs, and he eventually found himself in Atlanta. He then earned two Southeast
Regional Emmy Awards in the early '90s... before homesickness caught up to him
and his wife. 
Dimitri Iundt/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images
They shuffled back to Nevada, and Terry applied his skills to a different
industry.
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BUSTING CHEATERS

Back in Vegas, Terry landed a job in casino surveillance. Using his genius for
pattern recognition, it was his job to watch the entire casino floor for cheats
and card counters.
John Howard/Getty Images
And wouldn't you know it, even the pros couldn't get past him.



TURNING HEEL

He learned all the ways tricksters tried to exploit loopholes in casino games.
And Terry became hooked.

Universal Pictures
He figured out how to count cards, and his skills quickly surpassed those of
lifelong gamblers. Soon enough, Terry became one of them.



EVOLVING INTO A GAMBLER

Clearly, Terry never made his fortune at the casinos. But he did play, and he
believed he had what it took to beat the house.

South_agency/Getty Images
In 2008, though, a personal tragedy forced Terry and Linda to refocus their
minds.



THE PRICE IS RIGHT OBSESSION

Terry actually became obsessed with The Price Is Right right after his family's
dog died. He and Linda were so upset by the event that they found themselves
adrift.

Ethan Miller/Getty Images
So, if they were ever going to move on from their grief, they figured they
needed a purpose. And that purpose soon became studying The Price Is Right.



A SHARED PASSION

Yes, the couple developed into armchair The Price Is Right pros. They aimed to
appear on the show after they had tirelessly memorized the patterns and prices
of various items.

The Price is Right Productions, Inc./ Freemantle for CBS
The couple taped the show in the morning and studied it later at night.



HIS KEY OBSERVATION

Over a four-month period, Terry and Linda determined that the game show used the
same prizes over and over again — at the same prices.

David A. Beloff/Getty Images
They figured out the patterns inside and out, and both swooned at the thought of
actually competing themselves.



LOOK FOR THE PATTERNS

They wouldn't be cheating, necessarily. They'd be taking an approach similar to
Michael Larson, who had memorized the prize sequence of Press Your Luck in 1984.

Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images
In fact, Larson had figured out which flashing squares were always safe — and
won over $100,000.



WAITING FOR THEIR TIME

In September 2008, Terry and Linda arrived to Television City and waited to be
admitted into The Price Is Right studio.

Valerie Macon/Getty Images
They had no control over whether they'd be randomly called down to play, of
course — but announcer Rich Fields eventually did call out Terry's name.



THE BIG GREEN EGG

Terry quickly got off to a winning start, too. He faced the challenge of
guessing the price of a very familiar product: the Big Green Egg.

Egeris/Getty Images
Yep, Terry wowed everyone by listing the exact retail price of $1,175.



DREW'S SUSPICION

The audience cheered, of course, and even host Drew Carey seemed to be on
Terry's side. He liked it when people won, and in this taping, everybody seemed
to be doing well.

Ray Tamarra/Getty Images
Little did he know that people were getting nervous behind the scenes as Terry
advanced to the final Showcase.



NUMBER CRUNCHER

Terry faced a sterner test here. His Showcase package included a camper, a pool
table, and a karaoke machine.

The Price is Right Productions, Inc./ Freemantle for CBS
His sharp mind quickly added the value of those up to $23,000. Then, for fun, he
added on 743 — his and Linda's PIN number.



RIGHT ON THE MONEY

Astonishingly, Terry was exactly right. He had achieved a feat that most people
thought was impossible.

The Price is Right Productions, Inc./ Freemantle for CBS
But before it could be announced to the live studio audience, Drew Carey cut to
a commercial break... and the producers brought the episode to a halt. They
smelled a rat.



A POSSIBLE CONSPIRACY

A producer came to talk with Carey and spelled out the situation. "I thought
somebody had cheated us, and I thought the whole show was over. I thought they
were going to shut us down, and I thought I was going to be out of a job," Carey
told Esquire in 2010.

JB Lacroix/WireImage/Getty Images
By that point, though, they had remembered a notorious figure was in the
audience.



THE GAME SHOW VILLAIN

Ted Slauson emerged in the late 1980s as the most formidable The Price Is Right
contestant ever. He only appeared as a contestant on the show once — and then
only won $1,000.

FortyFPS Productions
But then he began showing up in the audience for other tapings and shouting out
correct answers to the contestants.



TED'S SHADOW

And supposedly by pure chance, Ted was in attendance that fateful day when Terry
won the Showcase.

FortyFPS Productions
He didn't get called down to compete — likely because the crew knew to avoid him
— but he undoubtedly would have been in Terry's corner.



HAND SIGNALS

Was it possible that Ted had made secret hand signals to Terry, and that they
had a secret partnership going back months? That seemed to be Carey's
explanation — Terry later denied ever meeting this game show ace.

FortyFPS Productions
He asserts that he won by his own merit. Pretty quickly, fans started making
comparisons to another infamous game show scandal. 



THE SHADY DUO

In 2001, married couple Charles and Diana Ingram were in tremendous debt. That's
perhaps why, months prior to Charles' appearance on Who Wants To Be A
Millionaire?, Diana had actually appeared on the UK show herself — and
successfully won £32,000.

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?/YouTube
This fact alone wouldn't raise too many eyebrows — but, not unlike Terry,
Charles had a few skeletons in his closet that would soon be exposed to the
world.



SKY-HIGH EXPECTATIONS

Originally, it seems, the plan was not to cheat. When the couple arrived on set,
they were reportedly confident in Charles' potential.

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?/YouTube
However, after the first few rounds, it would have become obvious that their
expectations were a bit too high.



EARLY STUMBLES

Charles nearly bombed the first few questions. In fact, he crawled his way to
£4,000 — using up two of his lifelines in the process.

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?/YouTube
And by the time filming wrapped for the day, it must have become apparent to the
Ingrams that they needed a plan.



FINDING A RINGER

After day one of filming, it seems that Diana went to work to find a solution.
She apparently found it in the form of Tecwen Whittock.

Scott Barbour/Getty Images
Tecwen was a college lecturer whom Diana had apparently met while he was doing
the rounds at various quiz shows. That seemingly made him perfect.



THE PROFESSOR ARRIVES

It seems that Tecwen had studied the kinds of offbeat questions Millionaire was
known for and was hoping to be a contestant himself.

Celador/ CPL Productions
Together, then, the three allegedly devised a way to slip the correct answers to
Charles without being discovered.



STRANGE BEHAVIOR

When Charles showed up on set the following day, Millionaire host Chris Tarrant
informed Charles that the production team didn't think he'd be around much
longer.

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?/YouTube
So what happened next no doubt baffled Tarrant and the watching crew behind the
scenes.



THE BIG ACT

According to their alleged plan, Charles was meant to follow a very specific
series of actions. After the host read the question, Charles was supposed to
read out the answers one at a time.

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?/YouTube
Next, Tecwen would apparently use a secret, cheap tactic to reveal the answer.



THE SECRET SIGNAL

The alleged play called for Tecwen to send Charles a signal when he read the
correct answer aloud. Simple, right?

Hiroyuki Ito/Getty Images
Except that the signal that was apparently chosen was not exactly subtle.



COUGHING UP THE TRUTH

In fact, a sound technician immediately noticed that each time Charles read
aloud the correct answer, a mysterious audience member could be heard coughing
up a storm. This audience member was Tecwen.

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?/YouTube
Yet there was someone else coughing out there as well.



NEARING VICTORY

Yes, people have argued that Diana was also trying to feed Charles answers with
her coughing.

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?/YouTube
But no matter what was happening in the audience, there's no doubt that Charles
was displaying some very erratic quiz-show behavior in front of the cameras.



CLOWNING AROUND

Case in point: the answer to the question, "Who had a hit U.K. album with Born
to Do It, released in 2000?" is Craig David.

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?/YouTube
But Charles' first response was, "I've never heard of Craig David," and his
second was that he "thinks it's A1." So when Charles ended up choosing Craig
David, the host was understandably curious.



DIANA IN DISBELIEF

It was quite the turnaround from where Charles seemed to be only moments before.
But when Tarrant quizzed Charles on his U-turn, Charles simply said that "most
of [his] guesses are wrong."

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?/YouTube
And that wasn't the only time Charles seemed to be, well, all over the place.



WINNING IT ALL

At various points in the show, Charles says, "I don't know what that [answer]
is," "I'm sure it's not that," and "I've never heard of that."

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?/YouTube
Yet after making another "unexpected" change of heart on his final answer,
Charles finally hit the jackpot.



THEIR VICTORY LAP

Right after his historic win, Charles seems almost relaxed — unlike most guests
in the hot seat. He immediately covered the smile on his face, as did his wife,
who was then asked to join him on stage.

Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images
Inevitably, though, the trio would later end up reliving the event in a
courtroom.



ANSWERING TO JUSTICE

Immediately after winning, Charles saw his £1,000,000 prize suspended. The
Millionaire producers also investigated the couple — and took their case to the
authorities.

Scott Barbour/Getty Images
And after a four-week trial in April 2003, the trio of Millionaire contestants
was found guilty of deception. Many may have expected their sentences to be
harsher, though.



FACING THE CONSEQUENCES

The Ingrams and Tecwen were all given suspended prison sentences and a hefty
fine. But their appearance on Millionaire was not the last anybody saw of
Charles and Diana Ingram.

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?/YouTube
In fact, the "Coughing Major" arguably saw his notoriety skyrocket.



REALITY STARS

Charles was asked to appear on a slew of reality shows, including Hell's Kitchen
and Wife Swap, where Diana once again made a TV appearance. This convinced many
that the duo cheated simply to attract media attention.

David Westing/Getty Images
Nevertheless, the couple maintains their innocence to this day. Now, a TV show
might just help or hinder their case.



LIFE IMITATES ART

The miniseries called Quiz centers around the entire Ingram controversy. In the
three-part story, the jury hear the evidence and find there is more to the story
than they may have thought.

Buena Vista Television
And on the last day of the show’s airing, the real Ingrams announced they were
fighting to overturn their guilty verdicts.



COINCIDENTAL COUGHING

According to a statement from the Ingrams' lawyers, “There are some really weird
anomalies" in the recordings that prove the coughing was all just a coincidence.
But as far as the world is concerned, Charles and Diana are still guilty.

Chris Young - PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images
That’s the final answer... so far.



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