Dive into the dark world of game show contestants who turned out to be criminals. From murder to shocking revelations, these individuals prove that not everything is as it seems under the bright studio lights. Prepare for a chilling journey through the most disturbing game show participants in history.
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00:00The woman who won a date with him ended up backing out, saying she found him creepy."
00:05Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're examining the worst contestants and hosts from TV game
00:10shows around the world who committed horrible acts.
00:12She did call me and tell me she'd met this guy at work, and that he was so, so smart.
00:18Ryan Alexander Jenkins, Megan Wants a Millionaire
00:21After appearing in Rock of Love with Bret Michaels,
00:24Megan Hauserman was given her own game show, Megan Wants a Millionaire, in 2009,
00:28which involved a group of wealthy men battling for her love.
00:31Only one millionaire can win my heart.
00:33Your luck has run out, and your credit's been declined.
00:36Megan was determined to improve her station and find her perfect millionaire match.
00:43And this is her journey.
00:45But after three episodes, the show was abruptly canceled.
00:48It was all due to contestant Jenkins.
00:50He was issued an arrest warrant for the murder of his wife, Jasmine Fiore.
00:54Ryan Jenkins is now the subject of an international manhunt.
00:58This former dating show contestant is considered armed and dangerous.
01:02Fiore's body was discovered in a suitcase in Buena Park, California,
01:06with clear attempts to hinder her identification.
01:08After avoiding the police days after the warrant was issued,
01:11Jenkins took his own life in a hotel in Hope, British Columbia, Canada.
01:15His final notes spoke about his jealousy of Fiore and how much he loved her.
01:18What did it mean to you when you found out this news about Ryan Jenkins?
01:22It was a great relief that we weren't going to spend months and months of our life
01:28trying to find this person and bringing him to justice.
01:32Sefar Çolunak, Ne Çekarsa Batına.
01:35Dating game shows can be a nightmare.
01:37After all, you know very little about the contestants.
01:39But thankfully for the Turkish show Ne Çekarsa Batına,
01:42which translates to The Luck of the Draw,
01:44Sefar Çolunak informed everyone how bad he was in 2014.
01:48He casually admitted to having killed two of his partners.
01:50He was first sentenced for taking his wife Fadime's life,
01:53because he was jealous, and was released after four years and six months due to amnesty.
01:57The second time, Çolunak claimed it was in defense as a woman he was seeing attempted
02:01to kill him, forcing him to take her life.
02:03He was released with amnesty once more.
02:05Understandably, the show asked Çolunak to leave.
02:08Tim Bliefnik, Family Feud.
02:10Awkward jokes about disliking your partner are a bane of game shows.
02:13In 2020, Tim Bliefnik made one such comment on Family Feud.
02:17What's the biggest mistake you made at your wedding?
02:19Honey, I love you, but said I do.
02:24Not my mistake. Not my mistake. I love my wife.
02:28When asked by Steve Harvey the biggest mistake he made at his wedding,
02:30the contestant responded it was saying I do.
02:33The following year, Bliefnik broke up with his wife, Becky.
02:35January 2021, after 11 years of marriage, Tim filed for divorce.
02:41Although he wouldn't discuss the specifics of why he filed,
02:46he hinted that it had to do with what he saw
02:49as a change in Becky's personality after she became a nurse.
02:53She made comments that she didn't feel safe with him.
02:56In 2023, Becky was fatally shot in her home in Quincy, Illinois.
02:59After shell cases that matched the firearm used in the murder were
03:02discovered in Bliefnik's home, he was charged.
03:04He apparently shot 14 times, one for each year they were married.
03:08Bliefnik received three life sentences for his horrible crime.
03:11The court believes that the appropriate sentence would be natural life in prison.
03:20Life in prison without the possibility of parole.
03:24Edward Edwards, what's my line and to tell the truth.
03:27With a history of going AWOL from the U.S. Marines and robbing several gas stations,
03:31Edwards spent time in jail. Yet upon his release, he was seemingly a changed person.
03:35I, Ed Edwards, was once on the FBI's list of the 10 most wanted criminals in America.
03:41Now I am a respected citizen in my community.
03:44During this time, Edwards popped up in the game shows What's My Line and to Tell the Truth.
03:48However, he soon devolved back into crime.
03:50In 2009, his daughter April Belascio researched her father's history
03:54and discovered he may have been involved in murder.
03:57She soon informed the police, and he was connected to five deaths.
04:00I don't regret turning him in. I believe that I did the right thing.
04:03But there's still guilt of turning. I mean, he was my father. I loved him.
04:09And so there's a little bit of guilt with that.
04:14Edwards confessed and pleaded guilty to the crimes,
04:16earning him a capital punishment sentence.
04:18Some have theorized he could have killed more people.
04:20Edward Edwards admits to killing five people, no more.
04:24But Mike Drew, the brother of one of Edwards' victims, Kelly Drew,
04:28says he's convinced Edwards has more victims.
04:31Edwards died of natural causes in prison in 2011.
04:35Lori Vallow, Wheel of Fortune
04:36Appearing on Wheel of Fortune in 2004, Vallow seemed like an average, excitable contestant.
04:41No one knew the horror she would later do.
04:43In 2019, after concerns were raised about her missing children, Tylee and JJ,
04:48Vallow left her Idaho home for Hawaii with her husband, Chad Daybell.
04:52This strange behavior caused the police to investigate,
04:54finding several people close to them had died suspiciously,
04:58including her former husband, Charles, and Daybell's ex-wife, Tammy.
05:01Tammy's death was odd from the beginning. Family said she died in her sleep.
05:07They didn't want an autopsy performed.
05:10Several months after Vallow's arrest, the children's bodies were found.
05:13In 2023, Vallow was sentenced to life for the deaths of her children and Tammy.
05:17Lori Vallow Daybell was convicted of murder, conspiracy, and theft last July.
05:22She was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
05:25Her trial for conspiring to murder Charles Vallow is scheduled to begin in 2025.
05:30Paul Curry, Jeopardy
05:31In 1989, Curry appeared on three episodes of Jeopardy.
05:34He won two episodes, racking up $24,101 in winnings before losing.
05:39That same year, he met Linda Kincaid at the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant where he worked.
05:44The once-happy couple met while working at the San Onofre Nuclear Plant
05:48and lived here, in the California beach town of San Clemente.
05:52However, in 1994, after less than two years of marriage,
05:55Linda suddenly passed away after experiencing an illness.
05:58Curry soon cashed in on Linda's insurance policies and retirement plan,
06:02giving him a $419,000 financial boost.
06:05He remarried and lived off a $400,000 insurance payout from Linda's death.
06:11Eventually, investigators became suspicious and reopened the case.
06:14They concluded that Curry had spiked Linda with a sleeping medication before
06:18injecting her with a fatal dose of nicotine.
06:20After being arrested in 2010, in 2014,
06:23Curry was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in jail.
06:26We, the jury, in the above entitled action, find the defendant,
06:30Paul Curry, guilty of the crime of murder, first degree.
06:33François Verove
06:35Tout l'amant va prendre sa place
06:37On the surface, François Verove was seemingly a good man.
06:41After all, he spent most of his career as a police officer in France before retiring in 2019.
06:46That same year, he appeared on Tout l'amant va prendre sa place,
06:50which translates to Everyone wants to take their place.
06:53During his career, a serial killer known as Le Grelé, or the pockmarked man,
06:58was terrorizing the country.
06:59In 2021, after realizing the killer was one of their own,
07:02the police contacted Verove to provide a DNA sample.
07:05Days later, his body was found after taking his own life.
07:08Verove left a note that confessed to several crimes, claiming he stopped in 1997.
07:13It's believed he had three victims, and perhaps upwards of nine.
07:17John Cooper
07:17Bullseye
07:18In 1989, Cooper appeared on the UK darts-based game show Bullseye.
07:23Starting his criminal career in the 1960s,
07:25Cooper mostly committed his deeds in the Welsh county of Pembrokeshire.
07:29This wasn't just a robbery for gain. It was an act of a psychopath.
07:36By the time he was on Bullseye, he'd become a murderer.
07:38In 1998, Cooper was sentenced to 14 years in jail for committing 30 burglaries and robberies.
07:44During this time, the police re-examined a series of Pembrokeshire murders
07:48and a case of assault against teenagers.
07:50We're always confident that John William Cooper was the prime suspect. Having said that,
07:55we were not tailoring our investigation towards an individual. It was a search for the truth.
08:00Shortly after his release in 2009, Cooper was re-arrested,
08:04this time for his DNA matching the historical attacks.
08:07In 2011, now diagnosed as a psychopath,
08:10Cooper was found guilty of killing four people and assaulting two teenagers.
08:13He was sentenced to a whole life order, which means he'll never be released.
08:17Cooper was found guilty on all charges. To quote the judge,
08:21the murders were of such evil wickedness that the mandatory sentence of life will mean just that.
08:27Stuart Hall
08:28It's a Knockout
08:29In 1972, after taking the presenting reigns of It's a Knockout,
08:33Hall became a fixture of UK TV with his infectious enthusiasm.
08:36Thank you for that rhapsodic, unscripted welcome. Thank you.
08:40Yet behind the scenes, he would become one of the UK's biggest celebrity serial abusers.
08:44In 2013, in the aftermath of the Jimmy Savile scandal,
08:47Hall was in court charged with several cases of historical assault. He pleaded guilty to 14
08:52charges, earning him a 15-month sentence. After a review, the sentence was deemed too lenient,
08:57so it was doubled to 30 months.
08:58An increase of the sentencing, I think, is very important, and I'm happy that that's,
09:03that that has happened. It's better than the 15 months, without a doubt.
09:07In 2014, Hall was found guilty of further charges and received an additional two years
09:12and six months. After his release in 2015, Hall further tarnished his destroyed reputation
09:17by publicly calling his accusers vindictive, malicious people.
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09:36Rodney Alcala – The Dating Game
09:38In 1978, introduced as a successful photographer,
09:42Alcala competed in the dating game to win a date with Cheryl Bradshaw.
09:49While he was successful, Bradshaw refused the date as she found him creepy.
09:52This decision likely saved her life. During this time,
09:55Alcala had begun taking people's lives as well as committing various assaults.
09:59Despite serving time in jail, Alcala continued his rampage, leading to his arrest in 1979.
10:05In 2010, after being sentenced to death twice and appealing the sentence,
10:09Alcala received the same sentence once again. Officially, it's confirmed he killed eight
10:13people. However, there's speculation the number could be far higher at over 130.
10:17In 2021, Alcala died from natural causes in jail.
10:21President officials say Rodney Alcala passed away from natural causes
10:25at a Kings County hospital.
10:26If you could bring back any game show that's not on TV anymore, which would you pick? Let us know below.
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