Older Americans might well recall the name Herb Stempel, the man who revealed the the TV quiz show Twenty One was rigged.
Stempel himself had been dressed to look nerdish and square, was fed the answers to questions, and was allowed to win show after show for weeks until the show's producers decided that upper-crustish Columbia University professor of English Charles Van Doren would be a better draw.
The 29-year-old Stempel, who had a high IQ and an unusually fine memory, did not like the new arrangement and spilled the beans. It came to light that several of the contestants who occupied the show's corny "isolation booth" had been coached or provided the answers before the show, which was for a while popular to bbeat out I Love Lucy in the ratings.
Twenty One was taken off the air and the industry was strongly encouraged to clean up its quiz show act.
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