The guy who won tonight has won over 100G’s and is now on haitus for a month due to tourneys.
I would like to think I could get my hands on the cash while waiting to return.
When I was on it was months between the taping and the broadcast and you didn’t get paid until after the show was aired.
That brings another question - I’m assuming the show does take a break from taping the adult episodes. Does the show pay to bring him back in a month, or does he have to go back on his dime, even though the interruption wasn’t his fault?
Just a WAG, but I’m pretty sure games like Jeopardy pay for all your travel and lodging.
According to this page :
When I was first on in 1995, contestants paid their own travel and lodging expenses for regular games, and the producers paid airfare, hotel and a $100 per diem if you came back for a tournament. At the time, it was still produced by Merv Griffin’s company, and tournament contestants were put up in the Beverly Hilton, which Merv owned.
ETA: for the Ultimate Tournament of Champions, contestants had to pay their own way, but were guaranteed at least $2,500 in winnings. Also, there was a group discount at the designated hotel (no longer the Beverly Hilton, alas).
I was a contestant in 2006, and EVERYTHING (airfare and lodging) was on my dime. Sony had taken over the show from Merv Griffin a few years prior. The producers HAD arranged for a reduced rate at a hotel - a Westin, I think - but it was still out of my pocket.
They tape a week’s worth of shows per day, so if you’re in the first group on Friday and win all five episodes, it’s conceivable that they might pick up the tab for the weekend so you can come back on Monday. I didn’t win, so I don’t know what sort of accomodations they may make.
As it happened, my appearance was taped on a Friday in March, and it was the last day of taping for the season. I think I recalled hearing that if you won the fifth segment that day, they would pay your transportation costs to return three or four months hence when taping resumed.
I just taped an episode in December- it won’t be on the air until late in April, and contestants don’t get paid until 90 days after the show actually appears on the air. That goes for the champion (who gets to keep whatever he/she earned) and the runners up (the second place person gets $2000.00 and the 3rd place person gets $1000.00; no more encyclopedias or Lee press-on nails).
Hence, in the months between the taping and the airing, they can and do order contestants not to reveal the results on Facebook or any other social media… or they can void payment.
Which is why I’m not going to tell you the results of my appearance.
For what it’s worth, when I was on in early 2010, I was told it could take ‘up to 90 days’ for them to send my check, and I think the check showed up on day 89. They don’t hustle with it.
We were told that whoever was the returning champion after filming finished on Wednesday (they tape five shows per day on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and the same crew tapes Wheel of Fortune next door on Thursdays and Fridays) would get free tickets back to LA for the following week, so you only pay to fly out once. I don’t know how hotels get handled for that person.
I paid for my air ticket using credit card points, stayed with family friends, and spent almost nothing on the trip. My tax accountant kept pressuring me to come up with expenses - did I get a new outfit? Done any dry cleaning towards it? And here I was, so proud that I’d managed to pull everything together so cheaply.
[QUOTE=astorian]
… contestants don’t get paid until 90 days after the show actually appears on the air.
[/QUOTE]
I wonder what they’d do if the episode never airs - suppose someone at the studio mixes up the tapes and records another episode over it, it’s ruined in editing, or one of the contestants gets put into Witness Protection and the Feds say they can’t be shown on TV, that sort of thing.
Would they just go by Intended Air Date + 90 days? Bonus question - has this ever happened?
If you do have to go back they pay for your trip then (but of course not the first time). They don’t have to send your check until a certain number of days after the episode airs. At any rate, they waited for me until the last possible moment. Smart, as I’m sure they were making money off “my” money the whole time.
You WILL be telling us the air date when it comes around, though, right?
Last week of April is all I know for sure.
Congrats on making it to the show, at least! 
My roommate and I have each tried multiple times, to no avail…
Well, I passed the written test for the first time in 1985, and another 5 or 6 times since. That I eventually made it to the show is a sign of EITHER admirable persistence or pathetic refusal to take a hint.
Only took me 27 years to get on!
That’s encouraging. I took the written test at a local Los Angeles-area hotel and failed miserably. 
I did, however, come away with a “Jeopardy” pen as a lovely parting gift.
lol…:dubious:
Reminds me of Biography advertising an episode on Ken Jennings for the following Wednesday, making it obvious that his then-ongoing streak would end on Tuesday, else they couldn’t cite his grand total.
89 days on net 90 is pretty damn good.
What is Things I Got Totally Wrong?