I don’t think it was just Dawson, though. I watched a lot of The Price is Right during the 70’s and I remember Bob Barker hugging and kissing just about every woman (again, equal-opportunity) who came up on stage.
That’s true, and in Dawson’s favor he never made women dig around in his pocket for money the way Barker did.
(if the contestant bids exactly the right price to get out of Contestant’s Row they win $100; Barker used to keep the money in his jacket pocket for the women to go after, although he always just handed it to the men)
Please, for everybody’s sake: remember to spay or neuter your game show host.
I just wanted to add that the parody of RD in National Lampoon’s European Vacation is priceless. John Astin (of The Addams Family, etc) is the slimy host of a game show Pig in the Poke, which humiliatingly has the contestant families dressed in pig suits. Astin walks down the line, saying hi to Clark, kissing Ellen, nodding to Rusty, then really planting one on Audrey (the young daughter) whilst groping her ass. The look Clark gives is great.
[Brian the Dog]
Just DIE already!
[/Brian the Dog]
I believe the pinky ring gave legal justification for all the spit swappin’.
Was there ever a woman who tried NOT to kiss Dawson? I always found him repulsive, even as a child of five.
Well those hotties in bikini’s in the GSN commercial seem to like him.
Of course, they may just be paid to say that.
Nah, hotties in bikinis always tell the truth.
All I know is if he went for me I think I’d jump back and scream. Ewwwww. All oily and overtanned (at least during all I’ve seen of his Match Game tenure). Yuck.
An alky’s BO is BAD, trust me. 
It’s what I imagine a zombie must smell like.
Dickie D seemed to have good days and bad days. On a good day, he was awesome. On the bad ones, it was downright sickening to watch him.
Did he ever do Family Feud drunk?
What, all this and no one has mentioned his tenure as host of The Running Man? 
Did he ever do Family Feud sober?
Now, see, I loved that.
Yeah, because he’s smarmy, sleezy, oversexed, oily and overtanned.
No, though he wanted everyone to think he was the great equalizer. In fact, Dawson kissed white women on the mouth, but only kissed nonwhite women on the cheek. (It can be argued that the melanin-cursed women got the better deal.) When people criticized his kissing minority women at all – you know, the pre-Trump deplorables – he fought back, saying how he was nondiscriminatory and that all women deserved to be kissed. But no, he discriminated in his own piggish way.
Dawson was a bigot, an ass, and a creep.
Another person with **way **too much free time on their hands… :smack:
Add in the ten years+ since the OP.
Here’s a wild thought. Try it on for size.
Dawson decides to carry on the tradition started by Bob Barker, of kissing the contestants. Early producers of the Family Feud say, “Sure, g’head, try it.” He does, and impressionable ladies, many of whom not so jaded, are thrilled to be on TV, kissing a movie star, and the shtick sticks.
Corporate gets involved, they love this angle, but don’t love getting sued. So they put it in every contract and release contestant signed. Years pass, the cliche gets old, and then they ask each contestant how this bit works for them. The answers run the gamut:
“He’s so sexy, screw the prize money, I just wanna kiss Dawson”
“Sure, sounds like fun”
“Meh, its how it goes here, right?”
“Urm, my evangelical church group will slut shame me for years for doing this, in front of my husband, on nationwide TV, but, OK. Ask him to keep it dry.”
“Look, I’m a flaming butch lesbian, and if he tries that, I’m gonna puke on him.” And the producers go, “Really lady, its that bad an effect on you? You heard of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, right? Some people do play along, even if if its outside their comfort zone.” “Ugh, fine, tell him to keep it dry, and I’ll keep the puke down”
“So, Mrs Levore, are you cool with the kiss?” “Listen sonny, in my day, if they caught interracial kissing, they’d lynched me. Its not happening. Not then, not now, not never.”
So they go back to Dawson’s dressing room. He’s in the makeup chair, in a robe, he’s got cucumber slices on his eyes, a trusted lackey is massaging his shoulders, and …
“Hey R-D, 10 min to camera time. So its kiss-kiss-handshake-kiss-handshake for the Jones family. The Levore family is a cheek-shake-shake-soft kiss-and handshake for the 13 year old girl at the end. Got it”
“Can do. Thanks, Lloyd”
I’m suggesting noting that goes on for this long is ever left to chance.
Dawson was the reason they introduced the wheel contestants spun to pick their Supermatch celebrity. Before that, EVERYONE picked Dawson and none of the other celebrities ever had a chance to play Supermatch.