9 Game Show Fails That’ll Make You Scream at Your TV

From “Wheel of Fortune” to “Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader,” games shows offer many “oops” moments for contestants

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The primary purpose of the game show “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?” which returns to Fox on May 26, seems to be to trot out grown-up contestants to provide an answer to that title question that’s almost always “Well, no.”

Still, the Jeff Foxworthy-hosted show doesn’t have a lock on memorably embarrassing onscreen moments. From “Family Feud” to “Wheel of Fortune,” the game-show genre has been a font of “Ooops!” scenes that are worth reliving.

Kellie Pickler is NOT Smarter Than a Third Grader

Former “American Idol” contestant Kellie Pickler tried to figure out where Budapest is in a November 2007 episode of “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?” After she determined Europe isn’t a country, though, it all went downhill. Good for her for taking on the challenge for charity, though. Also, did you pick up on host Foxworthy’s controversial remarks?

A Series of Unfortunate Rounds

Don’t you just hate seeing a contestant go on “Wheel of Fortune” and lose the round by mispronouncing the winning phrase? Even worse, don’t you hate when the contestant blows it two more times? That’s what happened on the show back in April 2014. We bet Julian from Indiana won’t forget how to correctly say “Achilles” for the rest of his life. Props to him for keeping a straight face three times.

The Best and Worst “Family Feud” Performance Possible

After the first family member scored 182 points in the first round, the second family member needed only 18 points for the group to cash in. Unfortunately, Murphy’s Law prevailed in this heartbreaking clip from May 2014.

The Importance of Sleep

Getting a good night’s rest is crucial to doing well on a test and this “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” moment from October 2006 is exhibit A. Get those nine hours of sleep, guys.

LMFAO, WUT?

Okay, not everyone listens to Jay Z, but LMFAO? If this contestant had any street cred before coming on “Jeopardy” in May 2012, it’s been relinquished at this point. SMH. Redfoo and SkyBlu received the compliment of their career, though.

No Catch Here

Poor Kimberly. She gave her fellow contestant Shawn five points, which boosted his score of 16 to a 21 — basically allowing him to clinch the win. The worst part of this gaffe from October 2010 is that she confidently narrated her thinking. She should’ve pondered that one to herself.

The Price is Spot-On

“Price Is Right” model Manuela Arbelaez thought she’d lost her job when she accidentally gave away a free car in April 2015. Her reaction was priceless. Fortunately for her, the show’s producer thought the goof was hysterical and gained oodles of publicity out of the incident.

Just A Couple More Seconds…

This contestant on “Wheel of Fortune” in May 2012 did his best to guess the “thing,” but the buzzer beat him to it. Poor guy.

Attack of the (Black?) Zombies

Well, this was awkward. A “Family Feud” contestant from November 2013 kicked off the show by responding “Black” to the challenge “Name something you know about zombies.” It’s only a few minutes into the broadcast, but host Steve Harvey visibly had had enough. Especially when she justified her answer by saying, “I don’t know if they’re white.”

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