Celebrity Sweepstakes
| Celebrity Sweepstakes | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Ralph Andrews |
| Presented by | Jim McKrell |
| Narrated by |
Bill Armstrong Dick Tufeld (substitute) John Harlan (substitute) |
| Composer(s) | Stan Worth Alan Thicke |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| Production | |
| Location(s) |
NBC Studios Burbank, California |
| Running time | approx. 26 Minutes |
| Production company(s) | Ralph Andrews Productions Burt Sugarman Productions |
| Distributor | 20th Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC (1974–1976) Syndicated (1974–1975, 1976–1977) |
| Original release | April 1, 1974 – September, 1977 |
Celebrity Sweepstakes is an American television game show that aired on NBC's daytime schedule from April 1, 1974 to October 1, 1976. The show also had two separate weekly syndicated runs from September 9, 1974 to September 1975 and September 20, 1976 to September 1977.
Jim McKrell hosted the show. Bill Armstrong was the main announcer, with Dick Tufeld and John Harlan substituting. Joey Bishop and Carol Wayne were the regulars who appeared most often. Other panelists included Clifton Davis, Buddy Hackett, George Hamilton, JoAnn Pflug and Freddie Prinze. CS was produced jointly by Ralph Andrews and Burt Sugarman. The first theme song was composed by Stan Worth, and the second by Alan Thicke.
The game used a horse racing motif as its premise. Two contestants (originally three in the early weeks) competed for the entire show, and started the game with $20 (sometimes $50) each, trying to predict which of six celebrities could correctly answer questions posed by the host. As stated by McKrell at the beginning of the show, the celebrities did not receive the questions in advance of the taping. However, the questions were based on biographical information that had been taken from the celebrities. This information (strengths and weaknesses) was provided to the audience and contestants via tip sheets, akin to actual horse racing forms.
McKrell read a question and people in the studio audience then voted for the celebrity they believed could answer the question correctly. After the voting took place, a totalizator set odds on each celebrity. The celebrity who had the greatest vote of confidence from the audience was dubbed the "favorite" and had the lowest odds, frequently 1:1 (even money) or 2:1. A celebrity who had few or no audience votes was dubbed the "long shot" and had the highest odds, up to 99:1. The contestant in control that round then placed a bet on who he or she thought would answer correctly, as "$10 on Nipsey Russell".
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