Added: 4 years ago
From: Sashinator0
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  • Ed lost his faith in God that day, but he found a new deity in Michael Larson.

  • i heard that the guys the producers were like flipping out every time he won hahaha way to go LARSON

  • While creepy, the guy found the board's weak spots and memorized the correct pattern to exploit it.

    I'm sure the crew responsible could just watch with their jaws on the floor as he kept taking more and more money from the network. :P

    As far as I know this was the only time a contestant of any game show was able to get away with something like this.

  • Imagine getting wammy with 100,000 ,i'd get a pistol out of ma anus and start shooting to the crow

  • @LouisaNash You keep a pistol in your anus? That's very crafty of you.

  • lol i love how this Sashinator0 person tagged the video with the word cheat. no amazing, incredible, or smart, but cheat? yes. was the word HATER around back then?

  • I really dont see that he did anything wrong. He didnt lie to get on the show, he didnt cheat, he just figured out the spin pattern. It is not called cheating if you are smart on jeopardy or who wants to be a millionaire, so ... what is the problem?

  • Let's just say this was totally legal, and very brilliant, just not very ethical

  • @sharkie00000

    Bullshit, he came, he saw, he trolled. He beated the system there is nothing wrong with that considering he wasnt getting money from an old lady, our taxes or an average joe, but from multi million perhaps billion dollars company.

  • My question is: how pissed did Jeanie and Ed get through this show. They had to have been ready to kill Michael by the end of it. Ed you could tell was already starting to snap when it came to his turn and Jeanie could have just started to cry.

  • Fucking idiot investing in real estate.

  • i have nothing but respect for this man. came with nothing and took everything. that's how you do shit!!

  • Michael Larson: Screwing the rules since 1984

  • This man. This man right here.

  • Did he kill himself?

  • @msparis275 Nope, from what I read, he died of a heart attack on the from the IRS

  • @yamomwa3 On the run from the IRS, sorry for the typo

  • @yamomwa3

    He died from throat cancer.

  • Do you remember this episode? Classic

  • It would have sucked if a whammy and not s trip came up at the end

  • If this happened in Las Vegas, Michael would have had his legs broken.

  • People really don't study game shows that much. People complain on online Jeopardy boards how the players don't wager right on Daily Doubles and in Final Jeopardy! Larsen was interviewed in 1994 in the wake of the movie Quiz Show and said he wanted to do Jeopardy!

  • in late 1984, $ale of the Century had a dollar bill contestant. If a person sent in a dollar bill that had the numbers in order of the players final scores, they could send it in to win up to $30,000.

  • Mr. Larson blew through his winnings in a few short years, and ended up an assistant Manager at Wal-Mart.

    He died in 1999.

  • "Michael Larson's $102,851 is in serious jeopardy, because Janie has just passed him three spins!"

    No, actually...it's not.

  • @Ultranothing Well he DID almost lost it all on his last spin. He missed his stopping cue and landed on the Bahamas trip, keeping in mind that square also had a Whammy. Michael caught a HUGE break there.

  • Not only was Michael Larson was a great contestant, he was also an ice cream truck driver who molested children while on the clock!

  • @SaleGuy The molestation part I doubt.

  • These producers kill me. It's funny they see something "wrong" with ML AFTER the fact. I mean, if you "had a feeling" about this guy, why the hell did you let him on in the first place? Hell, I don't blame him; I blame the show for running the same damn pattern day after day. It's not cheating if you study for a test. Why is it cheating to study a game board? Scramble it up everyday and you wouldn't have had this problem.

  • @MzTJones80 I mostly agree with you but I don't like your test analogy. He didn't study for the test, the teacher was dumb enough to give the same test for years, he figured that out, got a copy of the old test and memorized it.

  • @Sashinator0

    Yeah, but my point was basically about producers making this guy out to be a crook.  He's wasn't a crook. He simply studied the game. There was no law against it.

  • @Sashinator0 actually it's more like the teacher was giving 11 different tests in a random order, and he memorised each test. in fact, it's more like it was a game show and he memorised the order the lights were flashing in.

  • @Sashinator0 If you want to be technical, he didn't "get a copy of it," he saw it on displayed on television night after night.

  • @Sashinator0 I don't think so. I've been watched this for 3 minutes only and I figured out the pattern. It's very simple, the producers really did a bad job... You don need to be a genius...

  • @Sashinator0

    Both analogies are stretched and fail. The producers fucked up and got their asses handed to them. That's all there is to it.

  • This man is now my hero.

  • 6:06 Janie Looks Pissed!

  • @estestim

    Yeah, you can tell she wasn't the least bit happy about this. Can't really blame her; she was the only one to walk away without a single dollar.

    She basically said as much on the Big Bucks special.

  • every time i watch his last spin and notice he stopped too soon hitting the bahamas trip by accident it makes me breathe relief seeing that same square also contained a whammy......hmmm if that was a whammy i wonder if he would want to spin to $100k all over again.

  • What a shame the lot got spunked and not in a good way - what a legend though !!

    Would have loved to have a split screen image showing the exec's faces as that was going on ....

  • he hugged the guy and shook the girls hand...

    awkward

  • Fucking awesome!!!!! What a legend... learning the game better than the rest and succeeding - game of life hey ;-)

  • @anniem63

    Cheating is breaking the rules ;)

  • Kind of ironic when he says "Thank You for Pressing Your Luck!" at the end, isn't it?

  • R.I.P Michael Larson (May 10, 1949 – February 16, 1999)

  • That woman looks like Kirsten Stewart from the Twilight movies... even her way of talk and act like a sock puppet mirrors Stewart.

  • Comment removed

  • He shoulda gone for infinite monehz

  • I think it's safe to say that he's the King of game shows....

  • I wonder if they let Larson take his vacations to Hawaii and Bahamas.

  • Go Michael r.I.p. You were smart enough to see something and diligent evougj to put it in action. r.I.p. Peter one of the best on tv

  • $110,237.00 in 1984 had the same buying power as $235,000.69 in 2010.

  • If he had chosen to invest in California real estate back then, he would've ended up with millions of dollars and probably still be alive today.

  • @MrClassicAds According to his wikipedia article he did try to invest in real estate with part of it. But it turned out to be a ponzi scheme and he lost that part.

  • @FSkornia I know, but at the end of this clip, he says that he'd never invest in CA real estate....only in Ohio. I was just saying that he would've made a fortune back then in California real estate.

  • He should've stuck with $20,000 and then kept on going back.

    A) He doesn't run the risk of losing concentration and/or getting mentally tired

    B) I'm pretty sure in 1984 there was no limit to the number of times a champion could return, perhaps if he broke a certain amount of money but that's unbeknownst to me.

  • @yankeesfan63000 During the show's first season, any contestant who won over $25,000 or 4 games in a row would retire undefeated, with the full amount won in his or her appearances. This was due to a CBS policy, which set a limit of $25,000 for its game shows. After Michael Larson's appearance, the earnings cap was officially raised to $50,000 or 5 appearances on November 1, 1984, and any amount past $75,000 that was won could not be kept, though no player had reached past that amount since.

  • @Sashinator0 5 games, not 4. Always 5. The so called policy though, didnt affect gameshows where excess of $25,000 was won consistently. Price Is Right and $100,000 Pyramid are two of several examples. Trivia Trap is another...shame it didnt last long.

  • @Sashinator0 so he got to keep his mone or not?

  • @TheWolf119911 He got to keep his money. The episodes were also shown on tv. (even though it was against CBS program practices @ the time)

  • @yankeesfan63000 Mind you when he landed on that trip to the Bahamas, he -did- make a mistake; that panel on the board cycled between the trip to the Bahamas, $700 and a spin, and a whammy.

  • how'd he lose all his money? (i don't have time to read through comments and actually search the web for the answer)

  • @jdailey19 He converted all of his money into $1 bills to try and win a radio contest that had to match a serial number on the bill. Someone stole a whole bunch of it from his house, I think he blew the rest on either legislation or a pyramid scheme.

  • @jdailey19 He got robbed while he was away with his wife one day.

  • Even the board is starting to sound tired.

  • And then got obsessed with a get-rich-quick plan and he lost it all to a pyramid scheme and theft... that's a sad ending.

  • and to think that he lost all that money

  • Lol I love that "youre retired!" as a nice way of saying "don't bring your ass back here" lmao.

  • rainman?

  • when's the movie based on his life story coming out? it's a classic underdog story and it's already completely written... I'm still not sure who should play Michael but Ed should definitely be Dana Carvey's revival role

  • RIP Michael :(

  • he was a genius

    :)

  • @yuckfooie

    BUY REAL ESTATE!

  • too bad he got invested into a scam and lost all the money :(

  • All this from watching tv every day. Hahahaha

  • All this from watching tv. Hahahaha

  • @ 0:44 he is like "OMG" noooooo, then realize he won, its funny how he always falls on the same squares... hmmm

  • @mykalmorton He cheated the system because computers can't do "random". He memorized the patterns.

  • @tweetspie06

    Computers can do pretty close to random, just not the designers of this game.

    And I love the look on his face when he hits the bahamas trip on accident with his last spin.

  • lol i love his screams of joy!!

  • I like the crappy value of money back then. "you're gonna buy the state of Tennessee???.... how does it feel to own CBS???...." LMAO it was only $110,000 not like multi millions, but I guess in those days.... LMAO

  • @ullerichj

    He was joking you dip shit. I'm certain you couldn't buy a State or a corporation with $110, 000 back then either.

  • @nburtoninferno

    Wow. Thanks a lot for calling me a dipshit...

  • @ullerichj

    Sorry if that offended you?

    Around here you could tell someone you're going to rape and murder their family without them getting offended.

  • My opinion: Honestly, Michael deserved that money. He was a poor ice-cream truck driver who barely had enough money to buy the appropriate clothes to go on the show. Regardless, he was smart enough to be able to study the patterns closely enough to figure them out. And that, in my opinion, makes him a winner and makes him deserve that money.

  • Why couldn't he come back the next episode?

  • @ExplosivoFueled Because CBS was too cheap to lose another $110,237 to the Press Your Luck pattern exploiter.

  • look at him when he won the trip to the bahamas... he made a mistake lol he wiped the sweat off his forehead.

  • its funny because the real winners (and smarter people) are the people that screwed him in an investment scam lol

  • its funny because the real winners (and smarter people) are the people that screwed him in an investment scam lol

  • It was a very basic pattern, I'm surprised the other contestants didn't take advantage of it.

  • ALL TIME CHAMPION!!! what a bamf.

  • So those light up machines where you can win a game or controller at arcades he probably wins also!! I would love to have this guys mental (super) power!! My convictions would eat me alive though

  • I'm glad he won that money. Anyone that smart and kind doesn't deserve to have to drive an ice cream truck his whole life.

  • He is my all time hero.

  • Trolling CBS, I salute you sir.

  • @Adamanwolf Extremely successful troll is Extremely successful.

  • @rojo1312 haha nice /b reference

  • A magnificent bastard if ever I saw one.

  • @vxMarksmanxv for sec i thought you were going to do a simpsons homage. apu: "You magnificent bastard, i salute you"

  • Too bad he lost it all in a get rich quick scam.

  • @aghiles3 he lost about half of it in a real estate ponzi scheme. and then he lost the rest of it after his house got broken into. idiot for leaving all those bags of money lying around

  • @aghiles3 least he still had the bahamas trip

  • @aghiles3 Tell me that's a joke -.-

  • the questions at the end sounded like an interogation.

  • I seriously hope the producer was a complete moron, and did not realize what was going on til it was all over.. Because I woulda caught on by about 20K, and then felt like shit the rest of the show, knowing I was about to get fucked..

  • "So, he carefully taped each episode and, using the prodigious memory he had acquired reciting ice cream flavors, he memorized the six patterns and figured out exactly when to hit his button to make it land on whatever space he wanted, including "free spin." That's also important: The show had no rules limiting how long the game could go on. You could Free Spin forever. Larson had figured out a way to win basically infinite money."

  • @GashisDX Hello Cracked.com

  • @B1aDK Yep. Cracked=publicity for pretty much anything.

  • @B1aDK :D

  • i bet the producer shot himself after that.

  • My Hero....

  • @punkfish79 ^.^

  • He solved their ill-designed system. I can't help but respect that.

  • i couldnt be more happy... that someone mastered a game show.. took all the money, went to the bahamas and said HA! i did retire ! no more of this shit for me! dream come true.

  • @Kroenen117 Then he lost it all from a theif and a scam, the tried to steal money from the govt.

    Then got cancer and died

    No lie

  • @jimjamrocks i know about the bad stuff that happend to him.. but when did he try to cheat the Gov? and how did he die of cancer? lame

  • Let's do what we can to get this video to 110,237 views.

  • 2:59 money does really buy happiness.

  • Michael do you watch this show?

    "every day"

    *wink*

  • That guy is my personal hero... and Travis touchdown

  • The host is talkin sooo much shit to micheal.... what a dick

  • God, that Michael Larson was a smart man. Never underestimate the underdog.

  • is he alive?

  • @Gustavo0929 No, Michael Larson died in 1999.

  • To anyone saying he cheated, by definition, he didn't cheat. Maybe he did in your opinion, but in the real world (and in this game) if you aren't breaking any rules (and he didn't), you aren't cheating. So say what you want, but opinion only goes so far...

    But yeah, then he lost it all because all was good with was patterns :D

  • And then he lost his money on an investment scam.

    What goes around comes around.

  • @tagger324 Sounds like someone is jealous.

  • @LimaUniformLimaZulu

    The fact that you can hear text is disturbing.

    But yes, I am jealous that he lost everything he got from an investment scam.

  • @tagger324 That's nothing.

    I can actually smell the correct spelling on a birthday cake.

  • @XenophobicPiglet

    Yeah? Can you? Really?

    I can feel colors.

    And at the moment I'm feeling rather purple.

  • @tagger324

    ??you mean beating what's essentially a gambling system?? lmfao. somebody's jealous

  • @tagger324

    unless, of course, you're suggesting the people in those ponzi and pyramid schemes (like bernie madoff) are heroes of karma compared to some down on his luck guy who actually beats the system legitimately, then gets ripped off by real criminals :|

  • @ragglefraggle09

    You replied twice. Did you have a feeling that your last statement was under-dressed? No, that isn't at all what I implemented. I simply stated that he lost all of his money in a investment scam and that he got hit by karma. You are putting words in my mouth, and that's not very nice. Did I say "That's what a cheater deserves." or "This guy is a god!"? No. I am neutral on this.

    But as I said before, I am far from jealous that he lost all of his money to an investment scam.

  • @tagger324

    what? i merely stated what i thought you implied. and you are clearly jealous of his luck in finding this game show's fatal flaw. and if u still believe in karma go back to high school hahahaah

  • @ragglefraggle09

    Explain how my "jealousy" is clear for me?

    And we all have our own beliefs, I just happen to believe in karma.

  • @tagger324

    saying how somebody got destroyed in a ponzi scheme just because they were able to outsmart and find a blaring mistake in a form of gambling is a fit form of karma is baffling. you are jealous lmfao. you have companies that purposely make people suffer and even die just to make money (even though they already have so much) and you think this guy deserves the karma treatment? hahahahahahahahaha

    but no seriously bro that's fucked up :|

  • @ragglefraggle09

    {Part 1}

    So just because I voice my opinion I'm automatically jealous. And now you try to bring in something else that has absolutely nothing to do with the subject. We're not talking about corporations who use all but legal and moral ways to collect their wealth. We're talking about a dude who cheated the system on a game show. Imagine if you were one of the contestants on this exact episode, this could be a huge break for you. But then this guy comes along and cheats.

  • @tagger324

    your chances of winning are 33.33% anyway, so don't count on it. i find nothing wrong with a man who makes his own luck with a mistake he spotted first. just a matter of time.

  • @tagger324

    Michael didn't cheat, he just mastered their system. Their stupid, stupid system.

  • @alex123superface

    You replied to something that was a week old.

    Congrats.

  • @tagger324 A whole week? OH MY GOD. That's like forever

  • @alex123superface

    No it's not, it's a whole week.

  • @tagger324

    Yeah, I'm being sarcastic. I really don't see the problem in replying to a week old comment, but apparently I've broken some unwritten youtube law and you felt it necessary to point this out.

    And I hear the conservative/liberal alliance is scrapping their new plans for the country's budget because it was written over 2 months ago now

  • @alex123superface

    It's not a law.

    It was just a week old comment you replied to. I stated so. Oh well.

    If you take so much offense to just that you should probably not look at a lot of youtube comments.

    And that sucks, about the conservative thing. Hope it wasn't important.

  • @tagger324

    I'm not offended, it was just such a pointless thing to point out. If it wasn't an attempt at derision then why even point it out at all? Unless you're just a handy dispenser of completely trivial information like 'that comment was a week old' or 'my hands have fingers.'

  • @alex123superface

    If it didn't offend you then why keep pushing on about it?

    You're either really mad or trying to troll.

  • @alex123superface This comment seems familiar...

  • @paoreus So shoot me, I quoted something

  • @ragglefraggle09

    Would you clap him on the back and say "Hey, thanks for taking all the money for yourself!"

    Imagine how the contestants felt. Cheated, I would imagine.

  • And he didn't come back as returning champion the next day?

  • He looks so happy :3

  • Lets all find a game where they have flaws and exploit it!

  • I heard that the spin where he got Bahama's was a missed spin and it could have been a whammy (I think 50/50, actually). He seriously kept spinning until he lost his focus and that almost cost him.

    I would say this means Michael actually IS one of the luckiest people ever, except for what apparently happened to him afterward...

  • Sucks he lost all that money in my scam or else this guy would have been living like a king.

  • too bad he lost it all in a real estate scam lol

  • @Ac1dlicous This is really very sad. Fucking scam artists.

  • Their hands must be so sore from clapping by now.

  • 2:21 WWHOAAAA-OWWWW!!

  • you can tell the one event that had michael having a chance losing it all due to the girl was a contingency plan put in place by the producers

  • @Lorhechapol Ya she was a serious bitch!

  • The only real shame is that he didn't spend it wisely. He later lost it in a real estate scam.

  • @Astrolounge

    You got that from the cracked article, didn't you.

  • @efrainy123 Im positive he did lol

  • @efrainy123 Yep.

  • That was a dick move at the end. Passing it to the chick with almost 10 grand on the line, and no chance to threaten his winnings. He should have given it to the dude who had nothing, so everyone could have left with something.

  • I love stories like this. A nice, unassuming, humble person finds a moment of total happiness and turns their life around. What he did wasn't cheating - he just really loved the show. Its their own fault for lazy programming of the random seed, anyway.

  • @Wardenclyffeforever Yea, except instead of making legitimate investments, he invested all of his money in get-rich quick schemes and lost it all. His obsession destroyed his marriage. It sucks.

  • @CaptainCocaine Yes, I hadn't gotten to the end of the story when I made this comment. Call spoiler alert, dude. I think its sad what happens to him in the end, seems like he made some bad choices.

  • I wonder what happened to him after the first phase of the financial crisis. His real estate is probably worthless.

  • @yousefamar He lost it all in investment scam.

  • He hugs the man and shakes the woman's hand?

  • @NathanIVV Hah, and it looks like he tried to kiss the guy, but Ed just turned his cheek away. It's awkward as hell.

  • @NathanIVV The man was nice and the woman was kind of a jerk to him.