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Celebrity Sweepstakes was an American television game show that aired on NBC weekday mornings from April 1, 1974 to October 1, 1976. The show also had 2 separate weekly syndicated runs from 1974-75 and 1976-77.

Jim McKrell hosted the show. Bill Armstrong was the announcer from 1974 to 1977. Dick Tufeld & John Harlan were fill-in announcers. Joey Bishop & Carol Wayne were the regulars that appeared most often. Other regular panelists included Clifton Davis, Buddy Hackett, George Hamilton, and Freddie Prinze. It was a Ralph Andrews production.

Contents 1 Gameplay 1.1 Round 1 1.2 Round 2 1.3 The All or Nothing Question 2 Episode Status 3 Versions outside the US 4 External links

The game was loosely based on horse racing. Two contestants (originally three in the early weeks) competed for the entire show, and started the game with $50 each, trying to predict which of six celebrities would correctly answer questions posed by the host. As stated by the host at the beginning of the show, the celebrities were hearing the questions for the first time. 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 to the contestants via "tip sheets".

The host would read a question, and the studio audience would then vote for who they thought would answer the question correctly. After the voting was done, odds were set on each celebrity. The celebrities that had the greatest vote of confidence from the audience would be dubbed the "Favorite", and have the lowest odds, frequently 1:1 (even money) or 2:1. A celebrity that had few or no audience votes would be dubbed the "Longshot", and have the highest odds, up to 99:1. The contestant in control that round would then place a bet on who they thought would answer correctly, as in "$10 on Nipsey Russell". Contestants could bet $2, $5 or $10 (unless they had $10 or less at which point their bet was automatically $2) or up to $100 if they were betting on the favorite out of the panel.

A correct answer would win the contestant the value of the bet times that celebrity's odds (a $10 bet on a celebrity with the right answer and his/her odds are at 5:1 would win $50), a wrong answer lost the value of the bet and the opponent could then make a bet of their own. If no one had the correct answer, the question would be thrown out (known as a "scratch" and indicated by a loud horn) and replaced. Questions were asked according to time.

In round two, a contestant would have an opportunity to double their bet by picking a second celebrity with the correct answer if 2 or more celebrities had it.

For the final question of the game, the odds were determined by how the celebrity had performed during the show. The odds were calculated according to the number wrong answers by a celebrity, so that a celebrity that missed two questions was given 2:1 odds, four misses resulted in 3:1 odds, and so on; celebrities who didn't miss a question were given at even money (1:1). A player could only bet all or nothing, and the bet wasn't revealed until the answer was.

The player with the greatest cash total wins the game and was able to return for up to three days on the NBC version. If a contestant made it to three days, they were awarded a new car in addition to the money, though the loser kept the cash if they had any.

On the syndicated version, two different contestants played each week. The winner of the game received a bonus prize.

Later in the syndicated version, a "fanfare" played in the game meant that the contestants also had a chance to predict how many celebrities had the correct answer. If either prediction or both were correct, the player(s) won a bonus prize package, called the "exacta".

Most of the episodes of the daytime version were destroyed. The pilot and the finale are two notable episodes that exist. The status of the syndicated version is unknown.

The show was produced in the United Kingdom under the title The Sweepstakes Game. Bernard Braden was the host.

Quiz Derby, a Japanese show with similar rules but only five celebrities, was the most popular incarnation, running weekly from 1976 to 1992 in that country.

• Rules for Celebrity Sweepstakes
• Celebrity Sweepstakes@mikeburger.com