Despite warnings by the show's producers, a number of people hoping to be contestants exhausted their money to travel to New York, only to be rejected and end up relying on charities such as the Salvation Army to help them return home.
This led to a large number of complaints from charities and local government agencies:
The New York City commissioner of welfare called Strike It Rich "a disgusting spectacle and a national disgrace."
The welfare commissioner brought the show to court on charges of unlicensed fund-raising and actually won a conviction.

The supervisor of the Travelers Aid Society said, "Putting human misery on display can hardly be called right."

The general director of the Family Service Association of America said flatly, "Victims of poverty, illness, and everyday misfortune should not be made a public spectacle or seemingly to be put in the position of begging for charity."

The New York legislature looked into the controversy, but later dropped it, claiming it "lacked jurisdiction."

TV Guide called it "a despicable travesty on the very nature of charity."
Despite warnings by the show's producers, a number of people hoping to be contestants exhausted their money to travel to New York, only to be rejected and end up relying on charities such as the Salvation Army to help them return home. This led to a large number of complaints from charities and local government agencies:
The New York City commissioner of welfare called Strike It Rich "a disgusting spectacle and a national disgrace." The welfare commissioner brought the show to court on charges of unlicensed fund-raising and actually won a conviction.
The supervisor of the Travelers Aid Society said, "Putting human misery on display can hardly be called right."
The general director of the Family Service Association of America said flatly, "Victims of poverty, illness, and everyday misfortune should not be made a public spectacle or seemingly to be put in the position of begging for charity."
The New York legislature looked into the controversy, but later dropped it, claiming it "lacked jurisdiction."
TV Guide called it "a despicable travesty on the very nature of charity."
Strike It Rich (radio-TV)