when did wheel of fortune stop shopping for prizes
Wheel of Fortune (U.S. game show) Originally, after winning a round, contestants spent their winnings on prizes that were presented onstage. At any time during a shopping round, most often if the contestant did not have enough left to buy another prize,[19] a contestant could choose to put his or her winnings on a gift certificate, or he or she could put the winnings "on account" for use in a later shopping round. However, a contestant would lose any money on account by landing on Bankrupt or failing to claim it by not winning subsequent rounds.[9] The shopping element was eliminated from the syndicated version on the episode that aired October 5, 1987,[20] both to speed up gameplay and to alleviate the taxes paid by contestants.[12] However, the network version continued to use the shopping element until the end of its first NBC run on June 30, 1989.[21]
Wheel of Fortune (U.S. game show) Anyone at least 18 years old has the potential to become a contestant through Wheel of Fortune's audition process. Exceptions include employees and immediate family members of CBS Corporation, Sony Pictures Entertainment, or any of their respective affiliates or subsidiaries; any firm involved in supplying prizes for the show; and television stations that broadcast Wheel and/or Jeopardy!, their sister radio stations, and those advertising agencies that are affiliated with them. Also ineligible to apply as contestants are individuals who have appeared on a different game show within the previous year, three other game shows within the past ten years, or on any version of Wheel of Fortune itself.[89]