Win Ben Stein's Money
Hosts: Ben Stein and Jimmy Kimmel
Premise: Three studio challengers compete in a general knowledge contest to try and win the $5000 pay from Ben Stein.
Rules: Every day, Ben is paid $5000 less what the contestants take away from him. At the end of each round, the low scorer is eliminated, and Ben wins back their money. In round one, a player chooses a category from five, and a question is asked. See elsewhere in this site for category examples. Each jump-in question was worth $50, $100, or $150. Whoever got the question right also got first chance at a $50 bonus question. If no one got the jump-in right, or the player misses, the other players can steal the bonus question. There are no penalties for incorrect answers, but there is a grave penalty for phrasing one's answer in the form of a question: that player is forced to wear a dunce cap for the remainder of the round.
In round two, Ben takes the place of the eliminated player, and the questions are now worth $200 to $500 in $100 increments, with no bonus questions. If Ben gets a question right, the scores do not change (which is better than losing money). Ben picks first, and whoever got the last one right chooses next. Five new categories are played at the start of this round. Whoever has the higher total at the conclusion of round two is the day's winner and plays the bonus round.
In the bonus round, the winner and Ben each answer the same 10 questions. If the challenger answers fewer in 60 seconds, (no repeating) he or she wins the total money from the first two rounds. If the challenger and Ben tie, the challenger wins an additional $1000. If the challenger answers more questions correctly than Ben, he or she wins the entire $5000.
Errata: The Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows made a mistake in saying that the player wins $5000 on a tie, that isn't true (see above) What happened is that the two tied during the pilot, and they "gave" the contestant the money.
To end the fourth season, WBSM held a "Win Ben Stein's Cup" Tournament of Champions, worth $25,000. Questions in round one were worth $200-$800, and round two was worth $1000-$2000. The contestants (who all had won $5000 before) were:
Benjamin Aushitz
Tom Gray
Mike Horner
Mike won the match with $4600, and barely beat Ben in the best-of-nine (Jimmy read the last question on the buzzer) and Mike won the remaining $20,400 to become the biggest winner in the history of the show.)