In the event you noticed David Genat win $5.8 million on Deal or No Deal Island — a windfall NBC calls the largest prize in primetime historical past — you could have additionally seen that, greater than seven months after taping that Season 2 finale, Genat nonetheless hadn’t obtained his cash.
“I’ve already began spending it! That’s what’s been happening. It’s not within the account simply but,” Genat instructed Leisure Weekly in a post-finale interview. “I believe I’ll examine it day-after-day, and I’ll publish to Instagram day-after-day displaying individuals my account steadiness.”
(And in case you’re curious, Genat instructed TV Insider he plans to “take an enormous vacation and purchase a brand new bicycle” with the cash… after which take into consideration his future when he’s off “cloud 9.”)
So how lengthy does it often take for the examine to clear on actuality and game-show prizes? It varies, because it seems. Learn on…
Prize cash often doesn’t exit till the episode airs.
It’s truly not stunning that Genat didn’t obtain his thousands and thousands earlier than the Deal or No Deal Island Season 2 finale aired. Shannon Perry, EVP of Actuality Growth and Manufacturing Providers at Village Roadshow Leisure Group, instructed Wrapbook that recreation present producers often anticipate the episode to air earlier than sending out the prize cash.
“Contestants signal a contestant settlement and a guidelines doc that may state every little thing from how the sport is performed, to how troublesome points might be resolved, to how and when prizing is paid out,” Perry mentioned. “Sometimes, prizing will not be paid out till after the present airs, so you can be receiving your fee, your prize cash, a specified variety of days from the date of air of your episode.”
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Wheel of Fortune contestants, for instance, usually obtain their money and/or prizes inside 120 days of their episode’s airdate, in line with the sport present’s FAQs.
And for some time, it appeared like contestants of Fortunate 13 wouldn’t get their dough in any respect, after the U.Ok. producer behind ABC’s now-canceled recreation present hit monetary difficulties. This February, nonetheless, Deadline reported that ABC was nearing an settlement to pay greater than $460,000 to compensate the winners.
Massive prizes are sometimes paid out in installments.
An archived model of the official guidelines for the syndicated Who Needs to Be a Millionaire explains that the sport present paid out prizes of $250,000 or under 30 days after broadcast. $500,000 winners acquired a $250,000 sum 30 days after broadcast, and the remaining had been paid out in annual installments over 10 years. And winners of the $1 million grand prize acquired a $250,000 sum 30 days after broadcast, and the remaining had been paid out in annual installments over 20 years.
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And keep in mind that actuality and game-show prizes are taxed. Winners of money or prizes value $600 or extra will probably get a 1099-MISC tax type from the entity bankrolling the prize, which may even ship a replica to the IRS, in line with Nerdwallet.
Contestants won’t be paid if their season doesn’t air.
Massive Brother and Survivor contestant contracts revealed by Actuality Blurred include the identical language concerning payouts hinging on the episodes truly making it to air.
Each contracts say that the exhibits’ respective prizes are “contingent upon … the episode cycle wherein [the contestant appears] truly being broadcast” and that the prizes shall be awarded solely after the airing of that episode cycle’s finale.
Actuality Blurred additionally cited a contestant from The Wonderful Race who recalled signing an identical contract. On the time of that report, it had been greater than a yr since The Wonderful Race Season 32 was filmed. Had CBS canceled the present earlier than airing Season 32, the winners wouldn’t essentially have gotten their prize, the positioning famous. Fortunately for Will Jardell and James Wallington, the Season 32 finale lastly aired in December 2020 — simply two brief years after they gained the race.