Directed by Aamir Oliveros, The Luckiest Man in America is based on the real-life story of a man named Michael Larson who created a record by winning $110,237 on a CBS game show titled “Press Your Luck”. While Michael was playing, the showrunners realized that he was up to something, but for the longest time they weren’t able to figure out how he was winning on every chance. Some felt that he had somebody on the inside who was helping him, but before anybody could gather any evidence, the damage had already been done. So let’s find out what happened in The Luckiest Man in America and if Michael Larson was cheating or if he managed to game the system somehow.
Spoiler Alert
How did Michael Larson get onto the CBS game show?
Michael Larson didn’t use his real name when he came to audition for CBS’ “Press Your Luck”. He had been writing to the showrunners for quite some time, but had never heard back from them. He got frustrated, and so one day he decided to drive his ice cream truck all the way from Lebanon, Ohio, to California. Bill Carruthers really felt intrigued by the guy’s eccentric personality, but before he could take the call on including him in the show or not, Sylvia, one of the employees, came and informed him that the Ohio man was not who he was claiming to be. Michael got thrown out, and he apologized for lying to the showrunners. But then Bill Carruthers decided to call the guy back and select him for the show. One of the junior producers named Chuck, who was also responsible for conducting background searches on the contestants, was not very keen to allow Michael to be a part of the game show. He warned Bill against it, but the man didn’t listen. Bill trusted his intuition, and he felt that, considering he was the co-creator of the show, he knew what kind of contestants they needed to increase the TRP of the show. Bill ran towards Michael’s ice-cream truck and asked him to come to play “Press Your Luck” the next day. Michael was ecstatic, and so was Bill, but the latter had no clue that he had dug his own grave. I believe that Michael’s ploy to compliment him—how it was his dream to come on the show and how he and his wife never missed a single episode of “Press Your Luck”—worked in his favor. Bill wanted such people, who were die-hard fans of the show. He wanted to show the world how the game could change lives and how it symbolized the true essence of the American dream.
What happened during the show?
Before figuring out how Michael rigged the show and kept winning on every spin, let’s understand what “Press Your Luck” was all about. In the CBS game show, a series of trivia questions were asked, and the contestant had to press the buzzer and answer them. After the first contestant gave their answer, the host asked the same question to the other two contestants, only adding 2 more probable answers, from which they had to choose. The one who answered first got three spins if they were right, and the ones choosing from the multiple-choice question got one spin in case they answered correctly. After the trivia round was over, the real game began. There was an electronic board with 18 blocks in it, each representing some prize in the form of cash or vouchers. The catch was that there were a few blocks, landing on which nullified the entire winnings of the contestant, meaning they’d have to start again from scratch. That block was called whammy, and if a contestant landed on that block 4 times, they were eliminated from the game.
Michael, together with Ed Long and Janie Litras, the other two contestants, sat on the hot seat and started answering the trivia questions. At first, Michael was a bit jittery, and it seemed like the man wasn’t able to handle his nerves. He pressed the buzzer too early at times, and it cost him. Ed Long was extremely calm and composed, and it felt as if he would win the highest amount of the three. But then something bizarre happened. Something that was never seen on American television. Michael got a chance to spin the big board, and after that there was no looking back. The man kept on winning, while on the other hand, from the show host Peter Tomarken to the showrunner Bill Carruthers, everybody got quite tense and paranoid. The man was just not stopping, and it seemed that he was sure that his risks would pay off. I mean the light on the board moved quite quickly, but somehow Michael was able to land on the blocks that either had prize money or a voucher or both. Bill asked Chuck to look into the man’s background, as he was pretty sure that he had to have rigged the game somehow. There was an announcement also made where Bill warned his employees, as he suspected that someone from his team might be helping him. But it was not so.
Was Michael cheating on “Press Your Luck”?
The contestants were not allowed to make any phone calls, but Michael convinced Sylvia to make an exception for him, as it was apparently his daughter’s birthday. Michael had spoken about how he was married to the most beautiful woman in the world, Patricia, and that he wanted to give his daughter something, as he didn’t have the money to buy a gift on her birthday. Bill asked Chuck to find some evidence so that the production could prove that the man had employed unfair means to win the prize money. Chuck was able to find some pieces of information, but it was not enough for him to prove that Michael was cheating. There was a restraining order issued against Michael Larson by a man named Lyle Roberts, who owned a small business back in Ohio. On further investigation it came to be known that Patricia, Michael’s wife, had probably made the decision to separate from him, and she was living with Lyle. Michael felt that if he won enough money on the show, he could win Patricia back. Also, both Patricia and Michael actually loved the show, and so the latter felt that he could impress her if she saw him sitting on the hot seat in front of Peter Tomarken. But having a dubious past didn’t mean that the man was cheating. The floor managers checked to see if Michael had any hidden devices on his body, but they weren’t able to find anything.
In The Luckiest Man in America’s ending, Chuck broke into Michael’s ice cream van, and he found several VHS tapes of the show, which made him realize what Michael was up to. So basically, Michael carefully studied how the light on the electronic board moved. After going through several VHS tapes, he had figured out that the lights moved in five different patterns. He knew that he had cracked the greatest weakness of “Press Your Luck”. Chuck showed his boss, Bill, how Michael’s eyes moved when the lights got turned on.
Todd, one of the producers, felt that instead of trying to stop Michael, they could use him to his advantage. They could earn a lot by selling merchandise and doing advertisements where they portray Michael as a national hero. The CBS management also agreed because they wanted to cover their losses at any cost. They knew that their reputation would go down the drain if they didn’t pay Michael the amount. So instead of accusing him of malpractice, the showrunners did their best to portray Michael as a national star. In real life, Michael did win the amount, but he couldn’t use it to his advantage. He used his winnings to buy lavish gifts for his daughter and according to my understanding the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Internal Revenue Service and the FBI were after him till his last breath as they had suspicion about him being involved in certain malpractices. There were a lot of people who believed that Michael knew someone on the inside was helping him out during the show, but I don’t think that’s possible. Having just 5 patterns was a loophole that anybody could have taken advantage of, if they would have paid attention to it. I won’t deny that Michael seemed like an obsessive man who was just not ready to accept his reality. His wife didn’t want to stay with him, but he was not ready to let her go. I believe that the man was definitely suffering from some mental health issues, so much so that he was actually ready to go to any extent to be a part of the show. It was also because he possibly felt that that was the only way he could bring his life back on track. Imagine the desperation of the man that he actually went and bought the VHS tapes and then studied the game for God knows how long. But still, at the end, he failed miserably in multiplying that money and using it to his advantage.
