When I was a kid, I always wanted to grow up to be a game show host, probably because they all had such nice plaid jackets. While I used to lament the fact that I would never be the man I dreamed of, having uncovered the pervy game show host moments below, I can now say that I’m fine with such underachievement. Although, I still long for a sweet ’70s blazer with a Hundred Dollar Pocket.
Note: For the sake of all our eyeballs, I didn’t include Japanese game show hosts, who would have unfairly dominated this list.
Pat Sajak
Pat and Vanna had been going along strong for years before he decided to try and suck her face clean off her neck during their final daytime appearance. Obviously, we can understand that Pat had been building up many seasons of frustration while trying to find such an in on the former Playboy model, but dude, go easy on the suction. This moment could have gotten even pervier, too, as Merv Griffin walked up and seemed to be waiting his turn. But apparently, he was just there to shake his head in disapproval.
Gene Rayburn was no stranger to telling contestants they have nice nipples, but for his perviest moment, I gotta go with the clip pictured above. When the short-skirted contestant accidentally flashes her silky ’70s bloomers, it’s seemingly the greatest thing that’s ever happened to Gene, so much so that’s he feels compelled to start undressing himself. Fortunately, celebrity contestant McLean Stephenson (aka Lt. Colonel Henry Blake) gets just as excited and has to hug Gene immediately, preventing any further disrobing.
Alex Trebek
It was a lot more obvious when he was sporting a sweet ’70s porn ‘stache, but Trebek’s creepy ways still found their way onto the small screen post shave. It would be one thing if Alex saved his “so young, so young” comment for College Week, but the Teen Tournament?
Keep in mind, it was the ’70s, so pretty little girls reaching into Bob’s “Hundred Dollar Pocket” were just par for the course. But if Bob tried to get away with that crap these days, he’d be slapped with so many lawsuits…oh wait, the ’80s and ’90s made Bob quickly realize that political correctness was going to cost him in court. Picking Boinking Bob’s sleaziest moment is like trying to pick which one of your kids is more annoying — impossible. So please, enjoy the above compilation of creep, and watch the master at work. While it won’t work on the die-hard feminists, I’m pretty sure if you tried to talk like this to most hipster girls today, you might even get somewhere, seeing as how much they love that vintage crap.
Meredith Viera
Girls just want to have fun, too. So you can understand Meredith’s appreciation for this man in uniform just trying to be a millionaire while serving our great country. If more women were allowed to host game shows, I’m pretty sure this would be happening all the time, so we can all thank the white male gatekeepers in charge of the studios for keeping such a sacred, respectable job in the hands of the men.
Perhaps it’s because his name sounds like a generic Viagra competitor, but Regis is one horny little fella who just can’t help but cop a feel of Nicki Minaj’s tractor beam bubble butt. If not for Kelly Ripa, Rege totally would have gotten away with it, too. Instead, he slyly changes the subject to his bro crush on “Little Wayne.” Sure, it’s not a game show moment, but semantically speaking, it is a pervy game show host moment, because the great one is, and always will be, a Hall of Fame game show host. And if there were a Pervy Game Show Host Hall of Fame, Randy Regis would be a first ballot inductee.
Wink Martindale
The guy’s name is Wink, so odds are good that he let his true perv colors fly on occasion. The annals of YouTube didn’t divulge as much culpable footage as I would have liked, but the clip above is still pretty telling. However, Wink’s well into his golden years by now, so you do have to cut the guy some slack for being really old. And old guys don’t really have a choice but to be pervy around young buxom ladies, right? If you need further proof that Wink likes the kink, though, the Martindale is actually an Urban Dictionary sex move — presumably named after the world’s most famous Martindale — which involves a lady and two little people “preferably light weight and homeless in appearance.”
If you show up drunk to work every day, and you have a rule that you have to kiss all the ladies for luck, then you’re likely going to have some pervy moments. Like with Bob Barker, to pick just one would be disrespecting an inimitable career based on perversion. All in all, it’s estimated that ol’ Dick kissed 20,000 women during his “Family Feud” residency, presumably about 60 percent of which were of the French variety. And that’s not even counting the girls he really liked, who got extra kisses — often to the point of really uncomfortable television. No wonder I always wanted to be a game show host.
Fergie Olver
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYTc84cjosw
Somehow this was legal in Canada, which ought to give us one more reason to keep a watchful eye on our Neighbors to the North. As the host of Canadian game show “Just Like Mom,” part of dirty Fergie’s shtick was to coerce underage girls into giving him kisses, almost to the point where it seemed scripted. And if these young girls refused his creepy advances? Well, he went ahead and kissed them anyways. Why a slew of Canadian mothers would subject their progeny to such molestation is beyond me, but it should have been nipped in the bud long before Olver had a chance to host four full seasons. Seriously, it’s impossible to Google “pervy” and “creepy game show host” and find anything about anyone other than this borderline pedophile. It sure made writing this list far more difficult (especially when coupled with the search term “slimy game show host” being co-opted by Nickelodeon shows).
