RIP, Herb Stempel, 93

A former champion of the quiz show “Twenty-One,” Stempel blew the whistle on that rigged competition, leading to exposure of the entire crooked game-show industry in the 50s. Much of America watched Stempel’s winning streak end with a loss to Charles van Doren in 1956, but the entire scenario turned out to have been scripted. Even the prize money was fake. Stempel had allegedly won $69,500 on the broadcasts, but that was all for show. He agreed to accept a lower amount as part of his negotiations with the show’s producers.

He might have been hailed as a hero for having exposed corruption, but was not, because his confession was a matter of revenge rather than conscience. The producers had made some promises to him as part of a crooked bargain which required him to miss a question intentionally. Those promises were not kept, so Stempel went public.

After the scandal, Stempel lived a quiet life in modest circumstances, basically forgotten until the early 90s, when Robert Redford decided to make a movie about the quiz show scandals. Stempel was portrayed by John Turturro in that film (“Quiz Show”), which brought him new fame, but pigeon-holed him as a hapless nerd.