bhhapa the shows work the prize money into the budgets of the shows.
They are insured and all kinds of probability and odds tests/studies are done to make sure they (the show does not lose their shirts).

Like in the lottery and gambling at casinos..the odds are always in favor of the house.

I mean examples are Deal or No Deal and the show Who Wants to be a Millionaire….the contestants usually have a 25% chance of winning typically.

By the way…..the 10th anniversary (began in 1999) of Who wants to be a Millionaire limited 11 night primetime edition hosted by Regis Philbin will be back on sunday August 9,2009 at 8pm on ABC

Ironically, I came across an MTV show today called Silent Library where a team of six people are dared by the bad card to perform ridiculous things like armpit hair removal for men (by way of tweezer), French kissing a dead catfish, sausage nun chuck beatings, and eating lipstick smothered corn, each of which has a name for the game. If the contestant performs to the satisfaction of the “librarian” (judge) then the team gets a few hundred dollars per game. The game “Under Armed” was probably the funniest next to “Ping Pong’d” and “Sausage Attack.” And these games didn’t seem as bad as the crazy one on CBS where people eat bugs to win a million.
I think about possible crazy things I would do for money but then I know I couldn’t go through with any of them. I wouldn’t even dare touch a crocodile for a million dollars or eat a dead bug. I wouldn’t have my underarm hairs plucked on a national cable television network (that started off as a channel intending to play music videos but eventually just became a stupid reality television show channel) for people to see even for a million dollars… well… maybe… if the check was written out… or if the cash was in a briefcase in front of me…

All of this makes me wonder where the money comes from. There are so many million dollar game shows and contests that it seems the money would be more of a loss than anything.