Stuck getting an oil change and DoND is on the TV. Watching it play out, I can’t help but think that it’s rigged. They’re telling a story and feeding on the audience, with the player always winning despite the mathematical odds. It looks so fake. Has anyone ever looked into it?
They need people to win big - if someone really does win big that fuels the dream for everyone else who won’t even get on the show but still dreams how their life would be better if they won big. They need most people to win something that looks big, but isn’t “too much”. The only people they want to lose are people that every viewer hates - and those people won’t be selected to go on anyway. They don’t want too many big winners as then winning big goes from a hype worthy event to another person got some money, but those big winners fuel the dream and keep the show alive so long as it doesn’t happen so often it becomes a yawn.
Creating a game show is about the circular optimization: more viewers = more money from advertisers. Money can be paid in prizes or go to your pocket.