Legendary Game Show Hosts — Their Shocking Secrets!

The Golden Age of Game Shows may be over, but America keeps wanting to revisit the greats! That's why we're currently looking at revivals of hits like "Match Game" and "To Tell The Truth." However, Hollywood insiders aren' too crazy about telling the truth about game show hosts. It takes a special kind of personality to keep the action going — and some of those personalities went unhinged!

BOB EUBANKS: The beloved host of "The Newlywed Game" is a native of Flint, Mich. — which came close to destroying his career when he became involved in politics. Bob had returned to his hometown to host a live "Newlywed Game" in 1988, and ended up being interviewed by documentarian Michael Moore. The host couldn't have known that the resulting movie would be "Roger and Me," one of the biggest hits of 1989. If so, Bob wouldn't have threatened his career with a tasteless joke!

The cameras caught Bob asking Moore why Jewish women don't contract the AIDS virus. "Because," Bob laughed, "they marry a--holes —they don’t screw them!” The TV icon was soon humiliated when "Roger and Me" became one of the most popular documentaries of all time!

BERT CONVY: The popular actor and host of many game shows — including "Tattletales" and “Super Password”  — went through a bitter divorce before marrying a much younger woman just weeks before his death! In 1987, his first wife, Anne Anderson Convy, divorced him after almost 30 years of marriage and three children. Bert had returned to TV in “Win, Lose or Draw,” a game show he created with pal Burt Reynolds, and wed Catherine Hills, 25, in February 1991. That was after he was diagnosed with a brain tumor, and he left her a widow on July 15, 1991.

DICK CLARK: The host of "The $20,000 Pyramid" was also one of Hollywood's most successful producers, but Dick's career was almost cut short during the record company payola scandal of 1959 and 1960. Dick had to testify in Washington and then gave up all of his musical assets except for hosting "American Bandstand" — throwing away an estimated $8 million in the process!

Michael Moore went after Dick Clark, too — because an employee who worked at a restaurant that was part of the Dick Clark’s American Bandstand Grill chain. Tamarla Owens 6-year-old son took a gun to school and shot a classmate; Moore believed that Dick's business practices were to blame for Tamarla having to live in a home where guns were allowed. His 2003 documentary "Bowling for Columbine" has footage of Dick ordering his driver to speed away when Moore approaches him for an interview.

RAY COMBS: The second host of "Family Feud" died tragically in 1996 — after leaving a last message with his best pal: “My marriage is history and so am I.” Within hours, Ray was dangling lifeless at the end of a noose. A special investigation revealed the man who had made millions hosting America’s favorite game show had watched his life collapse around him.

Debbie, his wife of 18 years, had thrown him out and he was terrified of losing contact with his six children. He was broke, in fear of losing his house, caught in a series of affairs with women half his age and battling depression. Ray died at 40 during the early morning hours of June 2 in a closet in a Los Angeles hospital mental ward. He left his family so destitute they couldn’t afford a headstone!

VANNA WHITE: Before she hit it big on “Wheel of Fortune,” Vanna was so hard up for work that she posed for pictures in trashy linerie — and the photos turned up in Playboy magazine! Vanna later insisted she only posed for the photos because she was so desperate for money at the time. “I was really strapped for cash,” she says. “I knew it was a mistake, and I wish I’d never agreed.”

BOB BARKER: He's best known for hosting CBS’ “The Price Is Right” from 1972 to 2007, but the animal activist has been involved in a series of ugly lawsuits in which he’s been accused of sexual harassment — and worse! Bob was involved in a relationship with “The Price Is Right” model Dian Parkinson from 1989 to 1991 that ended in a nasty legal tangle. In 1994, Dian filed suit against Bob, alleging sexual harassment following a three-year affair when she worked on the show.

Dian, who alleged extortion by threats of firing, later dropped her lawsuit, claiming stress from the ordeal was damaging her health. In 1995, model Holly Hallstrom left “Price” and later filed suit against Bob for wrongful termination and malicious persecution. Her battle ended in a settlement in 2005. Models Janice Pennington and Kathleen Bradley, who were fired after testifying against Bob, later received financial settlements.

GENE RAYBURN: The host of "Match Game" couldn't match his birth certificate and his alleged age! In 1985, a reporter revealed that Gene was much older than people believed. After his true age was unveiled, he had trouble finding a job — and bitterly blamed the writer for subjecting him to age discrimination.

RICHARD DAWSON: The veteran of the “Hogan’s Heroes” sitcom had a happier ending than Bob Crane. The smiling Englishman hosted “Family Feud” from 1976 to 85, and again from 1994 to 95. One of Richard’s trademarks — kissing female contestants — earned him the nickname "The Kissing Bandit." It also earned him his second wife!

In 1991, he married Gretchen Johnson, who he met when she was a member of one of the contestant families on “Family Feud” in May 1981. They had a daughter, Shannon Nicole Dawson. Richard showed a picture of his daughter in the first episode after returning to the game show in 1994. During a ’90s revival of the program, Richard didn’t kiss the female contestants, because of a commitment to his young daughter to only kiss her mother!