As Lucky 13 debuted, some viewers believed a contestant didn’t receive a prize he rightfully deserved.
The new game show brings a premise where contestants can win $1 million even if they don’t answer all the questions correctly.
NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal hosts alongside actress Gina Rodriguez, with 13 contestants trying to win “life-changing money.”
A contestant gets to join the co-hosts on the Hotspot, and they receive 13 true or false questions.
After answering the 13 questions, the contestant must decide how many questions they answered correctly.
On the premiere episode, many viewers called out the show after they felt a contestant got “robbed” of what he deserved to win.
The first official contestant attempted Lucky 13
For Lucky 13’s first contestant, they called up a dentist named Barrett from Chicago, Illinois. He revealed he wanted to win money to afford an “upper-middle-class home.”
Shaq presented 13 true or false questions to Barrett. One of his questions was: “Cinco de Mayo is Mexico’s Independence Day.”
“I work with a lot of proud Mexican women, and they would kill me if I got this wrong. It is not Mexican Independence Day. It is false,” Barrett answered.
He continued by answering the remainder of the true or false questions and then received an opportunity to change any answer. Barrett opted to keep everything how he had it.
After finishing, Rodriguez asked Barrett to inform them how many questions he had answered correctly. Barrett selected a range of seven to 10, which, if correct, would earn him a prize of $25,000.
In addition, Rodriguez asked him to select an exact number from that range, which, if he got correct, would earn him another $25,000 on the spot for a total of $50,000.
Barrett chose nine for his lucky number. Rodriguez then presented each question again and revealed if he answered correctly.
After she’d revealed 11 of them, Barrett was close to winning. However, a twist in the game involved Shaq offering him $12,500 to walk away. Barrett rejected it and said he would go for the bigger prize.
It came down to his answer for Cinco de Mayo as Mexico’s Independence Day. Rodriguez said if his answer were wrong, he’d go home with the $50,000, but if he got it right, he’d leave with nothing.
They revealed that his false answer was correct, meaning he correctly answered 10 questions, just one above the range he’d selected.
Shaq and Rodriguez hugged Barrett after revealing he’d lost the game and would receive no prize money. He said he’d still had a lot of fun playing Lucky 13.
Viewers called out the game show after contestant’s loss
The Lucky 13 Instagram page shared a photo of Shaq and Rodriguez with Barrett. Viewers stopped by the comment section, with some claiming they believed the contestant should’ve won.
Mexico’s Independence Day, Dia de la Independencia, occurs on September 16. Cinco de Mayo, on May 5, isn’t considered a national holiday.
“Just to clarify, Cinco de Mayo is NOT Mexico’s Independence. Its September 16th. I just want to make sure that’s the correct answer,” a commenter wrote.
“Yeah came to say the same thing. He got robbed,” an individual replied.
Another frustrated viewer called out the show for not giving the contestant the win.
“Why [does] it say everywhere that Cinco de Mayo is not considered Mexicos Independence Day and your show literally said it was?!! And the man lost because of it?!” the commenter asked, adding, “It shouldve been false and he shouldve won!!”
While Rodriguez gave more details after she’d revealed each of the other answers, she didn’t reveal any additional information about the Cinco de Mayo question.
The new game show’s rules and format may be confusing for viewers. Based on Rodriguez’s previous announcement, Barrett needed to incorrectly answer the Cinco de Mayo question as true to stay in his selected range and win the prize money. However, he correctly said it was false.
Lucky 13, produced by actor Kevin Bacon, officially debuted as part of ABC’s recent game show lineup. That lineup includes Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and Press Your Luck.
Lucky 13 airs Thursdays at 9/8c on ABC.