Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - He Was America's Favorite TV Star... UNTIL // The Charles Van Doren Cheating Scandal

Episode Date: August 24, 2026

Charles Van Doren was a brilliant, charismatic Columbia University instructor who became a national celebrity in 1956 by winning on the popular television quiz show Twenty-One. His clean-cut, intellectual charm captivated millions of Americans, landing him on the cover of Time magazine and earning him a lucrative regular commentary spot on NBC’s Today show. However, the triumph turned to scandal in 1959 when a congressional investigation revealed that the show’s producers had systematically rigged the program, providing Van Doren with the answers and scripts in advance to boost viewer ratings.

Two and five Canadians will hear the words, you have cancer. That's why every step and dollar raised matters. On September 19th, join thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Walk. Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research. Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer. Register today at pmcfwalk.ca. So this TV show was exposed as a fake, and it was such a huge scandal that United States Congress had to get involved. So this starts with this guy, Charles. And Charles is about 30 living in New York City, and he's a pretty smart guy.

He's an English comp professor at Columbia University. However, Charles has a problem. His dad is a world famous Pulitzer Prize winning intellectual and a legendary Columbia professor. While his uncle is a known Pulitzer Prize winner and Columbia professor as well, and as intelligent as Charles is, he's having trouble living up to his family name, and he wants nothing more than to be recognized in his own right. And one night in 1956, he finally gets that opportunity. Because he's at a dinner party with some friends, and he meets this guy, Albert. And Albert works in TV. He's a co-producer of a game show on NBC called, 21. His thing about 21. It's a standard trivia show where contestants answer questions. It ends up being very popular. But the very first episode featured two contestants who didn't know shit. Like they

didn't know any of the answers to any of the questions. They repeatedly missed questions and the episode ended up being super boring. So the show's main sponsor, a pharmaceutical company called Pharmaceuticals Inc. That's their real name. They kind of contacted the producers all pissed off and they told them to make the show more entertaining or they were going to pull advertising funding. So from that moment on, the producers started rigging 21. They would give certain contestants the exact questions and answers in advance and they would instruct other contestants to lose on purpose. So the outcome of the show was predetermined and the public had no idea. And for the last eight weeks, this guy has been on a winning streak.

His name is Herb. But by this point, the producers start feeling like Herb's winning streak is making the show super boring. They're tired of seeing him win all the time. Now, back to this dinner party with Charles and Albert. So Charles is talking to Albert, and Albert finds out that Charles is a professor at Columbia. And Albert immediately sees potential in this. So he makes him an offer. Come on 21 and be a contestant,

and the producers will give him all the answers before each episode. All he has to do is follow their instructions and win. And when Charles hears this, he's like, fucking sweet. A few weeks later, Charles is actually on the show. He's Herb's new challenger. So the filming starts, and the live studio audience is watching. And Charles and Herb, they're answering the questions they're being hit with, and they're scoring points and whatnot.

And during their first few games, Charles and Herb, they tie, 21 to 21. Then they come back for a second episode. This will be their fourth game against one another. And here is where producers approach Herb, and they ask him to get an answer wrong. And by the way, on this night, the ratings are super high. I mean, people love this rivalry between Charles and Herb. Around 50 million people are watching.

To put that into perspective, that's about as many people that watch the finale of Friends in 2004. 50 million people. Anyway, Herb agrees to lose the match, and he gets the answer wrong on purpose, and boom, Charles wins, and he's now the new champion. And from here, he has to keep playing, and he keeps coming back to the studio and playing against other contestants, and he wins again and again. and three and a half months go by. And he's still playing and still winning, still the reigning champion. And by this point, he's known around the whole country. He's basically gotten famous off of this.

He's on the cover of Time Magazine. Look at that. But here's where the story gets really interesting. So it's now 1957, and the producers of 21 have decided that it's time for a new contender. Charles's time is up. So they bring a woman onto the show, and they feed her the answers beforehand, and they have Charles throw the match, and he does, and he loses.

But he's totally cool with that, because by this point, his winning streak had been going on for 14 weeks, and he's already won about $129,000 in prize money, which is about $1.5 million in today's money. It's a lot of money. Not only that, but after Charles leaves the show, NBC offers him a three-year $150,000 contract to consult on some of their educational programming and do some on-air hosting for the network. He was the substitute host on the Today Show, and he did some other on-air work. So Charles has basically gotten more than he ever wanted out of this.

But then, everything starts to fall apart. Remember Herb? Well, Herb had a good run while he was on the show. I mean, he had no problem pretending it wasn't rigged at the time. He was winning money. He was having a good time. but he wanted to keep the winning streak going. Well, during that time, some producers of the show approached him,

and they promised him that if he gave the wrong answer and lost on purpose, that they would give him more on-air television work on different shows. So he gave the wrong answers, and he threw the match hoping to get this work. But the producers never gave him any more on-air work. In fact, eventually, they cut off contact with him completely. So he gets super pissed off. I mean, he feels like he was cheated out of a career on TV. So he starts telling anyone who will listen.

That show is rigged. That show is rigged. Now, today, we understand lots of TV shows are scripted or set up or rigged. But that wasn't the case in the 1950s. Then people thought all those shows were real and reality TV wasn't even a thing yet. So this massively popular game show being rigged was a huge. deal. And so eventually, Herb brings this story to the New York Journal American, a daily newspaper in New York, and he gives them all the details he has. He also goes to the Manhattan District Attorney,

and he tells them that this show is a fraud. And from there, the District Attorney's Office starts investigating and questioning other former contestants about the cheating allegations, and they end up questioning Charles. But Charles, see, he doesn't want to get in trouble, so he denies everything. And later, they bring him in front of a grand jury, and he lies again. This time under oath, he denies being involved in any game show rigging. And, you know, no one can prove otherwise, so he's thinking maybe this whole thing will just blow over. Two and five Canadians will hear the words, you have cancer.

That's why every step and dollar raised matters. On September 19th, joined thousands in Toronto for the, the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Walk. Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research. Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer. Register today at pmcfwalk.ca.ca. It's definitely not going to blow over. No, no, no.

This becomes such a big scandal that fucking U.S. Congress gets involved. and counsel for a House subcommittee gets on the case. This guy, Richard. And so Richard looks into all of this, and he starts talking to the former contestants. And eventually, he speaks to Herb. And of course, Herb tells him everything he wants to know, that the show was rigged,

that the producers gave him the answers beforehand, and that he was eventually instructed to lose to Charles. And with all this information, Richard starts putting pressure on some of the show's producers. including Albert. And eventually, a lot of these producers admit their involvement too. And at the end of it all, there is this big public hearing in front of a congressional committee, and Charles is there testifying. And he knows that his previous testimony contradicts what all the other producers and former contestants have been saying. And so finally, Charles gives in and he

comes clean, and he admits that he and the show's producers cheated. on this game show. And from here, he's just publicly humiliated. NBC cancels his on-air TV contracts, and they fire him. Even Columbia University asks him to resign. I guess he was still teaching classes there. And so anyway, so in the space of just a few months, Charles goes from being one of the biggest stars in America

to a disgraced public figure. And later on, he and the other contestants who lied to the grand jury all plead guilty to perjury. And the judge suspends that sentence because they had already been publicly embarrassed by the whole ordeal. And I guess he just figures that's enough punishment. And because of this scandal,

Congress actually had to pass a law. And to this day, it's a federal crime to rig a television game show or contest that involved. Two and five Canadians will hear the words you have cancer. That's why every step and dollar raised matters. On September 19th, join thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Walk.

Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research. Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer. Register today at pmcfwalk.ca.ca.com.com.com.