It's Your Bet is an American game show

Game show

A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...

 which aired in syndication (mostly NBC owned-and-operated stations) from 1969-1973. The series was a revised version of the NBC game I'll Bet

I'll Bet

I'll Bet is an American game show that ran on NBC from March 29 to September 24, 1965. The series was created by Ralph Andrews, and hosted by Jack Narz....

, which aired in 1965 and was a Ralph Andrews

Ralph Andrews

Ralph Andrews is an American television producer best known for producing the hit 1960s game show You Don't Say!, the 1970s game show Celebrity Sweepstakes, and the original 1987 version of Lingo....

 production.

Hosts

During the four-year run of It's Your Bet the series had four hosts. Hal March

Hal March

Hal March was a Jewish-American comedian and actor.-Early career:March first came to note as part of a comedy team with Bob Sweeney. The duo had their own radio show for a time and performed, in the early 1950s, as "Sweeney & March." He also partnered with actor/comic Tom d'Andrea in the early...

 (best known for The $64,000 Question) hosted for the first few months. When health problems forced him to step down in late 1969 (he died in January 1970), actor Dick Gautier took over and hosted through the end of the 1970–1971 season.

Tom Kennedy moderated for the following year (1971–1972), followed by comedian Lyle Waggoner

Lyle Waggoner

Lyle Wesley Waggoner is an American actor and former model, best known for his work on The Carol Burnett Show from 1967 to 1974 and for playing the role of Steve Trevor in the Wonder Woman television series from 1975 to 1979...

 (The Carol Burnett Show

The Carol Burnett Show

The Carol Burnett Show is a variety / sketch comedy television show starring Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner, and Tim Conway. It originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 278 episodes and originated from CBS Television City's Studio 33...

) for the final season. Interestingly, Kennedy had previously guest-hosted for March for a week which included Waggoner and his wife as guests.

Front game

Two celebrity couples played for members of the studio audience. One player on the team bet 25, 50, 75, or 100 points (always these increments and never more) on his/her spouse's ability to answer a question. A question was telephoned in secret to the betting player by the host; to ensure seclusion from the other player a motorized wall rose between the two players while the player was on the phone with the host, ensuring the question was not known to the spouse until after the bet had been placed.

(Although the show had a betting theme, both sides began with a score of zero rather than a bankroll of any sort, and bet points rather than dollars.)

In addition, the betting player had to bet whether his/her spouse could answer the question correctly ("CAN") or not ("CAN'T"). Bets were recorded on toteboards in the desk where the couples sat, with a special rotating trilon indicating "CAN" or "CAN'T". The questions were either general knowledge or based on the couple's personal/public lives.

If the player correctly guessed whether his/her spouse would or would not answer correctly, the team would score the wagered points; otherwise, the wagered points would be awarded to the opposing team. The first team to reach 300 points won the game and advanced to the "Preference Round".

Preference Round

In the "Preference Round", the object was for each member of the team to guess how his/her spouse would answer a question. The host posed a question and three possible answers; each time the couple agreed on the response, the team won another prize for their designated audience member.

Episode status

One March episode and two Kennedy episodes (including an episode where he sub-hosted for March) are known to exist. A Waggoner episode taped June 1, 1972 is held at the UCLA Film and Television Archive.

A clip of a Kennedy episode, in which an infamous prank was played on him by the crew and celebrity guest Burt Reynolds

Burt Reynolds

Burton Leon "Burt" Reynolds, Jr. is an American actor. Some of his memorable roles include Bo 'Bandit' Darville in Smokey and the Bandit, Lewis Medlock in Deliverance, Bobby "Gator" McCluskey in White Lightning and sequel Gator, Paul Crewe and Coach Nate Scarborough in The Longest Yard and its...

, was seen on NBC's Most Outrageous Game Show Moments series.