Gameshow contestant loses $50,000 over a trick basketball question
A clip from the US gameshow Winsanity resurfaced after a contestant, Lexi Barraza, shared her awkward experience on TikTok in 2022. The episode, originally aired between 2016 and 2018, showed the then-19-year-old struggling with a question about basketball legend Charles Barkley. Her appearance ended without winning any prizes—and cost her over $50,000 in potential rewards.
Barraza, now a real estate agent, competed on Winsanity, a show hosted by Donald Faison. The format required players to arrange facts in numerical order, from smallest to largest, with help from the audience. When faced with a question about Charles Barkley's three-point shots, she turned to the crowd for guidance.
One spectator guessed Barkley had attempted fewer than 263 three-pointers in his career. Another used maths to estimate he must have taken more than 263. But the correct answer was far simpler: Barkley never attempted a single three-point shot in his entire NBA career. Barraza's incorrect guess led to her losing all accumulated prizes, worth over $50,000. Years later, she admitted feeling embarrassed—not just by the loss, but by her outfit and lack of knowledge about the question.
The viral clip highlighted a memorable moment from Winsanity, where a seemingly complex question had a straightforward answer. Barraza's experience became a talking point online, showing how a single mistake can overshadow an entire gameshow appearance. The show itself ran for two years before ending in 2018.
