The Richard Dawson Family Feud Scandal That Was Kept A Secret

Speaking to the Television Academy in 2010, Richard Dawson said he began the habit of kissing female contestants on "Family Feud" early in the run after one woman struggled with nerves and couldn't think of an answer. The actor — who said he kissed them for "luck," as his mother did to him, per CNN — decided that a peck on the cheek would help to calm the woman down. Indeed, he claims that in the next moment she was able to pluck the correct answer from the air. Thereafter kissing became Dawson's signature. Some viewers reportedly found the habit a bit gross, and sponsors were uncomfortable with the host kissing so many women and encouraged him to stop (per Entertainment Weekly). However, Dawson reportedly invited viewers to vote on whether they liked him kissing contestants — the results overwhelming said that they did, while a survey of the contestants themselves suggested that they also approved, according to "Hogan's Heroes: The Unofficial Companion" (via KSBW).

The 2023 book "Outrageous: A History of Showbiz and the Culture Wars" by Kliph Nesteroff highlights that some viewers, particularly those in the medical field, thought Dawson's behavior constituted a health risk. "The diseases that could be transmitted by promiscuous kissing are too long and too loathsome to recount here," one wrote in a letter to the Philadelphia Daily News. "Does Dawson or the producers take any caution to prevent infection? Are none of them informed?" But as Nesteroff also reveals, the show did take precautions — precautions that would frankly be unthinkable today.

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