Thom McKee (born 1955) is a retired officer in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

and 1977 graduate from the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (USNA, Navy, or Annapolis) is a United States Service academies, federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as United States Secre ...

. He is best known for being a contestant on the game show ''

Tic Tac Dough ''Tic-Tac-Dough'' is an American television game show based on the paper-and-pencil game of tic-tac-toe. Contestants answer trivia questions to put up their respective symbol, X or O, on a tic-tac-toe board. Four versions were produced: the initi ...

'', becoming the show's longest reigning champion and (at the time) the highest money winner in American game show history.

Performance on ''Tic Tac Dough''

As a contestant on ''Tic Tac Dough'', McKee won $312,700 (the equivalent of about $ in today's dollars) in cash and prizes over 46 days on the show. He played a total of 89 games, defeating 43 opponents (the remaining games other than his last being drawn), and answered 353 questions correctly. His total prizes included eight cars (as winners on ''Tic Tac Dough'' were awarded a new car every fifth win), three sailboats, 16 vacations (which he was unable to take), several other smaller prizes, and $200,000 in cash. Prior to McKee's record, the most ever won on a television game show was ''

The Joker's Wild ''The Joker's Wild'' is an American television game show that aired at different times between 1972 and 2017. Contestants answer trivia questions based on categories determined randomly by a mechanism resembling a slot machine. The show's titl ...

'' contestant Eileen Jason, who won $305,280 ($250,000 of which was won during the 1979 Tournament of Champions). McKee was defeated on August 3, 1980 by Erik Kraepelien to end his winning streak. Three years after his original run on ''Tic Tac Dough'', McKee made one more appearance on the show, this time to compete in a Tournament of Champions.

Records broken

The wins and consecutive days records were broken by '' 100%'' contestant Ian Lygo in 1998, while the winnings record was broken by Michael Shutterly during the original 15-night run of ''

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' (WWTBAM) is an international television game show franchise of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (British game show), British origin, created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill and Steven Knight. In its format, cu ...

'' in 1999, where he won $500,000. McKee still holds the American record for most consecutive games played (100 games, 56 wins), due to the nature of ''Tic Tac Dough'' making ties possible (and frequent). However, ''

Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead g ...

'' contestant

Ken Jennings Kenneth Wayne Jennings III (born May 23, 1974) is an American game show host, former contestant, and author. He is best known for his work on the syndicated quiz show ''Jeopardy!'' as a contestant and later its host. Jennings was born in Edm ...

(who himself set a new cash winnings record), beat the wins record with 74, and most consecutive days with 75 in 2004–05.

Later life

In the 1990s, he became president of Hicks & Rotner Associates Inc. (now H&R Retail), a

brokerage A broker is a person or entity that arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller. This may be done for a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal. Neith ...

firm. He later moved to Maryland and became a realtor. When

made news for his record-breaking run on ''Jeopardy!'' in 2004, McKee wrote to him to congratulate him. Jennings responded by telling McKee that he had been one of his inspirations as a trivia fan, having watched his original championship run as a child.https://www.triviahalloffame.com/thommckee

Other game show appearances

Shortly after his reign on ''Tic Tac Dough'' ended in 1980, McKee was invited to appear on ''To Tell the Truth'' as a subject. He fooled three of the four panelists, with

Nipsey Russell Julius "Nipsey" Russell (September 15, 1918 – October 2, 2005)Nipsey J. Russell, born September 15, 1918, died October 2, 2005. Social Security Administration. ''Social Security Death Index'' (Death Master File).U.S. Census, January 1, 1920, st ...

being the only one who correctly identified him. Later, in 2008, McKee was invited to participate in '' Grand Slam'', an American super tournament featuring sixteen former game show contestants competing for a $100,000 cash prize. The contestants were seeded by their total winnings, with McKee drawing the #11 seed in the tournament. This matched him up with

John Carpenter John Howard Carpenter (born January 16, 1948) is an American filmmaker, composer, and actor. Most commonly associated with horror film, horror, action film, action, and science fiction film, science fiction films of the 1970s and 1980s, he is ...

, who was the first contestant to win the top prize on the American version of ''

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? ''Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'' (WWTBAM) is an international television game show franchise of British origin, created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill and Steven Knight. In its format, currently owned and licensed by Sony Pictures Televis ...

'' in 1998; McKee was defeated by Carpenter and did not advance in the tournament.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McKee, Thom 1955 births Living people United States Naval Academy alumni Contestants on American game shows United States Navy officers