Getting his head in the game show

Newport Beach resident Scott Hostetler’s heart started to beat faster as he stood on the set of the Game Show Network series “Catch 21” with host Alfonso Ribeiro during the bonus round of the show.

Co-hostess Mikki Padilla held Hostetler’s fate in her hands in the form of a deck of oversized novelty playing cards.

Hostetler had already won $1,000 in the first three rounds of the show and an additional $5,000 in the bonus round.

All he needed was a “10” or a face card to win the grand prize.

“If any one of them are a 10 or a face card, you are going to walk out of here with $25,000,” Ribeiro said. “$25,000 can be yours.”

The show is based on the game blackjack. Hostetler had practiced the game with a deck of playing cards for hours the night before the show.

“Face, face, face,” someone in the studio audience chanted.

“It’s a Jack,” Padilla shouted.

The audience exploded in applause, leaping from their seats as Hostetler shouted “oh man, oh man,” and grabbed Ribeiro for a bear hug.

His winnings that day totaled $26,000, before taxes.

Hostetler claims to have appeared as a contestant on more game shows than any other person in the United States. He has been on 18 game shows over the past 30 years. His winnings include more than $100,000 in cash and prizes as well as two trips to Jamaica.

In his new book “Winning Secrets from the Game Show Guru: How to Get on a Game Show and Win,” Hostetler shares tips on things like how catch the eyes of contestant coordinators during auditions and beating the buzzer.

Over the years, Hostetler’s game show appearances have included “Wheel of Fortune,” “$1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime,” “Balderdash,” “Match Game 98,” “Trivial Pursuit,” “Merv Griffin’s Crosswords,” “Weakest Link” and “Pyramid with Donny Osmond,” to name a few.

He once contacted Guinness World Records about his prolific game show career and was told a man in Belgium who had appeared in more than 20 game shows in several different countries had him beat. All of Hostetler’s appearances, except for one British game show, have been for American television.

Hostetler’s first TV appearance was on “The Gong Show” in 1977 with two of his high school buddies.

The trio called themselves the Three Layers and wore Hawaiian leis as they sang in harmony and told vaudeville jokes.

“You know, my dog doesn’t eat meat,” Hostetler said during the act.

“Why not?” his friend replied.

“I don’t give him any,” Hostetler replied.

Patty Andrews of the Andrews Sisters, who was a judge on the show, gave the group the gong.

“Those jokes were old when I was kid,” she complained.

The consolation prizes Hostetler and his friends won included a lava lamp, Rice-a-Roni and Lee Press-on Nails.

A year later, when Hostetler was in college, he gave his aunt a ride to an audition for “Wheel of Fortune” in Los Angeles. “Wheel” passed over Hostetler’s aunt and wound up asking him to be a contestant instead. Hostetler won $5,000 in prizes.

“We went on a shopping spree on Rodeo Drive and bought things most 21-year-olds could only dream about,” remembered Hostetler’s wife Pam.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” she said, reflecting on her husband’s long list of game show appearances.

Aside from winning money, free vacations and shopping sprees, it’s the rush Hostetler gets from competing on the shows that keeps him going to auditions.

“It’s very exciting — the excitement of what’s new and happening,” Hostetler said. “I’ve also met a lot of nice people and have the video tape to relive the thrill of victory, or that agony of defeat.”

On The Web

To watch video of Hostetler’s game show appearances or to buy a copy of his new book “Winning Secrets from the Game Show Guru: How to get on a Game Show and Win, visit www.thegameshowguru.com.