Hosted By Shaq, ‘Lucky 13’ Game Show To Pay Contestants Over $460K After Bankruptcy

Actress Gina Rodriguez co-hosted the failed game show with Shaq.

ABC will be paying over $460,000 to contestants who were listed as part of the game show “Lucky 13,” hosted by basketball star Shaquille O’Neal and actress Gina Rodriguez. The payout is set to occur after the company heading the game show declared bankruptcy.

“Lucky 13” debuted last July with Shaq and Rodriguez as hosts, airing on ABC under unconventional circumstances. The United Kingdom-based production company, Studio 1, funded the show upfront before its success, in exchange for a share of ABC’s advertising and product placement revenue tied to the show.

Both the contestants and prize winners, as well as Rodriguez and Shaq, were never paid for their time on “Lucky 13.” According to the Independent, 13 contestants are owed prize money, with individual totals ranging from $3,750 to $125,000, totaling around $461,500.

However, “Lucky 13” fell short of expectations and did not bring in nearly as much revenue as Studio 1 wanted. It was not renewed for Season Two after the conclusion of the first season. Studio 1 and the other two holding companies involved, Lucky 13 Holdings and Studio 13 Entertainment, declared bankruptcy soon after.

Legally, ABC is under no obligation legally to pay the contestants after the production company goes bankrupt, but the network has announced that the contestants will be getting their earned prize money despite the circumstances.

After Studio 1 filed for bankruptcy at the end of last year, the CEO — Adrian Woolfe — explained to Deadline, “We are in the process of taking proactive protective steps to restructure the Studio 1 business and to unlock and protect the value of the now-proven Lucky 13 IP.”

He continued, “Rather than it being a direct commission, the unique commercial model on which the debut series was launched in the US was underpinned by advertising revenues which given well-publicized market conditions regrettably, but unavoidably, fell acutely short of forecasts.”

The premise of “Lucky 13” featured contestants being asked 13 different true or false trivia questions and then predicting how many correct they got out of the 13. The ABC show had a $1 million jackpot.