The August 13, 2026 episode of Press Your Luck, titled “Frickin’ Brisbane,” became much more than another night of BIG BUCKS, exciting prizes and nerve-racking battles with the WHAMMY. Hosted by Elizabeth Banks, the episode featured three contestants taking on the famous Big Board, but Eddie became an especially memorable part of the night by bringing autism representation to one of television’s most energetic game shows. ABC described the episode as an opportunity for Elizabeth Banks to help fulfill some of the contestants’ lifelong dreams while they attempted to avoid the WHAMMY and collect cash and prizes. Eddie brought tremendous enthusiasm to the game, and seeing an autistic contestant confidently competing, answering questions, earning spins and taking his chances on the Big Board made the episode particularly meaningful for neurodivergent viewers. His appearance also attracted a positive response from game-show fans online, with viewers praising his enthusiasm and saying they were rooting for him throughout the competition. Eddie even joined an online discussion after the broadcast and said that appearing on the show had been an honor. For Press Your Luck, a program built around taking chances and dreaming about life-changing opportunities, Eddie’s appearance showed why representation matters: autistic people deserve opportunities to participate in mainstream television not simply because they are autistic, but because they have personalities, talents, dreams, humor and competitive spirit worth celebrating.
Elizabeth Banks welcomed Dorothy, Shereen, and Eddie to the stage for a fast-moving battle of trivia, strategy, prizes, and of course the constant danger of the WHAMMY. Dorothy came into the game with plenty of personality and confidence, Shereen brought strong energy of her own, and Eddie quickly became one of the most memorable contestants of the night with his enthusiasm and excitement. The opening question round began with a classic fairy-tale question asking the contestants to complete the phrase “Big Bad ___.” Dorothy buzzed in first with “wolf,” and Shereen and Eddie agreed, giving all three contestants a correct answer and immediately earning spins for the Big Board. The second question created the first separation between the players when Elizabeth asked about the food that represented America’s largest weekly source of dairy. Dorothy answered eggs, while Shereen and Eddie went with cheese, which turned out to be correct. That gave Shereen and Eddie an advantage in the spin count and showed that they were ready to challenge Dorothy from the beginning. The third question brought music into the game when Elizabeth referenced Whitney Houston’s famous hit and asked who she wanted to dance with. Dorothy answered “somebody,” and once again all three contestants knew the correct response, sending everyone into the Big Board portion with spins and a real chance to take control of the game.
Once the board lit up, the first-round prizes immediately showed the fun and unpredictable personality of Press Your Luck, with spaces featuring everything from cash to strange prizes like one million toothpicks, Bugles snacks, Koozies, a claw machine, a Search for Bigfoot getaway, and a Montreal trip. Shereen was the first contestant to feel the pain of the WHAMMY when her opening spin landed on a psychiatrist-themed WHAMMY. Because she had not built up a bank yet, she avoided losing a huge amount of money, but she was already carrying one WHAMMY and knew she had to be careful. Instead of letting the bad start ruin her round, Shereen bounced back impressively, landing $1,500 and then another $1,500, giving her $3,000 and putting her right back into the competition. Eddie then stepped up to the Big Board and made an immediate impact, landing $2,750 on his first stop before hitting one of the most unusual prizes of the entire episode, the Search for Bigfoot getaway in Washington worth $4,829. That prize pushed Eddie’s total to $7,579, putting him in a very strong early position. Rather than risking everything with another spin, Eddie made his first big strategic move of the night by passing his remaining spin to Shereen. That forced Shereen back onto the board, but she handled the pressure perfectly, avoiding the WHAMMY and landing $1,600, which raised her total to $4,600. Then it was Dorothy’s turn to make her move, and she slowly began building one of the strongest banks of the round. She started with the ADD-A-1 space which only got $10, then collected $1,750, followed by $2,500, and later landed on MOVE 2 SPACES, choosing the claw machine prize valued at $2,999. By the time Dorothy finished that stretch, she had accumulated $7,259, putting her within striking distance of Eddie. Dorothy then made a bold strategic decision of her own by passing her remaining spins to Eddie, knowing that he would be forced to keep playing and possibly risk his entire lead. Eddie’s first forced spin paid off with $1,875, but the drama intensified when his next spin landed on $1,500 plus an additional spin. That extra spin was important because it gave Eddie the choice to either keep pressing his luck or turn the pressure right back on Dorothy. Eddie chose the second option and passed the newly earned spin to Dorothy, creating a hilarious and tense game of Big Board hot potato between the two contestants. Dorothy was now forced to spin, but she avoided disaster and landed $1,500 plus another spin, pushing her total to $8,759. Because she had earned an extra spin, she was able to immediately return the favor and pass it right back to Eddie. At this point, the first round had become less about simply winning cash and more about who could survive the pressure without being the contestant who finally landed on the WHAMMY. Eddie went back to the board carrying more than $10,000 in winnings, knowing that one bad stop could erase everything he had built. He hit the button, the lights raced around the board, and instead of a WHAMMY he landed on $2,500, allowing him to survive the final passed spin and finish the first Big Board with an impressive $13,454. Dorothy ended the round in second place with $8,759, while Shereen remained in third with $4,600 and one WHAMMY. What made the first round so entertaining was not just the money totals, but the way the momentum kept changing from contestant to contestant. Shereen recovered after getting hit by the WHAMMY almost immediately, Dorothy turned a steady run into a serious challenge for the lead, and Eddie combined lucky stops with aggressive strategy to take control of the game. The constant passing of spins between Eddie and Dorothy made the final part of the round especially exciting because neither one wanted to be responsible for taking the dangerous spin that could wipe out thousands of dollars. By the end of the first round, Eddie had established himself as the contestant to beat, Dorothy was close enough to make the next stage extremely competitive, and Shereen was still very much alive despite her early WHAMMY.
The second round of Press Your Luck Season 7, Episode 6, “Frickin’ Brisbane,” took everything that had already made the first round exciting and turned the game into complete chaos, as Dorothy, Shereen, and Eddie returned for another question round before facing a much more dangerous Big Board filled with larger cash amounts, bigger prizes, extra spins, and even more WHAMMY trouble. Elizabeth Banks chatted with the contestants about their lives, personalities, and what being on the show meant to them, creating a fun break from the intensity of the first Big Board. Dorothy brought the warm energy of someone who had spent years working as a school-bus driver in Chicago, and her personality showed why she was having so much fun taking chances on the board. She also did a rap song to the audience about that Dorothy’s bus is so cool. Shereen proudly talked about being a supermom from Atlanta, joking about the busy life of constantly driving her family around with 4 children and handling everything that comes with being a parent. Eddie, meanwhile, brought a completely different kind of excitement to the stage. Coming from Corvallis, Oregon, his enthusiasm for being on Press Your Luck was impossible to miss, and his personality quickly became one of the highlights of the episode. As an autistic contestant, Eddie’s appearance also became a meaningful moment of representation, but what made the scene especially memorable was that viewers were able to see him simply being himself laughing with Elizabeth, talking excitedly about the things he loves, and enjoying the experience of finally standing on one of television’s most famous game-show stages. He also stated that he a beautiful wife Kylie and has a 4 year old son Tony who is on the autism spectrum but nonverbal. His son Tony loved to watch Bluey overe and over as he also watched the show with his son. Eddie would often love to watch “Press Your Luck” and looved to see lights and contestant getting excited for good luck. Eddie started the question round strongly when Elizabeth Banks asked how many zeroes need to be added to one million to make one billion; Eddie answered three, and all three contestants got it right. The next question asked for the word Merriam-Webster uses to describe behavior that expresses negative feelings in an indirect or unassertive way, and Eddie correctly answered passive, with Dorothy and Shereen also getting the answer right. The third question asked, according to a YouGov survey, how many out of every four people believe the best relationships start as friendships. Eddie and Shereen chose two, while Dorothy chose three, which turned out to be the correct answer and gave Dorothy an important advantage. The final question shifted to space exploration, asking where NASA had recently sent four astronauts for a flyby for the first time in 50 years.
Dorothy answered the Moon, and all three contestants knew it, sending everyone to the second Big Board with plenty of spins. Once the board came alive, the stakes immediately became much higher, with prizes including Ben & Jerry’s ice cream for life, one million Q-tips, an animatronic dragon, a rave experience, and a speedboat. Shereen began her run by landing $4,000 and then $5,500, raising her overall total to $14,100 before deciding to pass her remaining spins. Dorothy then went on a terrific run of her own, landing $4,000, another $4,000, and then a MOVE 1 SPACE option that allowed her to take $4,750 instead of $1,500 plus a spin. Dorothy then landed one of the biggest lifestyle prizes of the round: Ben & Jerry’s for life, described as one pint every week for life and valued at $7,597. That pushed Dorothy’s total all the way to $29,106, putting enormous pressure on both Shereen and Eddie. Dorothy then passed her remaining spins back to Shereen, forcing Shereen into one of the most dramatic stretches of the round. Shereen initially hit MOVE 2 SPACES and chose the incredible $10,000 plus one spin, which was exactly the kind of huge result she needed. But the celebration did not last long. On a later spin, the board stopped on WHAMMYZILLA, wiping out Shereen’s accumulated bank and dealing her a devastating setback. She continued playing and then amazingly landed the Bayliner Element speedboat worth $25,495, giving her a major prize even after suffering the WHAMMY. The speedboat space was then replaced by a personal bartender prize. Then came Eddie, and his second-round run became one of the wildest sequences of the entire episode. Eddie began with $2,000 plus one spin, followed by a huge $8,000 plus one spin, and then another $2,000 plus one spin, allowing him to keep playing without quickly burning through his earned spins. He followed those stops with $4,000, and for a while it looked like Eddie might make another huge run just as he had in the first round. Then suddenly the WHAMMY struck. Eddie landed on the Zipline WHAMMY, wiping out the money he had built in that stretch and forcing him to start over. Even worse, Eddie’s next encounter with the board brought the Superhero WHAMMY, giving him back-to-back WHAMMY trouble and putting him in real danger. But instead of collapsing, Eddie mounted one of the best recoveries of the episode. He landed on MOVE 2 SPACES and took $4,750, then collected $2,000 plus another spin. Next came one of the biggest turning points of the game: Eddie landed on DOUBLE YOUR MONEY PLUS ONE SPIN, instantly multiplying what he had rebuilt while also keeping his turn alive. After that special space was won, 500 yo-yos replaced it on the Big Board. Eddie continued pressing his luck and landed $4,500, and then, in one of the funniest prize moments of the episode, he actually landed on those 500 yo-yos, a prize valued at $5,995. He was now rebuilding his bank rapidly despite having already been crushed by two WHAMMYs. Eddie followed the yo-yos with another $2,250, and then one final $5,500 stop. When the dust finally settled, Eddie had completed an incredible comeback and finished the main game with $31,745, enough to defeat Dorothy and Shereen and advance to the Bonus Round.What made the second round especially memorable was how quickly everything changed.
After winning the main game with $31,745, Eddie’s night on Press Your Luck moved into the Bonus Round, where the focus shifted completely onto him, his dreams, and the people who had come to support him. Before Eddie started spinning, Elizabeth Banks turned toward his guests sitting in the studio audience, like his in-laws Diana and Jon giving viewers another personal glimpse into Eddie’s life and the people cheering him on. His supporters were visibly part of the experience, watching from the audience as Eddie prepared to face the Big Board by himself. That opening made the Bonus Round feel different from the earlier competition against Dorothy and Shereen. The main game had been about beating two opponents; now Eddie’s biggest opponent was simply the WHAMMY. The Bonus Round also began introducing personalized prizes based around Eddie’s interests and dreams. One was the “Eddie Spaghetti” package, which included 175 meals at Olive Garden along with Tony’s Playground related prize, while other personalized rewards would continue appearing as Eddie advanced. Eddie was thrilled to have a playgorund for his son Tony, because he loved playgorudns and will get a sensory theme playgorund, which one will be at this house and his parents house. These prizes are one of the things that make the modern Press Your Luck Bonus Round so exciting: contestants are not merely chasing generic cash amounts but opportunities specifically connected to things that matter to them. For Eddie, each new level meant another chance to win something meaningful while his guests watched from just a few feet away.
The first level could hardly have gone better. Eddie began pressing his luck and immediately started accumulating cash without seeing a single WHAMMY. He landed $2,020, followed by $5,000, and then $3,000 plus another spin. The extra spin kept his run going, and Eddie continued with $4,000, $3,250, a MOVE 2 SPACES result that gave him $2,700 plus another spin, and eventually another $3,750. By the end of Level 1, Eddie had amassed $23,720 in the Bonus Round alone. His guests in the audience had plenty to celebrate because Eddie had completed the entire first level without being touched by the WHAMMY. It looked as though the momentum from his main-game victory was carrying directly into the end game. Then came Level 2, and Eddie’s night suddenly became enormous. Eddie wanted to have a Buddhist retreat in Thailand which he used to do alot of medititation in College. After opening the level with $6,150, he landed on one of his personalized dream prizes: a three-day Buddhist retreat in Thailand worth $36,678. Combined with the $23,720 he had already accumulated and the additional cash, Eddie’s Bonus Round bank climbed to approximately $66,548. For a moment, everything seemed to be going his way. Eddie had survived Level 1 perfectly, captured a huge personalized vacation, and appeared to be building toward a spectacular payday. Then the WHAMMY finally found him. Eddie landed on the Weightlifting WHAMMY, and just like that, everything accumulated in his Bonus Round disappeared. The roughly $66,548 bank—including that $36,678 Thailand retreat—was wiped away in seconds. His guests had just watched him climb from zero to more than $60,000, only to see the board take everything back. But Eddie still had spins remaining, and his response showed the persistence that became such an important part of his episode. Instead of allowing the setback to end his momentum, he returned to the board and immediately began rebuilding, landing $5,500.
Level 3 introduced another massive personal dream: a Cadillac Escalade. Eddie had already lost one giant prize package, but now another major opportunity was staring at him from the Big Board. He added another $5,500 and then landed $4,444, rebuilding his bank to $15,444. Once again, the comeback was happening right in front of Elizabeth Banks and Eddie’s supporters in the audience. After the first WHAMMY had seemingly destroyed his Bonus Round, Eddie had managed to create another respectable bank. Then came WHAMMY number two. The Sports Car WHAMMY appeared and erased Eddie’s entire $15,444 comeback. The timing made it particularly cruel because one of Eddie’s dream prizes sitting on the board was the Cadillac Escalade. Once again, Eddie returned to zero. By Level 4, however, the episode reached the moment that eventually gave it its title. Elizabeth revealed an extraordinary Bluey-inspired trip to Brisbane, Australia, involving a private jet and a visit to Australia Zoo. The reveal generated one of Eddie’s biggest reactions of the night and helped produce the unforgettable phrase “Frickin’ Brisbane!”, which became the title ABC used for the episode. He would also excited to take his family to Brisbane and the adventures of the wildlife of Australian animals. Now Eddie had another reason to keep pressing his luck. He began Level 4 with $4,500, followed by a huge $8,000 plus another spin, rebuilding his bank yet again to $12,500. Considering everything that had already happened, it was remarkable that Eddie had managed to come back twice. His guests were once again watching him build toward another potentially huge total while the Brisbane adventure remained somewhere on the Big Board waiting to be hit. Unfortunately, the WHAMMY had another surprise. WHAMMY number three was the Surfing WHAMMY, which wiped away Eddie’s $12,500 and sent him back to zero for the third time. Eddie now faced the most dangerous situation possible on Press Your Luck: three WHAMMYs. One more would mean immediate elimination. Yet Eddie still managed another recovery. His next successful spin produced $6,750, which meant that even after three complete wipeouts, he entered the 5th and final stage of the Bonus Round the Big Bucks Bonanza with money back in his bank. This was where the tension reached its peak. Eddie had his guests supporting him in the audience, Elizabeth Banks beside the Big Board, $6,750 rebuilt after another disaster, and just one WHAMMY standing between him and Game Over. After that, Elizabeth asked him if he wanted to stay or walk away, but Eddie choose to stay as fans of the audience chanted his name to get the big bucks Bonanza. Then came the final spin. The board stopped on WHAMMY number four was the Jackhammer WHAMMY.
After Eddie landed on his fourth and final WHAMMY, the Jackhammer WHAMMY brought his Bonus Round to an abrupt end, but the episode closed on a heartfelt and positive moment. Elizabeth Banks walked over and gave Eddie a hug, reminding him that he should be proud of everything he had accomplished on Press Your Luck. The animated WHAMMY began hammering away while excitedly going “Yes! Yes! Yes!” Even though the Bonus Round ended with four WHAMMYs, Eddie remained grateful for the opportunity and thanked Elizabeth and the show for allowing him to live out such a memorable experience. The best news was that Eddie did not leave empty-handed, because everything he had won in the main game was already safe. That included his unforgettable prize of 500 yo-yos, along with his other cash and prizes, bringing his final winnings to $31,745. For an autistic contestant appearing on a major network game show, Eddie’s episode was also a meaningful example of representation because viewers got to see far more than a label. They saw his interests, his humor, his excitement, his strategy, the people supporting him, his huge celebrations, and even the disappointment of repeatedly losing money to the WHAMMY. He was able to experience the same wild emotional roller coaster that has made Press Your Luck famous for decades.
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