Richard Dawson Kissed 20,000 Women — What Finally Made Him Stop?

By his own executive producer's count, Richard Dawson kissed close to 20,000 women on Family Feud. ABC tried for nine years to make him stop. Sponsors hated it. Doctors wrote to the newspapers. And backstage, contestants were lined up for a mouth check with a magnifying glass before they could go on air. None of that stopped him. A four-year-old girl did. This is the real story behind the Kissing Bandit: the war evacuee born Colin Lionel Emm who ran away to sea at fourteen, the viewer vote he used to beat his own network, the hate mail he revealed in his 1985 farewell, the medical screening the audience never knew about, the feud that ended his Match Game run, the contestant he went on to marry, and the promise at home that ended the kissing for good. #KissingBandit #GameShowHistory #ClassicTV #DaytimeTV #MatchGame #HogansHeroes #80sTV #RetroTV #Nostalgia #VintageTV #OldSchoolTV