“Newlywed Game” Host Bob Eubanks on Rejecting ‘Risqué’ Questions and Why the Show Came to Use the Term ‘Makin’ Whoopee’

Angela AndaloroSat, July 11, 2026 at 3:58 PM UTC

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Bob Eubanks hosts “The Newlywed Game” in 1970Credit: ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty -

The original run of The Newlywed Game aired from 1966 to 1974

Bob Eubanks, host of the game show, appeared on The Game Show Starring Bradley Clarke, where he opened up about his days making the series

Eubanks recalled profanities, infidelity and where he drew the line

Bob Eubanks still has some fun memories of the bawdy moments from The Newlywed Game.

In a 2021 appearance on Bradley Clarke’s The Game Show, Eubanks looked back on his time hosting the game show from July 11, 1966, to Dec. 20, 1974. When Clarke noted that the questions on the syndicated version of The Newlywed Game were “a bit more risqué and personal” than those of the network version, Eubanks opened up about having a degree of veto power over the questions.

“The writers would get into a room, and they would start writing questions, and they would get bored, and they would say, ‘Oh, we gotta get it done,’ and they would come up with some stuff that, for the time anyway, was pretty rich. So they gave me that honor.”

Altogether, though, Eubanks said he “refused to ask about 20% of the questions that the writers came up with,” explaining, “I’m the one who would have to take the brunt of it.”

Bob Eubanks hosts “The Newlywed Game,” 1969Credit: ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

Elsewhere in the conversation, Eubanks talked about how the show handled discussing sex, noting that the most widely accepted term for it on TV, at the time, was “making love.”

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“In 1966, as I said, television was pretty quiet, and they wanted me to say ‘make love,’ because the soap operas and all of the other shows were saying ‘make love,’” he explained. “And I wouldn’t do it because I think you shouldn’t have to explain ‘make love’ to your children until you were ready to do so.”

“So Sinatra had the hit record, ‘Makin’ Whoopee.’ I said, ‘I’ll tell you what. Let’s use the word whoopee, and it can be whatever you want it to be.’ So that’s how it was born, over the entire original run.”

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Eubanks admitted that he was surprised at how many couples were willing to put their relationships to the test on the show, recalling the time a man outed himself for cheating by participating.

“One time we had a couple on the show, and then we got a letter that said, ‘I saw my husband on your Newlywed Game with some woman that I didn’t even know he knew,’” he recalled. “Now, how stupid is that? This guy’s having an affair; he goes on The Newlywed Game, telling everybody, ‘We’re married,’ and his wife sees it. I don’t know what happened after that, but people amazed me.”

on People

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”