The Newlywed Game was a competition that featured four couples married less than one year. Host Bob Eubanks posed a series of questions first to the wives and then, after reuniting the couples, to the husbands. Couples whose responses matched earned points. Fun hijinks and funny arguments ensued. Then there was a second round when the husbands answered first. The couple with the most points at the end won a household appliance supplied by a sponsor.
The questions were often slightly suggestive in a tame 1970s game show sort of way. There were a lot of references to "making whoopee."
As a teen, I was mildly interested in such topics, but I seldom watched TV game shows. For whatever reason, I found myself viewing the Newlywed Game one rainy afternoon. Maybe I was stuck inside and had to choose among four television stations. Anyhow, my attention was captured when the host asked the wives, "How many spankings has your husband given you?" I was immediately enthralled.
The first wife seemed very traditional in her dress and hairstyle. She declared with apparent pride that her husband has never spanked her.
The next wife seemed annoyed with the question and announced that it had only happened once. The implication was never again.
The third wife was a giggly blonde who blushed as she meekly answered,"Ten."
The final wife was a cute brunette who smiled, paused, and said, "It's a whole lot. Twenty maybe?"
After the couples were reunited, the same questions were posed to the husbands. "How many spankings have you given your wife?"
The first husband was a gruff fellow who seemed well matched with his conservative spouse. He correctly predicted his wife's answer of zero.
The second husband was equally successful in recalling their one unfortunate experiment. He rolled his eyes as his wife hrumpfed.
The third husband was a handsome fellow, but he seemed perplexed by the question. Perhaps he was debating whether he wanted to give the actual answer. After a pause, he whispered, "Five." His wife turned over her card which read, "Ten Spankings." She gently bopped him with the card and said, "You know it's a lot more than that." They looked at each other and smiled.
When the camera panned to the fourth couple, the wife was already grinning. When the host asked her husband for a count of spankings, he replied, "Wow. I don't know. Twenty?" His wife popped up and smothered him with kisses. He smiled too and exclaimed, "I give her a little one every morning."
The fouth couple eventually won the competition. At the end of the show, the set divided to reveal the winners' prize. The couple was delighted to see their new avocado green side-by-side refrigerator freezer.
OK, I may have filled in some of the details with the passage of time, but this episode made a huge impression on my teenage mind. I felt simultaneously jealous and in awe. How might this work I wondered? What would it feel like? I wanted to know more!
Of course, I was eventually able to learn all of these answers in the best possible way. But this was the very moment when I first envisioned being a spanked wife.
