'Ben Stein's Money' was real?!?

Remember the game show on Comedy Central, Win Ben Stein's Money? Twas a great show. The premise was that three contestants competed to literally, well, win up to $5000 of "Ben Stein's Money". In the final round, the one remaining contestant would go head-to-head against Ben Stein. If the contestant lost, he won the dollar value he scored during the show, and if the contestant won, he got the whole $5000. (Here's a clip of the show from YouTube.)

With the YouTube clip I found tonight, I could pause it at will, so I read the disclamer text that appears at the end of the episode (that flashes by too fast for you to read). Here's what it says:

"'Ben Stein's Money' is the prize budget furnished by the Producer. Ben Stein keeps the prize money in the prize budget won by the contestants at the end of each production period. If during the production period the contestant's winnings exceed the prize budget, Producer pays the overage."

You know what that means? "Ben Stein's Money" was actually Ben Stein's money! A prize budget was set aside for the contestant's winnings, and Ben Stein kept what was left at the end. So, when Ben Stein said he was defending against the contestants taking his own money, he really meant it!

They really should have made it more clear that it was just not figuratively "Ben Stein's money", but that it was real. Not that the show wasn't great.

I miss the great shows from Comedy Central like Win Ben Stein's Money and Battlebots.