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Proving he would put his money where his stats are, FiveThirtyEight blogger Nate Silver made a very public wager this week with Morning Joe co-host Joe Scarborough about the presidential election. “@JoeNBC: If you think it’s a toss-up, let’s bet,” Silver tweeted on Thursday. “If Obama wins, you donate $1,000 to the American Red Cross. If Romney wins, I do. Deal?” Silver then upped the ante to $2,000, but drew a rebuke from the public editor of The New York Times, which publishes his blog. “He’s been on a rant, calling me an idiot and a partisan, so I’m asking him to put some integrity behind it,” Silver said in his defense. “I don’t stand to gain anything from it; it’s for charity.”
The payoff: Without accepting the bet, Scarborough pledged $1,000 to the Red Cross on Thursday (and a reader matched his donation). Silver, for his part, tweeted that he donated a brand appropriate $2,538.
Nate Silver bet Joe Scarborough $2,000 that Obama will beat Romney on Election Day. See other big gambles from George Clooney, Bruce Willis, Leonardo DiCaprio and more.
Proving he would put his money where his stats are, FiveThirtyEight blogger Nate Silver made a very public wager this week with Morning Joe co-host Joe Scarborough about the presidential election. “@JoeNBC: If you think it’s a toss-up, let’s bet,” Silver tweeted on Thursday. “If Obama wins, you donate $1,000 to the American Red Cross. If Romney wins, I do. Deal?” Silver then upped the ante to $2,000, but drew a rebuke from the public editor of The New York Times, which publishes his blog. “He’s been on a rant, calling me an idiot and a partisan, so I’m asking him to put some integrity behind it,” Silver said in his defense. “I don’t stand to gain anything from it; it’s for charity.”
The payoff: Without accepting the bet, Scarborough pledged $1,000 to the Red Cross on Thursday (and a reader matched his donation). Silver, for his part, tweeted that he donated a brand appropriate $2,538.
George Clooney was so confident he would not get married for a second time that he bet Nicole Kidman and Michelle Pfeiffer $10,000 each that he would still be single and childless at age 40. “If anyone wants to make the same bet for when I’m 50,” he said at the time,” get in touch.”
The payoff: After winning the bet at 40, Clooney returned the money and went double-or-nothing that he would be unmarried and have no children on his 50th birthday. He won again.
Mayors and governors famously make public wagers when their local teams play in a Super Bowl or World Series, but this year a player got in on the action—for a regular-season game. Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers bet Nathan Morris of Boyz II Men that the Packers would defeat the San Francisco 49ers in the season opener last September. According to TMZ, if the Niners lost, Morris agreed to wear a Rodgers jersey all week, and if they won, Rodgers would have to wear the jersey of San Francisco quarterback Alex Smith all week.
The payoff: The 49ers defeated the Packers 30-22, but Rodgers didn’t pay up. “There’s nothing to that,” Rodgers said after the game. “That got blown way out of proportion. It was at best a joke between friends, and, unfortunately, the great reporting of TMZ blew another one.” But Boyz II Men didn’t let him off the hook. They tweeted after the game:“Pressing the jersey now! RT @shawnstockman And that should be that for the Packer/ 9er game. Looks like a jersey will be worn!!”
Would you rather have Jack Dawson as your father or Spider-Man? Best friends Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire were so confident that the other would become a father first that the two reportedly bet $25,000 on the prospect.
The payoff: On Nov. 7, 2010, DiCaprio got $25,000 richer when Maguire’s fiancée gave birth to the couple’s daughter, Ruby Sweetheart.
While filming "The Whole Nine Yards" in 2000, Matthew Perry was convinced the movie would win the box office in its opening week and so he made a bet with his costar Bruce Willis. If the film was No. 1, Willis, who was scheduled to be a guest star on "Friends," would agree to appear for free.
The payoff: "The Whole Nine Yards" was No. 1 at the box office in its first week and Willis donated his "Friends" fee to charity. But it worked out OK for Willis—he won an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor for his role on "Friends."
