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An Alabama football fan was left ecstatic after scooping $300k live on College GameDay - despite missing her attempt in Pat McAfee's viral kicking challenge.
Every week one lucky spectator is plucked from the GameDay crowd to face the lucrative kicking challenge on ESPN's college football program, which heads to campuses across America on a weekly basis.
This week McAfee - who has already given out a whopping $2.85m this year, with $1.25m going to charity - and his crew headed to Alabama for the latest edition of the show ahead of the Crimson Tide's game against the Vanderbilt Commodores.
Saturday's show marked only the third time a female contestant was chosen to take on the kicking challenge, with Alabama student Gabby stepping up in a bid to land the full $500k prize.
Having never kicked a football, Gabby's attempt barely traveled 10 yards as she missed out on the half-million jackpot. Yet McAfee was soon on hand with an unexpected lifeline.
The GameDay host promised to award her $300k if sportscaster and former college quarterback Kirk Herbstreit could successfully throw a ball through the field goal. And Herbstreit did so effortlessly to spark wild scenes in Alabama.
An Alabama football fan was left ecstatic after scooping $300k live on College GameDay
Pat McAfee gave the fan, Gabby, a lifeline after she came up short in the viral kicking challenge
An overjoyed Gabby leapt up and down in jubilation after becoming $300k richer, before she embraced McAfee and then thanked Herbstreit.
'It's getting even more pricey!' McAfee joked. 'Kirk Herbstreit I did not know you had that in you.'
McAfee's brash persona is not to everyone's liking on College GameDay, with the host coming in for some criticism since taking on the role in 2022.
Yet Herbstreit recently opened up on his colleague's incredible generosity, telling Sports Illustrated about the expensive kicking challenge: 'He’s given over $500,000. People are like, "ESPN does that, right?" I’m like, I know he makes a lot of money, but he’s writing checks to these guys.
'It’s cool. Sometimes I don’t even know he’s doing this. He’s like, "Kirk’s going to throw in $200,000 over here, too." I’m like, that is not discussed beforehand.'
