“Family Feud” contestants had to take herpes tests when Richard Dawson was host, according to book

"A History of Showbiz and the Culture Wars" details the policy in response to the host's penchant for smooching contestants.

Here's an anecdote that would probably leave Steve Harvey speechless: Family Feud contestants had to take herpes tests during Richard Dawson’s tenure as host, according to a new book.

Kliph Nesteroff's recently released Outrageous: A History of Showbiz and the Culture Wars reveals the long-running game show implemented a policy that stated contestants had to "undergo a mouth test with a magnifying glass from medical staff" due to Dawson's penchant for greeting female contestants with a kiss on the mouth.

"A contestant revealed that before her appearance, a Family Feud production assistant entered the dressing room with a magnifying glass and a cotton swab and said, 'Okay, everybody line up for your herpes test,'" Nesteroff writes in the book.

It came after viewers and physicians expressed concern. "Several game show fans were repulsed," Nesteroff writes. "One viewer complained, 'Richard Dawson spreads more bugs every week than a flu epidemic.'"

He also recounts the following letter sent to Philadelphia Daily News at the time: "As a physician, I have wondered about the risks Richard Dawson takes in kissing every female contestant on Family Feud, The diseases that could be transmitted by promiscuous kissing are too long and too loathsome to recount here. Does Dawson or the producers take any caution to prevent infection? Are none of them informed?"

EW has reached out to ABC for comment.

Dawson, who died in 2012 from esophageal cancer complications at the age of 79, was the original host of the popular game show, emceeing between 1976 and 1985 and again between 1994 and 1995. In conversation with the Television Academy in 2010, Dawson said he began the tradition to help calm contestants' nerves, citing a woman who was so nervous she couldn't name a green vegetable.

"I said, 'I'm gonna do something that my mom would do to me whenever I had a problem of any kind," he recalled. "And I kissed her on the cheek, and I said, 'That's for luck.' And she said, 'Asparagus.'" Though ABC told him he's "gotta stop the kissing" due to the complaints, Dawson said that thousands of letters poured in in support of the kisses.

Outrageous chronicles the controversies of show business and attempts at censorship, beginning with the vaudeville age of the late 1800s and early 1900s to present day. Controversial episodes of I Love Lucy and Laverne & Shirley are a few of the topics explored.

Family Feud is currently in its 25th season with host Harvey, who has emceed sans smooches since 2010.

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