Random Behind-The-Scenes Look At 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' From A Contestant Who Won $500k (14 items)

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  (#13) The 1,000,000 Dollar Question Provided Very Little Suspense

  In between the $500,000 and $1,000,000 question, there suddenly was some kind of issue with the lighting in the studio. The three electricians who had spent the previous few hours hanging out drinking coffee on the set were pressed into service. They had to pull up the floor. Regis suddenly got animated.

  "C'mon, the kid's on a roll! Let's get going here!" Regis entertained the studio by telling the audience I would buy drinks at the Irish pub we had gone to the previous night if I won a million dollars. I didn't argue. I didn't mind stretching out this very surreal moment and stared into the 20-foot electronic mirror in front of me. It all felt completely bizarre.

  Both the executive producer and another producer came out and cautioned me not to go crazy. I had already qualified for the annual greatest hits show for the big winners of the previous year. I think they wanted to avoid a downer ending. Even the new contestants were pretty jazzed, knowing that one way or the other, I would be on my way out soon after 90 minutes in the Hot Seat.  

  Then it was time, but the suspense was short lived:

  In the United States, the Sony Walkman personal cassette player was originally marketed in 1979 under what name?
  A. Soundabout   B. Listener   C. Eardrummer   D. Stowaway

  The correct answer was "Soundabout," but I had no idea, and even though Regis tried to entice me to take a guess or at least stretch out the drama, I decided to take the money and not guess. Had I been wrong, my prize money would have been reduced to $32,000. I tapped out. When I got out of the chair, Regis graciously shook my hand and handed me a facsimile $500,000 check. I hugged my dad and my uncle to resounding applause, and left the stage, not quite comprehending what had just happened.

  We were led backstage and not allowed to leave until the taping was over. Unfortunately, network rules precluded any alcohol, so I had to be content with diet soda until the show ended. Only two new contestants got on, immediately reminding me how lucky I had been. We did make it back to the Irish pub and various other locations that night, despite my scheduled early work day, which I actually made it to reasonably on time. I finally crashed on the redeye flight home, having used up every ounce of energy in my body. Later, I would find out I was the only contestant in the history of the show to use every lifeline by $8,000 and still make it to the 1,000,000 dollar question.
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  (#5) A Miracle Occurred, And Then Was Almost Rescinded

  I barely paid attention as the taping started up again. I began to calculate how many people I would have to tell that I didn't make it. Losing on Jeopardy by $2 and now missing the Hot Seat by six-tenths of a second had to be some kind of record for game show nightmares. I braced myself for one more question and Regis read it to the contestant. Instead of pausing to think it over, the contestant immediately came up with the correct answer. That meant the taping would continue. 

  The next question was a relatively easy one about which individual in the Godfather series did not win an Oscar. This time, the contestant hesitated. He decided to use one of his lifelines and ask the audience, who gave him the wrong answer. He went with it and, suddenly, he was toast. Now, we would get a fourth Fastest Finger opportunity.

  The stage crew scrambled quickly back to their places and I focused on the question. I had to put four rock songs with the word "Don't" in the title in order. I was reasonably confident and this time only two contestants got it correct, my time the fastest by over two seconds. Regis excitedly beckoned me over to the Hot Seat, and in an exhilarated daze I stumbled in his direction.

  But as soon as I sat down, I got a strange feeling. Regis, who had been so ebullient moments before, looked away from me toward the stage manager who was speaking into his headset. They both ignored me. In a hyper voice, the stagehand kept saying "Are we good or do we need another?" Clearly, someone was looking at the last sequence and they were taking a long time. Long enough for me to think that maybe there might be a problem.

  The show's lawyer told us that any glitch meant the Fastest Finger would have to replayed. I was about to have a seizure when the stagehand blurted out "Good to go, Regis!" Regis lifted his head, looked me square in the eye, and enthusiastically said "Congratulations." Incredibly, I was in the Hot Seat, only the second time the show had featured five contestants in one episode.  

  Later, between my dad in the audience and some things I heard from the stagehands, I pieced together what happened to cause the drama. The woman who had gotten all four Fastest Fingers in rehearsal had not gotten a single one correct during the actual taping. Before the last opportunity, she complained that something was wrong with her keypad, but to to no avail.
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  (#2) It Took Six Months To Get On 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?'

  12 years after the Jeopardy! debacle, I began trying to get on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? The show's producers devised an ingenious method to select contestants: you called an 800 number and were prompted to answer three digitally recorded questions via your telephone keypad.

  The first question would be easy, something like "Put these American Presidents in order from oldest to most recent." You would then hear "Reagan, Washington, Jefferson, Truman." The correct answer was 2, 3, 4, 1. From there, the questions would get harder, with the third question something like, "Put these NFL running backs in order from the year they won the league's MVP award."

  If you got all three questions correct, you were placed in a pool of 40 individuals and given the opportunity to call in during a 15 minute window and answer five more questions in the same format. 10 of those 40 individuals would be picked for a live taping, based on the number of correct answers they gave.

  To guarantee potential contestants could only call once a day, you needed to provide your birthday and last four digits of your social security number during your call, a method of establishing a unique identifier for any contestant. This also gave the producers a method to determine what you knew and didn't know based on what answers you supplied during the qualification process. 

  It took months of answering these questions before I heard anything. Then, after I answered the three questions correctly several days in a row, I got a call from a live operator who told me that I qualified for phase two. I was given a time, a different 800 number, and told to call and answer five questions. The time was non-negotiable, and I had to answer the questions while on a business trip and was interrupted by co-workers while on the phone. The questions were more difficult; one was, "Put these television show addresses in order from newest to oldest programs."

  When I hung up the phone, I immediately presumed I had blown it, and became preoccupied with the details of my business trip. So I was surprised when I received a call from the show's staff just a few hours later inviting me to fly to New York for a taping of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
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  (#10) Your Mind And Memory Are Capable Of Strange And Amazing Things

  Then, at the best possible time, some things broke my way. For $250,000, I was asked "What country encompasses all of Asia Minor?" My options were Turkey, Indonesia, Iran, and Ukraine. I remembered back to my elementary school days, when I used to collect National Geographic maps that were inserted into the magazine.

  I remembered underneath Turkey on these maps it always said "Asia Minor." I had no idea why, or what it even meant. I still have no idea, but this was the easiest question so far and I could sense Regis getting excited as I methodically whipped through and eliminated three of the four options, leaving me with Turkey, the right answer.

  Regis didn't need to add any drama, as the audience was growing more and more excited as I was now two questions away from $1,000,000. Adding to the surreal atmosphere, right in front of me stood a 20-foot monitor with my torso and face standing over me, reflecting every move and gesture I made.  
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  (#9) The Questions Remained Difficult At $64,000 And $125,000

  At some point I expected the questions to get easier, regardless of dollar value. We had been told each contestant had a pre-selected stack of 16 questions that was not altered based on the show's situation. At least that's what they claimed. I believed the law of averages was about to turn my way. They couldn't keep asking me about topics I knew nothing about.

  But $64,000 was about books by the offbeat writer Douglas Coupland. The tension and stress actually prevented me from immediately remembering I knew at least some titles he had written, the most famous being Generation X. I successfully came up with the one book he hadn't written (High Fidelity, by Nick Hornby) and I was on to the next question. By now Regis was getting pretty excited, exclaiming, "We can't stop him!" as I seemingly pulled another horseshoe out of my butt.

  For $125,000, I got, "In 1997, Students Against Drunk Driving changed their name to what?" Television studios are typically much smaller than they appear on screen at home. The audience was actually about 200 people shoehorned into a compressed, circular bowl and our podium put Regis practically on top of me. He was close enough to read my facial expressions and when this question came up, he again sensed I was overwhelmed.

  But the question was actually easy to figure out if you thought it over carefully. I eliminated "Discrimination and Denial" and "Dangerous Delinquency"; nobody with any kind of PR flair would come up with that. "Drugs and Drinking" also didn't sound snappy enough, so I was left with "Destructive Decisions." I was also close enough to Regis to see he was surprised when I didn't hesitate before making that my final answer. He tried to drag out the suspense by acting as if I got it wrong, but I saw through the fake-out. I was correct and now three questions away from 1,000,000 dollars.  
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  (#14) It Took Weeks For The Actual Check To Arrive

  One of the conditions of appearing on the show is a driver's license and Social Security card, which must match the number used during the qualification rounds. You also fill out a 1099, which means that the Disney Company, which essentially produces the show, will not deduct any taxes, and that you are responsible. Also, you don't get paid unless the show actually airs, which it finally did on August 15, 2000.

  My check arrived in an unassuming FedEx envelope at my office while I was at lunch. I absentmindedly opened it up, suddenly confronted with a $500,000 check. I had a great time at the Bank of America trying to get it into my account. The branch manager first thought it was fake, and then tried to schedule appointments for me with every salesman in Los Angeles. I politely declined.

  They never called me back to the show. Instead, they assembled some of the worst losers from the previous year, which was actually a brilliant move. My internet company folded (predictably) about a year later, which was one of the reasons I wanted to get on the show. By then, I didn't care.

  I was already in Europe on a six-month trip through 15 countries, hitting every bucket list place from the running of the bulls at Pamplona to the casino at Monte Carlo. One of the biggest highlights was visiting the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, and the room where the provisional government surrendered power to the Bolsheviks in 1917. Needless to say, I took a few extra minutes there.

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