Who DOESN'T Want to Be a Millionaire, Part 7, The Carnage Afterward

If you got here via a search and want to read the entire story, start HERE. 

After we all got back to the hotel, millions of phone calls ensued. After the show, the producers all told us to keep whatever happened a secret and just say whether we made it into the hot seat or not. First, I called ISU, and one of the secretaries in the Econ department was almost in-tears talking to me. I mentioned that they wanted to keep whatever happened quiet, but half the campus seemed to already know that I made it into the hot seat. Next was a call to my parents in Illinois and North Carolina. When I got a hold of Gilman, I was told that most of the county knew I made it in the hot seat (I'm guessing this was an exaggeration, but gossip truly does fly in Iroquois County). My father, being the parent that he is, made sure to tell me to be smart with the money, as I'm assuming he thought I was going to try to buy the Empire State Building. Other than ISU, nobody knew about making it to at least the $8,000. I also called the Pantagraph and told them what we were allowed to tell them, as well as the Celador/Valleycrest contacts for press information.


After the phone calls everywhere, we figure, what the heck...let's go out to eat and catch a show! We walked down to Times Square and looked around. For some reason, the only real place we could find that sounded good at the time was TGI Fridays. Before stopping there, we walked over to the TKTS kiosk to see if any Broadway shows still had tickets. The Lion King was nearby, but we (gasp) passed on that. I wanted to see Phantom, but Sheri was more in the mood for Les Miserables, so we got tickets for that night's performance of Les Mis. After eating we found the theatre and were absolutely blown away by our first performance on Broadway. During the intermission, we found another of the contestants from the show and talked for a while. When the show ended, we had a fun time talking while walking back to the hotel.


As you could probably imagine, I slept like a log that night, due to exhaustion.


The following morning, we were faced with a dilemma...we had a very late flight back, but we had to be checked out early. We got packed up, threw everything in storage, and hit the town. We had our first experience with the New York City Subway system, and we nearly kissed the debris-strewn sidewalk when we re-emerged at our destination. We headed out to the Statue of Liberty, where the line was taking forever. We stopped at the base and decided not to head do the top. It was a dreary, gloomy day. I distinctly remember looking over at the skyline and seeing the World Trade Center, only the top 2/3 of it was obscured by the fog. We took a picture of it, but it didn't turn out too well. We considered heading up to the top of WTC, but we knew we wouldn't be able to see anything. I still think back to this whenever we see 9/11 footage...all those employees and tourists (and their families) had no idea...










After the Statue of Liberty, we headed down to Wall Street to take a look at the trading floor.


Eeehh (and this is coming from an economist). I think it was a slow day on the trading floor. We were in a recession, and everything was simply stagnant.


Our scheduled time to meet the car to head back to LGA was coming up, so we hailed a cab and went back to the hotel to grab our stuff. As we waited, we talked to Kevin (see previous entry). Despite everything that had happened, he was still able to carry on a comprehensive conversation. His mother (the companion) was there too, and she was hilarious! There was a slight snafu with the car (it was 45 minutes late, and we only had a little over an hour to get to LaGuardia and make the plane. The driver screamed through traffic (how he did that, I'll never know), and we made the plane!

A couple of minutes after we sat down in our seats, we see another contestant from the show after us. One of the nicest couples ever, Kevin and Susan Rupe, were one row behind us. We talked excitedly for a couple of minutes, since I hadn't heard how they did (Kevin won $64,000). We talked about Kevin's win as well as Donna White's making it into the hot seat and being the carry-over contestant. Donna was also a fun character and really nice.

We landed in St. Louis and parted ways as they were heading on to Oklahoma. Our flight was canceled, and we had to catch the last flight out to Bloomington.

We got home and collapsed.


The following morning, we were moving to our new house. We had stopped delivery of the paper already, so I didn't see if there was anything in there just yet. We do a walkthrough of the new house and then I head in to teach. Before I do that, I decide to stop by the local Kroger for a donut and a pop/Coke/whatever-you-call-it-where-you're-from.


I see the Pantagraph for the first time.



I nearly drop the donuts.



On the front page, prominently in the center, I see the picture.

From Mush's Blog

(Game Show photos courtesy of Valleycrest Productions)

HOLY CRAP!!!!!


Right above the picture is the headline:

"IS HE A MILLIONAIRE? HIS FINAL ANSWER FOR NOW: NO COMMENT"




I purchase one, and the checkout girl did exactly what you'd expect...she looked at me...looked down at the paper...looked back at me...


Then I went to school...I had several folks drop the paper off in my mailbox, and teaching just wasn't going to happen today, despite my best efforts to rein the class in. After I got done teaching, we went to close on the house, and the bank was all abuzz about the show. The running joke was that we were going to buy a bigger house.

Sheri then went back to the houses to work with family/friends who were helping move the stuff while I attempted to teach one more class (again, failing miserably). The rumor on campus was that I missed the $8,000 question and walked with $1,000, though there were a few that thought I had won it all. I kept to my word not to tell anyone.



The show was to air about 2 weeks later on a Friday. During that time, I went through interviews all over the place (including a fun one with Pete Geddeis (one of my phone-a-friend possibilities). He knew the morning show for WBNQ (Susan Saunders and Kevin Fasig), so we teamed up for a segment over there. WJBC also did one (they tried several times to get me to disclose what happened). I did interviews for WGFA over in Iroquois County (I was exhausted by then and gave them what I feel was a terrible interview) as well as several newspapers, including the Hickory, NC paper, who my mother contacted (gotta love mothers).

We talked with the local Damon's restaurant to see if we could reserve one of their rooms for the show (Damon's had HUGE screens). Initially they balked, but when we told them that it might be around 100 people - most of them eating, they let us have the room. Sheri's family, many of our friends, and our co-workers came over to watch it with us. Over in Gilman, my father had reserved the parish hall in the Lutheran church and rented a big-screen tv. Most of my family and family friends were over there (again, around 100 people).

The buzz was growing around town because I was keeping quiet, but the word had leaked out that someone had just won over $2 million dollars. I was starting to wonder if everyone thought I was misleading them by not saying anything. I remember getting a phone call from our newest neighbor at the new house at work, wondering just how much I had won. People had heard that someone won it big, that I wasn't saying anything, and that we had just bought a house. EVERYONE was starting to think I won it all. Every time I turned on WJBC (talk radio), they were talking about the show (probably not, but it seemed like it).


We make it to Damons the night of the show, where I wore my "Millionaire" t-shirt that everyone got. I downed a beer as soon as I got there, and then Sheri and I started the interviews. WHOI TV was there, and we knew the camera operator (he was in Sheri's class in high School). The Pantagraph was also there, and WBNQ was thinking of doing a remote broadcast, but logistics didn't work out.

The show started, and everyone is whooping it up and having a fantastic time. It was surreal seeing the final product on TV. I was a little nervous about the introductions of the contestants because we couldn't hear Regis saying the names from all the applause during taping. We were all giving directions on how to do it. I was the 4th "light"...when the camera facing our side went off the third time, count to two seconds, and then look at the camera and wave. The light went off for the third time, and I count...1.....2....no light. Hmmmm....no light. I glance up at the jumbotron right as the camera goes on me.

Luckily, I looked up so quickly that you almost had to know what you were looking for on TV to see it.

By this time, the rest of the restaurant was in on the fact that the party was in the next room (from all the screaming). They took one of the HUGE screens reserved for sports and switched it over.

The first fastest finger question pops up, and, when everyone realized that I didn't get it right, they BOOOOOOOOOOOOO'ed me. I shout out something and pretend to start to walk out. Everyone was having a great time, trying to answer the questions


Then came the airline question. I looked at Sheri and gave here this "here we go" look. The question popped up, and nearly everyone gave up on it.

When they saw I got it right, this air of incredulity came across the room ("How in the Hell did he know that?!"), and the whole place erupts in screams and applause.

Kewl.


Then they showed Sheri when Regis talked to her...


...and an even BIGGER scream went up, as 75% of the patrons were Sheri's family/coworkers.


We get going through the stack, and everyone is answering. I am afraid to hear the "plains" question, and, sure enough, almost half of them said "trees", though the rest weren't sure about rocks, either. We keep on going to the Phone-a-friend question. We had 3 of the phone-a-friends there at Damons, including Neil. When Neil answered, the place went crazy again! All 3 of them told me that they were confident that they knew the answer, and, after talking to the other 2 who weren't in attendance, I probably would have been safe using any of them.

We break for commercial, and my phone starts ringing. North Carolina is checking in. I step outside to talk to my mother for a minute, and everyone from the other room is pointing and shouting, with thumbs-up etc.

We only talk for a moment because the show was returning from commercial. The $16,000 question was answered, and then the $32,000. It's asked, and everyone answers C: Fagin. They then look at me, who heard everyone answer it, and a collective "UH OH" filled the room. It seriously was funny at how many people said it!

The segment ends, and I told them that, had I won it all, all of their meals would be paid for.

From Mush's Blog

GREAT night! Afterwards, we went to some friends' house and played cards.


Then came the aftermath.


The Pantagraph ran the story on the front page the next morning. I had a couple of people ask for autographs, which was wholly unfamiliar to me. For the next 3 weeks, everywhere I went, I got the same reaction..."HEY...YOU were the guy on...." The funniest one had to be the optometrist, who said he watched the show. He then said he knew the answer to the one I didn't know just as he popped my eye with the glaucoma test. WBNQ did another interview, and Susan felt so bad about feeling like they were responsible for hyping it up so much...I told them that the show wanted exactly that.

Probably the weirdest thing to happen was later on that year in July during the Iroquois County Fair. My oldest sister was up for fair Queen, and, in the interview/Q&A section, you think they'd ask her about world peace or something...NOPE! They ask about me and Millionaire. As soon as they started talking about it, about 3,000 eyes peer towards me from the grandstand. I let out an "OH #*!@" under my breath and just sit there. Oh wait...it gets better! When asked if she knew the answer to "the question", Emily proceeds to tell everyone that, while she didn't know it, our 3-year old cousin knew it.


After the pageant, I went up and gave her a hug and then pretended to put her in a headlock for doing that!



People often ask how much money I actually got. A week or so after the show, I got the check for the full $16,000. We were responsible for taxes. Playing around with Turbo Tax, we discovered that we paid between $5,000 and $6,000 in taxes. The other big question I got was "What did you spend it on?" Well, we knew we had to pay taxes, so a LARGE portion of it went into savings. We paid off some bills, and the only splurge was that we bought a DVD/surround sound system (mid-range...nothing fancy). The rest of the money was saved. It was a good thing too, because I had 2 summers not long afterwards where I was unemployed (couldn't find any teaching positions).


It was definitely my 15 minutes of fame...would I do it any differently? Nope! I always wonder "what if" had I guessed at that question. I received several e-mails/postal messages from people who knew the name "Mushrush" from long ago. I think I had won just enough to help out with finances and have a good time in the experience, but not enough to warrant long-lost cousins asking for money.

The show still airs on Game Show Network a couple of times a year because it's just before Kevin Olmstead's big win, which people want to watch. Every time it's on, I usually end up reliving it a little.


I keep waiting for them to send a check for $16,000 every time it airs, but it must be getting lost in the mail.

Who DOESN’T Want to Be a Millionaire, Part 6, @#^$%&@$% Stack!

After the $1,000 question, the music comes back in, and it feels more like what you see on television. The screen in front of me gives the experience almost more of a video game feel than a game show where actual money is being won. Still, my mouth was parched and getting drier by the second.

The $2,000 comes up next, and it's a easy one one…a movie about fighting space aliens (Men In Black). I give the final answer in no time flat.

The $4,000 is a question on cooking chicken. No hesitation…the answer is rotisserie.

I'm feeling the groove!

Then comes the $8,000 question: "In what country would you find the county of Tipperary?

Immediately, I thought that it was either England, Ireland, or Scotland…and, of course, the choices include England and Ireland.

In my head, I start singing, "It's a long way to Tipperary…but it doessssssnnn't teelllll meeee whheeerrreee." Seriously, you can see me bobbing my head to the tune for a brief moment on TV. My students always get a kick out of seeing that. I still had the 50/50 and the phone-a-friend. If I did the 50/50, with my luck, I'd be stuck with England and Ireland. I start going through my phone a friend list to decide who to call. After a brief second, I decide to call Neil, who had been over to Europe (the U.K.) the previous summer.

Now, over at my phone-a-friends' locations. They all got phone calls before the show with instructions on what to expect. If I made it into the hot seat, they were to wait by the phone and, if the phone rang, to let it ring three times and then simply say, "hello." They were able to reach 4 of the 5 people on my list…I think they tried to get a hold of Neil while he was teaching. They brought this up to me before the show started and said that I may not be able to use him if they can't reach him if/when I get in the hot seat. Anyways, when I made it into the hot seat, apparently, Neil was in office hours but was just about ready to head out to class. The phone rings, and the producers tell Neil that I'm in the hot seat. Neil's in a dilemma…he has a room with 250 students ready for a lesson, and he's got to figure out what to do. He sends someone out to cancel the class and heads back into his office. About 7 minutes after the phone call from the producers, the phone rings again. Thinking that it was much too early for me to be calling (not realizing that I was already up to the $8,000 question with no delay), and worried that it was a student with a question about an upcoming test or a grade, Neil wants to get this guy off of the phone as quickly as possible so that Millionaire wouldn't have a problem getting through.

Ring…HELLO!!!!

The producers were expecting 3 rings, and I think they gave Neil a hard time for that.

Regis: Hello, Neil…Regis Philbin calling from Who Wants to Be a Millionaire…

You could tell Neil was caught off-guard a little when he realized that it wasn't a student.

They turn it over to me, and I immediately thought it was weird to hear the disembodied voice of Neil echoing throughout the studio. I run through the question and the choices. Immediately, Neil responds with "Ireland." We chat for a quick second about him touring over there recently, and I ask the infamous: "100% sure?"

Neil: 95%

There were a few snickers throughout the studio on that one.

I go with Neil, and Neil is right!

The audience director lets out a WHOOP to get the crowd making some noise, and they announce that they're going to a commercial break. The cut taping, and I immediately grab the glass of water next to the console and down the entire glass in about 0.5 seconds flat. The producers come out and talk to us for a bit. They tell me that I don't need to go that fast…they'll edit out any pauses. The problem is that it's the speed that my brain works. Either I immediately know it or I don't, so there's no reason to pause. I tell them that I'll try to slow down. They ask if I need anything, and I croak out in a gravelly voice, "Water, please!" They bring out a pitcher, and I down 2 more glasses in the blink of an eye. It's not helping…I'm still cotton-mouthed. We joke around for another couple minutes and then get ready to start taping again. I look behind me to catch Sheri's eyes for a minute, and she looks like she's about to throw up. I didn't realize that she had specific instructions too. There were two jumbo screens in the corners of the studio that the audience often looked at. The significant other, however, was to look only at the back of the head of the person in the hot seat or at Regis (same line of sight). After a few questions, Sheri lost track of the dollar amount I was at, and she made a quick glance up to see. Immediately, the jumbotron flashed up "SIGNIFICANT OTHER, LOOK AT REGIS!"

Sheri flew back to look at Regis and didn't blink for the next 20 minutes.

As they get ready to start taping, they remove a small section of the plexiglass floor to make room for the boom camera to zoom in on the suitcase of money on the console (which was actually a flat-screen TV that changed to whatever picture they wanted whenever they needed to). We start taping again, and the boom camera flies up from the floor, nearly taking the stage hand's head off as he put the floor section back into place without getting in the scene. Regis and I banter back and forth a bit. The producers told us to try to make Regis laugh, so, when he asked me what planned on doing with my doctorate once I finished, I mentioned something about hopefully becoming a president of a university. Knowing that Regis was a huge spokesperson for Notre Dame, I threw in "Maybe Notre Dame…you never know!"

One of the producers lets out a huge laugh, while the rest of the audience was deathly silent. (insert chirping crickets here) Regis chuckles a little and then turns to talk to Sheri a bit. They ended up editing out that portion of the interview due to time issues. Before we know it, we're back to the game.

The $16,000 question dealt with biology and asked about the immune system. I was 99% sure of my answer, but, to appease the producers, I went through and eliminated the other three answers as fast as I could ("Lipids deal with fat molecules….marrow's in the bone for blood creation…anti-oxidants deal with…"

…and my mind went blank. My brain was screaming "FREE RADICALS, YOU MORON!!!" My tongue, however, decided to shut down temporarily. After what seemed like 20 seconds of silence (it was actually about a one-second pause), I just answer the damn question.

GOT IT!

Now, onto the ever-important $32,000 question. Get this one right, and I'm guaranteed that much money, with a free shot at $64,000.

"In Charles Dickens' 1837 novel, Oliver Twist, what is the name of the gang leader that teaches the boys how to pick-pocket?"

#$%#%^&#$!#@$#@% literature question!

The only character I knew from the book was the Artful Dodger. I hadn't read the book. I hadn't seen the movie or the musical. Hell, I hadn't even seen Disney's Oliver and Company. Of course, as I was told later, my 3 year old cousin knew it.

The choices were:

Bumbles

Noah Claypole

Fagin

Bill Sykes

I looked at the answers for a quick second and knew exactly what I was going to do. I muttered that I wish I had my phone-a-friend back, as Iroquois West High School would have been getting a call really quick! I burn the 50/50, which leaves me Fagin and Sykes.

I pause for about 5 more seconds as I made sure of my decision. I have a 50% chance of getting it right and going up to $32,000 and a 50% chance of losing $15,000 and going back to $1,000. I seriously had no clue as to what the answer is, so I slowly say, "I've got an idea…."

Smooth move, Mush.

I get the confidence to make my decision and choose to walk…with my luck, I would have been on the losing end of the 50/50 chance, and I didn't want to risk losing $15,000 purely on a guess. I'll be the first one to tell you that your actions get a LOT more conservative in the hot seat than on your couch screaming the answer. I make the final answer to walk. Regis, of course, asks what I would have guessed. I have a friend named Adam Fagen, so I decided to say "Fagin" to get Adam's name on TV.

Of course, Fagin was the correct answer. The audience starts clapping as I start to move the chair around to get out. Unfortunately, I swing the chair a bit harder than anticipated (adrenalin?), and nearly tip the thing over (it barely moves, but I react like it's going down!). Regis and I shake hands, and I head off. The taping ends, and they escort Sheri down to where I'm at. Sheri had no idea what dollar amount I was at when I walked (staring at Regis and not blinking, remember?). We get escorted back to where Dan and Alan were sitting and watching the show, and I collapse. A lot of congratulatory handshakes ensued, but I seriously do not remember a whole lot after this. We watched Kera Keenan get the next fastest finger, and she absolutely flies to the $64,000 question before tripping up. We knew that the horn had to be sounded soon, signaling the end of the show, with a carry-over and three other contestants. Surprisingly, they get another fastest finger question up, and Kevin squeaks in. He gets through a couple of questions before the horn sounds.

Wow…5 people made it on today. Good job everyone! I can't help but wonder how many potential millionaires didn't get their chance because of circumstances outside of their control. Had I guessed at the $32,000 question, Kevin would never have made it into the hot seat to make history. I still remember talking to him the next day at the hotel. We had the option to stay and watch the second show taping, but everyone in our show was exhausted and we all headed back to the hotel. None of us knew that Kevin won it all not 20 minutes after we left. He still was in a state of shock when he told us what happened after we left.

The last segment will deal with the aftermath…the calls home…the fun afterwards…the airing of the show…and (I know everyone wants to know) how much of the $16,000 was paid it taxes.

Who DOESN'T Want to Be a Millionaire, Part 5: GAME ON!

Dan gets going in his continuing effort to win the big money. He flies through the questions but likes to converse in between. The producers said they'd edit out the unnecessary stuff, but those of us in the ring were getting impatient. We wanted our chance!


Dan takes a chance at the $125,000 and misses it. It was interesting to see how it worked, because Regis could not say the word "mitochondria" for anything! After Dan was done, they brought him back into the hot seat so Regis could re-read the question. It took about 6 takes...every time he got to mitochondria, he'd flub it up, and they'd stop the tape. Finally, on the last try, he got it right. Dan tried sneaking in "I'll say...(correct answer). Not missing a beat, Regis screams "WRONG!!!!", which got every busting up laughing.


Regis heads off-stage while they prepare for the fastest finger. Someone comes on-stage to keep the audience engaged. After they get the prompter ready for Regis, he comes back, and we face our first fastest finger (say that 5 times fast!).



Put these movies in order of release, starting with the earliest:

First Wives Club
Tootsie

Earth Girls Are Easy

What Women Want



(I don't remember the order on the show...once I find my copy of it, I'll edit this part a bit)



I knew that Tootsie was in the 80s, the First Wives club was some time in the 90s, and What Women Want was fairly recent. Earth Girls Are Easy…no flippin idea! Okay…where to put it…sounds somewhat older, so maybe I should puQUIT THINKING AND GET AN ANSWER IN NOW!!!



PRESS…PRESs…PRESS…PRESS…CRAP!!! The third one didn't take…backspace…PRESS…SUBMIT!!



I looked down, and I put Earth Girls Are Easy first…



…I'm not feeling too confident about that one.



Wait for the rest of the 20 second time frame to finish up….....



This takes absolutely forever…the wait is excruciating! The boom camera moves over to our side of the ring of fire, so that means one of us got it. Nope…no way it's me…unless nobody else knew it. I look over at Allan Hackney, next to me, and we both let out this huge exhale.



Regis calls the time up and gives the standard "let's look at the correct order…"



My pulse was somewhere around 436.



Tootsie
Earth Girls Are Easy
The First Wives Club
What Women Want





Oh well.



Right next to me, Allan is celebrating…good for him! They stop the taping to validate the answers and make sure nothing malfunctioned. They also brought Allan's significant other to the chair behind where he would be sitting (all the people that came with the contestants were sitting together near the top of the studio).



After validating that Allan got it and getting everything situated, they start taping again, and Allan starts his journey. I paused for a moment, realizing that very few people have seen the show from this perspective.



Kewl.



Now, the "stack" of questions that is selected for you means EVERYTHING. When I watched Kevin Olmstead go through the stack, I realistically could have seen myself making it to the $125,000 level with that one (not saying that Kevin had an easy stack at all…just that I had an interest in the categories of questions that he had). I bring this up because I would have been in HUGE trouble with Allan's stack. Everyone has decent knowledge on something, but everyone also has a "blind spot" in their knowledge where you simply don't know a question that 98% of the others would consider easy. I simply did NOT know what putting the kibosh on something meant (Allan's $200 question). There were a couple of others…I had no idea who Andre Braugher was (the answer to his $16,000 question), for example.



Allan got to the $125,000 level really quickly, even with a break for scheduled commercials…remember that we all agreed not to mess around with stalling. He phoned a friend for help on figuring out what country Alberto Fujimori ran. His phone-a-friend wasn't able to help, and Allan took a chance and incorrectly guessed. He walked with $32,000.



Another break as they got Allan and his significant other off the stage and in the back-stage where he could relax and watch the rest of the taping. The rest of us in the Ring talked to each other (we all got along, even though we knew we would be battling in a few moments).



Regis comes back on-stage, and we're ready to start taping again.



"Put the follow airlines in geographic order, starting with the north."



As he started to repeat the question, my mind went into overdrive. I immediately thought "SwissAir and Air New Zealand." It was geography AND it was flight-related, so I knew that this would likely be my best chance.

Finnair

Alitalia

Lufthansa

Quantas



I didn't even notice that they mis-spelled Quantas. Finair..FINLAND…close to Switzerland. Qantas…Aussies…far south. Alitalia is Italy, and Lufthansa is in Germany. Germany is north of Italy…PRESS A…PRESS C…PRESS B…PRESS D…pause for the briefest of looks to make sure the answers registered. I had one thumb over the BACK button and one over the SUBMIT button.



SUBMIT





The heart-rate is now over 844. I simply look down…the 20 seconds takes even longer, especially as I hear the boom camera move over to our side again. I knew my answers are correct – the only question is whether someone else got them quicker or not. I continue looking at the screen in front of me, begging time to move just a bit faster.



Regis announces that he's going to give us the correct answer. We all turn to the jumbo screens to see.



Finnair (yeah…keep going)


Lufthansa (I think I started holding my breath about this time)


Alitalia (yeah…show who got it first)


Quantas (COME ON ALREADY!!!!)



"Let's see who got the correct order first"



The first thing I notice is that there was quite a bit of green…I wasn't the only one to get it correct. (still holding my breath)



My time…right around 4.5 seconds. I couldn't even look at the other times, because I see my name start flashing.



I let out this huge "WHOOP!" as I jump out of the chair (I am no longer holding my breath). I run up, shake Regis's hand, and we walk to the center of the stage.



AND…CUT!



Crap…forgot about the validation.



I look over at Sheri, who is being escorted to the significant other chair, and we just give a big smile at each other. They give me a glass of water, throw on a little more makeup, and I think they have me do a mike check. The validation checks out, and a producer comes out and reminds me how to get in the chair. He then tells me to look up at the screen. On there, they have me frozen, starting to head to the chair (when they were taping a couple of minutes ago). I have my head down and my right hand in front of me as I had just released the handshake. The producer looks at me and tells me that I need to get into that pose, which looks like I'm playing Twister or doing the robot. We all start laughing for a minute…it was good as it broke the tension a bit. I get into the pose, and the producer gets everyone quiet for a minute as he gives a couple of instructions to the booth. Regis is right next to me, whispering "2.17 million…it could be yours…you can do it!" I'm trying to keep my balance while at the same time trying not to throw up AND respond to Regis with a barely-audible "yep".



The audience starts clapping, and we're rolling tape again!



I get in the hot seat and start calming down a bit. I could tell that Regis just did not like saying my name…it was always "Chris….pause….Mush…rush." He cracks a joke about Normal Illinois being quite normal. They were able to use the headline from The Pantagraph and had a good laugh about that. He talks to Sheri for a second and then does the trademark "Let's Play…Who WANTS to BE a MILLionAIRE, with Chris….pause….Mush…rush."



I look at the water sitting next to the console and contemplate downing the entire glass in one gulp. Cotton-mouth hit me. Those of you who have seen the show probably noticed me pursing my lips all throughout the experience. No time to do it because the lights went down a little, and the music stopped.



Wow…eerie…for the first 5 questions, it's deathly silent in there. They edit in the music in post-production. I try not to let that get to me…I'm more worried about getting something about a kibosh on the $100 question.



$100…An orchestra is led by how many conductors?



Whew



One
Two

Three
Ask Mozart



I let out a chuckle on "Ask Mozart" and say it exactly as they told us to: 'A', 'One', 'Final Answer'



Okay…got that one out of the way…I immediately calm down a little, and the experience becomes like a video game.



$200

Something about a high jumper





I snickered at the hot lava and mentioned that it would be more interesting if it were lava, but the correct answer was Bar.





$300

Which of the following is both a Roman God and a television show?

This one was one of those questions that threw some people…luckily, the stack was favorable for me, and it didn't trip me up. Titus was out of the way.



$500

Where would you find a control tower?



I'm on a roll…$1,000 here I come!





$1,000

An area of land known as a 'plain' has very few what?



I had "mountains" in my head before I saw the choices. It has to be…plains are usually really flat! 'Rocks' pops up as the first choice.



Hmmmm…well, rocks could be a possible answer! I'll go with rocks.



Then 'trees' comes up. Uh oh. Trees seems like the right answer, but I just couldn't get 'rocks' out of my head (groan). Recalling that the audience led two people astray yesterday AND the average age of the audience is approximately 7.8 years, I decide to burn my "Ask the Audience" lifeline – I make a major mistake, however in saying "I think the answer is C: Trees…but…". Of course, I inadvertently biased the audience. Over 80 percent of the audience picked "trees", which made me look like a complete moron! As I answer, Regis shrugs his shoulders at me and raises his eyebrows. I kind of nod to him as I acknowledge the audience, as though I knew I may have burned a lifeline early. Still, I feel like I made an okay decision. When I talked to Kevin Olmstead after we taped (he had to stick around as he was the carry-over contestant), he fully agreed that it was not a great question. In hindsight, what I should have done was ask for a clarification and verify that rocks could not imply hills or mountains, which was legal. Still, I got to $1,000 and couldn't leave with less.


I take a deep breath and get ready for the next set of questions.

Who DOESN’T Want to Be a Millionaire, Part 4: AAAACCKKK!!!

We had one day to get everything ready. This was going to be a problem because we were closing on a house and moving on a Friday. Considering we were to leave on Tuesday and return on Thursday, it made for a somewhat stressful time, even without the knowledge that I was going to be on a game show!

I had to get my phone a friend list in order. We were allowed to have 5 names in there. We were still down at Disney World when I got this information, so I had a couple of days to think about this. I wanted to make sure that I had my bases covered in all the areas. I decided on this list:

1. Al Goldfarb, Former Provost of Illinois State University (current President of Western Illinois University). He served as Dean of Fine Arts at ISU, so I could use him for questions on the arts. He also hailed from New York City, so, along with giving me information on things to do in NYC, he could answer questions about the Big Apple. There was one potential problem, however. He had a meeting at the same time the taping was scheduled with the University President and Vice-Presidents. He said they'd get a phone in there, and I requested a conference phone so they all could help answer the question LOL. There was a running joke at ISU for a few months afterwards, where, if I called him, 3 things would happen: 1) we both talk so fast that we could answer 4 questions in the 30 seconds allotted; 2) he would say that the answer was E. Educating Illinois (Educating Illinois is the strategic plan that Dr. Goldfarb spearheaded during this time…it was the buzzword for everything); or 3) after I give the possible answers, he'd bring up the time I voted against his proposal on academic governance during a Senate meeting and hang up on me.
   
   
   
2. Neil Skaggs, Economics Professor at ISU. Neil was going to be my religion go-to as well as the guy for sports (despite the fact that he's a Cardinals fan, he still knows his stuff). I also had him set up in my mind as a current events guy, just in case. Neil's challenge was that he was to teach during part of the time frame that the show was to tape.
   
   
   
3. Michele Finley, my high school English teacher. Literature was NOT my strong subject, as she could attest to. I rocked on the math components of the ACT and SAT. Verbal, however…ugh. I was going to lean on her big-time for anything literature-related.
   
   
   
4. Steve Haase, friend and veterinarian. Steve was going to be my biology/science guy as well as my German/Europe guy as he has traveled there a couple of times.
   
   
   
5. Peter Geddeis, friend and undergrad classmate at ISU. Pete and I shared a wall on the 5^th floor of Hamilton Hall on the ISU campus. When we both were in the room at the same time Jeopardy was on, one of us would hear the other's TV tuned to it (the walls were thin), and we'd both end up watching it. Eventually, a contest would break out, where we'd shout the answers to each other. We both knew about the same amount (Pete knew a few more than I did), but he was ALWAYS faster than me by a good .25-.50 seconds (pissed me off all the time!). At the time of the taping, Pete was a grad student, and he was working on helping run the Illinois Shakespeare Festival. Pete was a backup fine arts guy as well as a current events and general knowledge go-to.
   

I got my classes covered for Wednesday, and we were off to New York the following morning. We landed at LGA early in the afternoon and had a limo service waiting for us (first time…kewl). All the contestants were staying at the Empire Hotel, located at 63^rd and Broadway…right by Columbus Circle. We checked in and had a packet waiting for us. There were what seemed to be a few hundred more forms to sign as well as instructions to meet at a certain suite in the hotel later on in the evening. We decided to do a little sight-seeing before the meeting, so we headed down Broadway towards the Theatre District. After about 10 blocks, we walked past the Ed Sullivan Theater, where a long line had formed for the taping of Letterman. We continued down to Times Square and looked around at the hustle and bustle. Holy crap it was crazy!!! I recall wanting to live in a big city my whole life…standing in Times Square made me reconsider this.

We hopped into a sandwich shop and grabbed a bite to eat before making our way back to the hotel. As we were walking back, we hear a commotion up ahead. As we crossed a street, we walked by the Chippendales, who were heading the other direction. I nudged Sheri to let her know what was passing by, and her tongue hit the pavement. She nearly turned around to follow them. I was hoping the Playboy Bunnies were right behind them, but, alas, they weren't. To this day, Sheri still brings this up in conversation.

We got back to the hotel for the meeting, where we met the rest of the contestants for the show. We all made a pact to just answer the questions without going into long stories. We also joked with the show hand about hand signals to help the guy in the hot seat. When we asked about what the jackpot was at, the show hand refused, despite our best efforts to torture it out of him (he was a nice guy…we had fun with him). We brought the clothes that we anticipated to wear to make sure they wouldn't make the tv screens across the nation go all wobbly and got a rundown on what to expect tomorrow. We also got our per diem ($50/day for 3 days). After talking with each other for a while longer, we disbanded and headed back for what we hoped for a good night's sleep. Some headed back to study…I felt that doing something like that would be fruitless as I would likely forget anything I read at this point. We make a couple phone calls back home, watch a little TV, and attempt to get to bed early. Neither of us were used to the constant drone of sirens from police/ambulance/etc, so it took a while to actually fall asleep.



We had an early morning on the day of the taping. I felt really bad for one of the contestants, who was from Hawaii. It was something like Midnight to his body as we were waking up. We wake up, and I grab a shower. I then realize that, in the insanity of the past 48 hours, I forgot to pack deodorant. Considering I'd probably be sweating buckets all day (no stress at all!), I had to temporarily displace my masculinity and apply Secret (Hey, they say it's strong enough for a man). Sheri still brings this up in conversation too. At the appointed time, we headed down for a shuttle to the studio, which, surprisingly, was only 3 blocks away. We arrived at the ABC studios somewhere around 7:45 in the morning and went through our first security screening. We had a meeting and turned in our list of "phone a friends." We then had to make sure that we did not have any sort of aids for the show (basically, we couldn't have anything that may help us in the studio). Since I was a doctoral student at the time of the taping, I brought some books with me to read for my classes (College Administration...a lot of material there?!). I didn't realize that I had one of the books stuffed in the bag that I brought to the studio, and, naturally, it was found. All the contestants, partners, and ABC staff had a good laugh at that (they still took the book, though).

We then met with the producers and had a short continental breakfast. During this time, we tried to expand a little on our "lives" so that they could use the information and put it on the "blue card" that Regis Philbin has in front of him (he looks at this for the bantering between questions). After that, we got to visit the studio where the show taped and saw where we were going to sit (no audience yet). It was almost surreal when we walked in. Most of the lights weren't on, but we still felt a sense of awe, until we walked on the floor. The glass where the mirrors and lights are seemed like fairly thick plexiglass…it had some give to it as we walked on it. The directors told us the best way to enter our responses for the fastest finger round and then gave us five examples. There were 20 of us there as they were taping 2 shows that day. The second show's contestants played around in the gallery while we tested stuff out. The fastest finger question is not exactly what you saw on TV. The question was asked and then repeated (the second reading is edited out). Then the contestants in what we affectionately call the "Ring of Fire" had twenty seconds to try to figure out the proper order. As anyone who has ever been in the Ring can attest, it's nowhere near as easy to input your answers as you might think! And, to you Disney freaks, what you saw at WTTBAM/PI at Studios…nope…not the same thing. You have to push a button and let go, then press the next button, etc...then you have to press a "Submit" button (I wonder how many people missed getting into the hot seat simply because they forgot to submit their answers). I royally screwed up the first sample round, but I got my bearings and won the second fastest finger sample question (a geography question...remember this).

After we played around in the studio (we even learned the proper way to get into and out of the hot seat), we left our significant others and went back to where our stuff was and changed clothes. Then we went through make-up and got wired with our mikes. We met the carry-over contestant, Dan Orr, and it was then that we found out that nobody had hit the jackpot yet (when I was on, they went a long time without a million dollar winner, so they started adding $10,000 for every episode with no winner). We would be playing for $2,170,000!!!! We all pumped Dan for information on what it was like, and he said that the people yesterday were dumb and that the audience screwed up 2 people because they were so young.

After a little nervous smalltalk, we made our way to the now-dark and packed studio and were introduced to the audience...the first thing that we noticed was that this place looked awesome with the smoke and light effects. The second thing we noticed was that Dan was correct…the audience was YOUNG today too! It was spring break, and a lot of students had tickets to the show. I think we all noticed that -- I talked to Allan Hackney, who was seated next to me, and we agreed that we'll likely have to use the "ask the audience" lifeline early. Before we knew it, there was a call that they were going to start taping in just a minute. A director for the audience had one main job: get the crowd to whoop and holler on cue. He gives the signal, and the place just erupts with noise!!! A couple of seconds later, Dan Orr comes out with Regis right next to him! This was the first time we've seen him, so we're all just as excited as the audience was.



The game…is…on!

Who DOESN’T Want to Be a Millionaire, Part 3 (How to Shave 10 Years Off of your Life)

 
 

We knew that if the cell phone rang, it was going to be someone from the show (that or a wrong number), because nobody else had the number.  About an hour and a half after I finished the round, the cell phone rang!!!!  After a momentary breathing stoppage and a vault from my chair through the ceiling, I answered it...NOBODY WAS THERE!!!!!  In fact, the weirdest thing happened...my in-laws' answering machine started playing on the other end.  I nearly panicked, thinking that I had somehow programmed the cell-phone to forward all calls to my in-laws' number (of course, I didn't bring the manual for the phone to change it).  I immediately started kicking myself, thinking that I had blown it.

Sheri, who was asleep when the phone rang, sat up, questioning the stunned look on my face as I frantically decided what to do.  I was especially stunned because they said that they would call one time.  I hung up, told Sheri what had happened, and said a silent prayer for them to call back.

 
 

 

 

 

RING.

 
 

 

 

 

I think I broke the record for answering a phone when it rang again.  I managed to mutter a "hello?" into the phone, fully expecting "Hi, you have reached the Miller residence.  We can't come to the phone right now..."  Alas!  There was a human voice on the other end asking for me.  He identified himself as a producer from 'Millionaire' and immediately asked if I was close to a land line.  I gave him the hotel and room number, hung up, looked at Sheri, and, as though nothing had happened, said, "It's Millionaire."

I cannot tell you what Sheri said after that.

After approximately 14,000 questions on qualifications, the joyful words "Congratulations!  You are now a finalist for 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire' were finally heard. The same 14,000 questions were asked to Sheri, as she was to be my companion for the trip.

 

After about 45 minutes of talking with the producer, I called my parents.  My mother was not home.  I called my father's house and broke the news.  My step-mother let out a little scream and told my sisters, who had just gotten home from school.  The next thing I heard in the background was Casey, my youngest sister (in 8th grade), saying "NO WAY!"  This was shortly followed by my middle sister (Jamie...a sophomore in high school) asking if I could take her to New York.  She promised to wear her cheerleading outfit and root for me on the side during the fastest finger questions.

We then called Sheri's folks, who also were not home.  Sheri left a message to have them give us a call (emphasizing that it was NOT an emergency and that everything was okay).

Since the tape date was in the middle of the following week, I needed to start planning on getting my classes covered.  The tape date was going to be squeezed in to an already packed schedule.  We were to get back from Orlando on the 18th., leave for New York on the 20th., return on the 22nd., and close on our new house and move on the 23rd.

I called Illinois State University and talked to them for a good half hour.  I started with the Department of Economics, who let me know what all needed to be done for my job.  I then had them transfer me to the Graduate School, where I left a message with Pat Schnitker, advisor for the Graduate Student Association and friend.  I was then forwarded to the President's office to let Vic Boschini, ISU President, know that he was going to get a little free publicity on national television.  He was out of town, but I talked with his secretary and asked her to forward me to the Provost's phone so I could ask him to be a phone-a-friend.  He was not there, so I asked his secretary to forward me to media relations to give them a heads-up in case anyone contacted them about it.  Jay Groves, media relations director was not in, so I left a message and then FINALLY ended one hell of an intense phone call.

About fifteen minutes later, Pat calls back from the graduate school, screaming with delight.  She let the entire office know, and everyone else was screaming in the background.  I got off the phone with her, and the phone immediately rang again...it was Jay Groves this time.  Jay congratulated me and asked if I wanted him to do anything.  I simply asked him what should and what should not be said about ISU.  His reply was to simply enjoy it and mention whatever I wanted about the University.  We both agreed that something with the ISU logo would be good, but the ABC rules forbade anything copyrighted to be worn.

I think Jay smelled publicity for the school as soon as he heard my message.  He called back about twenty minutes later and mentioned that WJBC, the AM radio station for central Illinois, was going to call soon, followed by The Pantagraph, the local paper.  Within 20 minutes, I found myself on the air with WJBC. What seemed like seconds after I hung up with them, the phone rings again, and I answered questions for the reporter from The Pantagraph. Afterwards, we talked to Sheri's parents, who immediately called back, despite our efforts to reassure them that nothing was wrong. We also got a call from my father, who had just gotten home from work and had heard the news.

After over two hours of insane phone conversations, we both decided to skip the fireworks at EPCOT and head down to the hotel bar for a couple of MUCH-needed drinks.  We came back and tried to fall asleep, but the phone rang one more time that night:

Me: Hello?

Mom: Hi Honey. I got your message that you called.

Me: Yeah...I've got some good news that you probably aren't going to believe.

Mom: Is Sheri Pregnant?!!!!!

 

(Me: dumbfounded pause…didn't even think about that, with all the messages)

Me: No...not that good news.

Mom: Oh. Then what is it?

Me: All I will say is 'is that your final answer?'

Mom: Huh?  What the Hell is that supposed to mean?

Me: Do you watch tv much?

Mom: Yeah.

Me: Is that your final answer?!!!

Mom: I don't get it.

Me: Have you ever heard that before?

Mom: Yes.

Me: Where?

Mom: On that one show...<pauses> "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire'.

Me: Yyyeeeeesssssssssss?

Mom:  <dead silence for a good ten seconds, then>  YOU'RE GOING TO BE ON WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE??!!!!!!

Me: Yyyeeeeesssssssssss!

Mom: OHMYGODICAN'TBELIEVEITI'M-SOPROUDOFYOUIKNEWYOUCOULDDOIT...

 

She always wanted me to try out for Jeopardy, but I never did. We talk for a bit longer and then hang up, as she had about 400 calls to make to tell everyone she knew. I think she randomly called a few strangers too and told them.

 

The next several days in the Disney parks were a complete blur. I was so stressed with everything going on that I missed nearly everything in the parks. I remember being in MGM a couple of days later, and we ate at the ABC Commissary. They were heavily promoting the new Millionaire attraction that was to be opening soon. The cast member working the register asked if I watched the show, and I just busted up laughing. When I explained it to her what was so funny, I don't think she believed us. These 2 teenage girls behind us, however, were floored and spent the entire meal sitting 3 tables away and staring at us, smiling the entire time. I had my own set of groupies for all of 15 minutes. As they got up to leave, they stopped and asked us about getting on the show, when it was going to be on, etc. After a final "good luck!", they headed out, leaving us with about 4 other tables nearby now staring at us.

 

We took an earlier flight home and flew standby for an earlier connecting flight…it was a good thing as Detroit was getting quite a bit of snow and was scheduled to get more around the time our actual connection was to leave. When we got back home, we had fourteen phone messages in three days (we don't get that many in 2 months) as well as nearly 250 e-mails.  Several friends and family dropped off copies of the article from the paper.  We didn't have time to do much, though, because we had to pack both the house for the move as well as ourselves for the trip to New York.  Luckily we had one business day to prepare, because I had to get my phone-a-friends ready!!

 
 

Who DOESN’T Want to Be a Millionaire? (Part 2: Did He Make It?)

The semi-final round is similar in format to the first round - but there would be five questions instead of three.  I was given a specific fifteen-minute window to call in on March 14th in order to take the semi-final round of questions.  I immediately discovered that this round was going to be interesting because it was to occur while we were going to be on vacation down in Orlando...probably while we would be screaming on an attraction at Disney World (more likely, while we were looking at a map and wondering what to do next…it was our very first trip down there).  We decided to take our cell-phone, which had never been used for incoming calls (we actually had to look at old phone bills to figure out what the phone number was) in case we were at a park or in traffic when the call-in window arrived.

I had to look like a fool at Disney World, because my pockets were absolutely bulging with things.  A quick inventory of my pockets included:

• Wallet.
  
• Cell Phone
  
• Palm Pilot -had phone number and PIN information
  
• keys
  
• maps
  
• bottled water
  
• camera
  

We even bought a fanny pack to hold some of this, but I would have looked like even more of a fool wearing that!

As luck would have it, we were both exhausted from the flight down there, the previous day at the Magic Kingdom, and the morning at EPCOT.  We decided to head back to the hotel where Sheri could rest and I could take the test without worrying about losing the signal on the cell phone.  The time came, and I started the test.  There is another slight difference in this round from the first round - in the first round, if you missed a question, you were told so, and the round stopped; in the semi-final round, it let you answer all five questions without telling you whether you got it right or not.

I answered the questions as best as I could...I was very confident I nailed four of the five, and I made an educated guess on the last question (I knew the order of three of the selections, and did my best on where to put the fourth one in the order).  They wanted a phone number that I could be contacted at over the next four hours in case I made the final "on-air" round.  Not knowing if we would head back to EPCOT or not, I gave them the cell-phone number.

And the waiting began...

Who DOESN’T Want to Be a Millionaire?!! (Part 1: Initial Qualifying)

We're going to take a short break from the Disney discussion. For those who want more WDW, don't worry, I promise there's tons more coming!



Okay...first, let me put this disclaimer in that I am living proof that ANYTHING can happen!!! Every 5-6 months, I'll get a bunch of e-mails/phone calls or, more recently, messages via Facebook from people saying that they just saw me on TV. I immediately groan and think to myself, "Here we go again!" Every semester, the cat is somehow let out of the bag by someone in the class, and they beg me to bring in a copy of what happened long ago, one calm April night in 2001. You've never experienced embarrassment until you project yourself into a lecture hall, where the image is over 20 feet tall…your nose hairs look like part favors at that size!

Many people have yet to see my experience on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and have asked me to share what it was like. Here's the first installment of WWTBAM…

I have always been a trivia buff, and my mother has always tried to get me to try out for a game show to see what I can do. I always figured I'd try when I was middle-aged and probably end up on something like 'Win Ben Stein's Money.'

When 'Millionaire' first hit the airwaves, I fell in love with it and tried calling in a few times to qualify. For those who do not know the procedure back then, it involved answering a series of three questions similar to the "fastest finger" format. The questions became increasingly difficult as you progressed through them. I could never get that last question right. After about 5 days of trying, I gave up, content to watch the show and scream at the television when the contestants were having trouble (admit it, you do the same thing!).

School, work, and other commitments took over, and I was unable to watch the show much until the spring semester of 2001, when I had a couple nights off from class each week. The jackpot then was growing to nearly $2 million dollars, so I figured that I'd try to call in again just for fun. On my second day of calling, the magic hit...I finally got past the third question (a literary question, and I got it right!). I picked my choice of tape dates and a phone number to contact me in case I was randomly picked to make it to the next round. Apparently, around 2 million people call in every night to qualify, and approximately 50,000 people get all three questions right and pick a particular tape date per day...each day, the computer randomly picks 40 people to advance to the next round. Each tape date is available for 5 days, do, doing the math we get this: I had basically won the lottery in having the computer select me. Out of millions of people, I was now 1 of only 200 people vying for a shot to be on the show.

I jokingly told my wife I'd stay home from a home interior party "just in case Millionaire calls", not thinking I'd hear from the show. The phone rang, and someone claiming to be from 'Millionaire' hit me with a barrage of qualifying questions. I at first thought it was Sheri (my wife) and her friends joking around with me...until they started asking the questions. When Sheri got home from her party, she (as you could imagine) thought I was full of it when I showed her the information. I had made the semi-final round!!!!!

The next installment will chronicle the longest hour or so of my life…

December 2005 Trip Report, Day 6 (Part 1): Verrrryyyy Interesting

Mush's note: I had planned on doing my "what it means" post here, but I'm still working on the right words. I figured that I had better get back to the Trip Report before people started sending out the hounds...

We had a wake-up call set up for 7:10, and, damnit, Aaron had better answer this one!

 

Aaron's awake at 7:05. Fingers are crossed

 

 

RING

 

 

NO MORE SLEEPY!!!

 

Aaron:

 

Finally!

 

 

We get dressed and prepare for MGM today with the possibility of meeting up with DaisyDebbie and the Badelves clan for EMH at the Magic Kingdom. I notice the Magical Express tag on our door...no problem...I'm starting to be ready to get home.

 

While we're getting ready, Aaron just chills out on the bed:

 

 

 

We head over to the Movies food court, and I take particular pleasure in eviscerating Mickey in the form of a waffle with strawberries acting as blood.

 

Time for the all-important timing check with the busses. We head out and get on a bus within 5 minutes (luckily, it was going to MGM). We arrive and do the finger squeeze thingy and then pile in to wait for whatever opening ceremony they have here.

 

About ten minutes later some characters start walking towards us from the big hat along with some CMs. The rope is dropped, and the masses take an immediate right to head for the Tower of Terror and the Rockin' Roller Coaster.

 

We head for the hat. Nice and peaceful...no mob scene.

 

And who do we run into?!

 

 

We were second in line :-D.

 

 

After the autograph and pics, we head over to Mickey Avenue, and it's completely deserted. We are a bit early for the first showing of the Voyage of the Little Mermaid, so Sheri snoops out a pressed penny machine. While destroying some Government property, we talk to Ahmed, one of the CMs working nearby. He looks like he's near hypothermia.

 

We still have around 20 minutes before the show starts, so we head down Mickey Avenue to see if any characters are out. We stroll by WWTBAM (Who Wants to Be a Millionaire), and, though I know Aaron won't enjoy it, I decide that I'm going to try to make one of the games today. I need my revenge on the game. This thought was short-lived, because Jo-Jo and Goliath were right across the street. Aaron's really excited while in line, but I think his excitement was split between seeing Jo-Jo or seeing an ad for Little Einsteins.

 

We head back to see my hottie, Ariel (refer to day 2 for more information), and I'm not disappointed. Aaron watched with a lot of interest and asked a ton of questions throughout the show (my apologies to all around us). Still, I think I liked the show better than him.

 

 

We exit the show, and Sheri heads over to get the stroll...

 

What, honey? The stroller's not there? Sheri is trying to hide what she's dreading, but she's nearing the panic stage. I drop Aaron off with her and have them get in line for Playhouse Disney (due to start in ten minutes). I look around for a couple minutes...TADAAA...the CMs had moved it to another place. I move it to yet another place (where a couple hundred other strollers were parked) and join them for the show.

 

It was definitely a cute show, and we thought Aaron would love this one. For some reason, he was just kind of eeehhhh with it. I don't know if he was starting to get tired or not feeling well or what, but he just wasn't into it. This gets us to thinking that perhaps we should cut this day short a little and let him unwind at the hotel. This pretty much axes seeing Beauty and the Beast and jeopardizes Millionaire.

 

We leave Mickey Avenue and make our way over towards where Muppetvision 3-D is. On the way we see Stitch! . Of course the line for him is about 40 deep, so we decide to try to catch him before we leave.

 

Suuuurreee, Chris...that plan really worked at Animal Kingdom on Day 4, didn't it?! Fool me once, shame on you...fool me twice...

 

 

We keep on walking past the ABC Commissary and Sheri asks me where Mike and Sully from Monsters Inc hung out. Mare (Badelves) provided some great directions last night when we met up with her group at Epcot on where Mike and Sully were, but I'll be danged if I could remember what she said. I knew we were in the general vicinity, but I didn't know exactly where.

 

At that exact moment, we pass an opening to our left and see a CM and a line forming. A couple of seconds later, a garage door opens, and there they are! Good God, Sully is friggin HUGE:

 

Heck, I'm even a little scared going up to him, but Aaron runs right up. Considering this is one of his favorite movies, I shouldn't have been surprised.

 

 

We finally get to Muppetvision (after a detour for Aaron to play in the car in front of the 50's Prime Time Cafe). The Muppets have always been one of my favorites. I remember watching the Muppet Show all the time growing up, and I think my sense of humor falls right in line with them. Plus, I used to do a lot of their voices for my sisters when they were growing up (I can do a mean Fozzie Bear, Miss Piggy, and Gonzo as well as a decent Kermit and Swedish Chef, PLUS I have this hilarious perverted Grover routine, but I digress). Needless to say, I'm excited to be here...much more so than Sheri is. I'm busting up at the pre-show show on the screens, while Sheri considers disowning me. We experience the show, and Aaron enjoys his second 3-D movie, though not as much as Philharmagic. While I love the Muppets, I have to agree that the technology is better at Philharmagic.

 

Aaron donates a few pennies to the Muppet fountain, and we seek out lunch at the Pizza Planet. Aaron was hungry...he ate about half of his pizza by himself. After eating, we head down to play a bit and find an air hockey table. As I fish out a couple of quarters to play, a girl hands Aaron a little Pooh toy she got from one of those machines that you put a quarter in and turn the handle...you know guys...like the ones we used when we bought the engagement rings...they come in that plastic bubble thing. Her Mom said she already had that toy and wanted to share.

 

All together now....aaaawwwwwwwwwwwww.

 

Aaron has tried playing air hockey before, and I think he likes hearing the sound of the puck being scored against him. I nearly pulled a muscle trying to miss the puck to keep the score even.

 

 

Aaron's definitely getting tired, so we head out after one game and seek out another elusive character...Buzz Lightyear. We find him nearby and snap a picture. We then make our way to Millionaire. Of course Aaron crashes as we get there. We have about a half-hour before the next show, so I grab some bench and keep Aaron company while Sheri looked around a little in a shop or two.

 

Then I got to thinking...am I actually eligible to play this? I ask a CM if contestants on the actual TV show could play. The best way I could describe his reaction is a combination of , , and . He asks another CM, and I see them pointing my way.

 

Why the Hell did I even bring it up?

 

We kind of agree that I can play, so we go in (me holding a snoring kid) and watch some of the highlights from the show. I'm starting to get a little excited now. We get into the studio, and immediately I start comparing it to the actual ABC studio in New York. First off, there are a LOT more seats at MGM than in the actual studio. Second, the keypads are different. Even though I was in the "ring of fire" for the actual show, we did get to try out the keypads in New York. Third...there was no boom camera (a very annoying camera mounted on a long hydraulic arm that moved all over the place while you try to answer a question worth a lot of money) here at MGM. There were other differences, but, in its defense, the studio DID look a lot like the real one. It was much brighter in the MGM one, and the New York studio used some "smoke" to diffuse the lights to create a neat look.

 

A couple of minutes before it is supposed to start, Aaron wakes up. I try to hand him off to Sheri, but he wants Daddy. He finally goes to Sheri before the fastest finger question. It's up, and it's a geography question (one of my stronger areas!). I go against Zurg's (Bennet's) recommendations on how to do this and think it out. I get the first two with no problem...pause a second, then put the third and fourth one in...DAMN...the third one didn't go in, so I enter it last and search for the "submit" button. Then I realize that there is no submit button (like on the real show).

 

Ummm...I didn't make it in the hot seat. Some really cute nursing student makes it in there instead. Sheri comments on how her pants were so tight they had to have been painted on her. I agreed a little too quickly for her liking. As the contestant talked, I started thinking that, despite her looks, I don't think I would want this girl as my nurse (unless we're talking naughty nurses). The game starts, and she burns a lifeline on the 100 point question.

 

UGH!!! At this rate, there won't even be time for a second person to get in the seat. She burns her second lifeline at the 300 point one (the host accidentally helped her out on the 200 pointer). Finally she gets to the 1000 point level, and I get to see how I'm doing.

 

3rd from the top

 

She blows the 2000 point question, and I know I answered it really fast...I've got a chance....

 

Still 3rd from the top.

 

Damn close, but someone else heads down to the seat. This guy is a restaurant manager and seems to know his stuff. I pause for just an instant on the 100 point question and never could get back on the leader board. He blows it on the 4000 point question, but the horn honks and we're out of time. I actually cringed a bit when I heard that horn. The last time I heard it was in New York, and six of the folks I was playing against realized that they weren't going to have their chance when that horn sounded. Some of the stories of these folks were really touching too...one guy was hoping to win at least $64,000 so he could go to China and adopt the sister of the child he had already adopted.

 

I gave it my best shot, and it was fun. Hey...third from the top ain't too bad, and I guess I have the actual show as a substitute to the MGM version .

 

 

 

We leave Millionaire and make our way back to see Stitch. YES...HE'S STILL THERE!!! We get in line and have a CM tell us that the line is closed.

 

@#$(^(#!#@$()%(^(&(&^%#$@#!#@!$@

 

No, I didn't actually swear out loud. I do however recall a discussion from the previous night while talking with the Lodge folks. I modify the punch line for the current situation, and Sheri nearly slaps me. Oh well...at least the Photopass pictures had Stitch in one of them (he's popping out of the street).

 

We make our way out to the busses for the nap that likely wouldn't happen. As we leave, Sheri and I both agree that MGM was probably our least favorite park this trip. We can tell that Aaron is nearing his limit, so we modify our plans. Originally, we were going to eat at Cape May, tour the Yacht/Beach Club, walk over to the Boardwalk and tour there, take the boat to MGM to see the Osbourne Lights, take the boat to Epcot to see if we could get on anything, then possibly take the monorail to MK for extra magic hours. We decide that we'll just eat at Cape May, look around the Yacht/Beach Club, and then decide on whether to do MK or not.

 

As if it were planned, Aaron bounces around the room and falls asleep a mere twenty minutes before we planned on leaving for dinner at Cape May. For some reason, he's a grouch on the bus over to MGM. He falls asleep when we get off the bus. We head over to the boat launch and watch the ducks. He wakes up long enough to see a few of the ducks and hopes that they follow the boat that we are about to get on. We make our way over to the Swan and Dolphin (though I still think it looks NOTHING like dolphin) and then over to the Yacht/Beach Club.

 

We enter the Yacht Club and WOW...Thurston Howell III area again (I think I actually saw him there). We wind our way around and around and around until we find the entrance to Cape May. We park the stroller and are seating immediately (about 5 minutes before our ADR time). We're seated, and our server immediately comes and introduces himself. He asks where we're from.

 

"Central Illinois" I reply.

 

"What part?"

 

Now I'm interested. "Right in the middle...Bloomington/Normal."

 

"Really?!" He says. "I got kicked out of a college in Bloomington/Normal."

 

This conversation just took a turn south. "Illinois State?" (he nods) "I teach economics there."

 

He fires back with "I had some Chinese guy trying to teach me economics there...he showed me graphs that I had no clue about and no use for."

 

GULP

 

"I've got two strikes against me, don't I?" I say, trying to smile.

 

He promises not to spit in our drinks, and we make our way to the buffet line. Considering the fantastic array of fresh seafood we get in central Illinois, I was really looking forward to eating mussels, clams, etc...but the lines were pretty long. Aaron didn't really want to be there either, so that didn't help out much. Yep, we'll be heading home at just the right time I think. Most every table service meal was, for lack of a better term, "orgasmic" down here, and I'll give the climax award tonight to the desserts at Cape May. They had some cheesecake that was absolutely awesome!

 

While drinking some coffee, both Sheri and I agree that Aaron has had enough. Then Sheri says something that I would never have expected in a million years.

 

"Why don't you go out on your own tonight?"

 

"No...I'm not going to do that...this is a family vacation!"

 

"It's fine...Aaron and I have had enough, and I know you still want to see some things and meet up with Debbie and Mare. We'll watch movies and pack. Go ahead...it's fine."

 

"But..."

 

"It's fine...otherwise I wouldn't have brought it up" (as she smiles).

 

Even the slightest breeze would have had me . Some of me still resisted, but more of me realized that this is win-win for everyone involved, and I probably won't get a chance like this anytime soon. I agree, but I continue to ask her if she's sure about this.

 

After eating, we walk around a bit and appreciate the decorations/ambience of these hotels. We love the chocolate carousel (looks just like the one Samantha Brown helped build on the Travel Channel special we saw last week!) As we walk back to the Yacht Club to watch the model train set, Aaron has...well...how do I put it tactfully...the runs (so much for tact). Nope, he's definitely done for the night. I change him, and we start to make our way out to the water.

 

We hop on the boat to MGM to catch the bus to Movies. We hoped to get on the bus at MGM before Fantasmic ended, but it finished right after the boat docked. The line for Movies was easily 100 deep. In my mind, I had been processing several itineraries for what to do that night. I really wanted to try Mission Space, but the timing would have to be really good. With the lines waiting for a bus, chances are I wouldn't be able to make it to Epcot in time. Just as I was about to nix Epcot from the plans, two more busses arrive for Movies, and we're on our way!

 

I'm starting to feel like a little kid...bouncing with anticipation. We get off the bus at Movies, and I jokingly head right in line for another bus. We head to the room and drop things off. I tell Sheri my possible plans and give her a long kiss and then ask her one last time if she was okay with this. She kicks me out of the room, and I begin my first solo journey in the World…