| Who Wants To Be A Millionaire - Contestant Archive | ||
| October, 2001 | ||
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Here are all of the Featured Contestants for October, 2001.
September 30 - October 6: Johnny Bench
Johnny Bench is one of Baseball's most famous players. A Hall of Famer, 4 Time World Series Winner with the Cincinatti Reds, and now, a $250,000 Winner on WWTBAM to stack up with his many exciting life events. Johnny Bench was one of the 10 famous sports athletes on Sports Week at WWTBAM. Some others included Tony Hawk, John Elway, Steve Young, Martina Navratilova, and many more big stars. Bench got into the hotseat on Night 2 of the Sports Week - a night in which Martina Navratilova and Johnny Bench would light up the screen. Martina was the return contestant, and she won $125,000 for charity. The next Fastest Finger: Put the Following Sports Terms in Order by the Numbers of Syllables they Contain, Starting with the Fewest: Bunt, First Down, Penalty Shot, Hole in One. I won't even tell you the order ... figure it out yourself. :) Who got it right: Laila Ali, John Elway, Charles Barkley, Tony Hawk, and Johnny Bench! Johnny won it in 4.01 Seconds. Perhaps one of the brightest and best Sports Players, Johnny cruised through his first 11 questions, winning him $64,000 without using a lifeline. At $125,000, he polled the audience to find out what form of communication Thomas Edison used to propose to his 2nd wife. 69% of the audience voted for Morse Code. Johnny went with them, and the audience got it! For a Quarter of a Million Dollars: Since 1981, every Chevrolet Corvette has been produced at a single automobile plant in what U.S. State? Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, or Illinois. Johnny uses his Phone A Friend, and calls Greg, who does a little bit of everything according to Johnny. The end of the Conversation, with 5 seconds left: "About as sure, pos-- Say Bowling Green Kentucky!" Johnny: "I'll say, bowling green Kentucky, Final Answer." He Got it! Johnny Bench won $250,000 for Charity! After the commercial break, Johnny and Reege were back at it again - and he was going for a Half Million Dollars, still with a 50:50. However, even after using the 50:50, Johnny couldn't take a chance on losing $218,000 for The Johnny Bench Scholarship Foundation, and walked away with a very nice sum of $250,000.
October 7-13: Carlo Espinas and Amerigo Mariota
Some people are really just naturals in the spotlight ... the can be entertaining, funny, and really personable ... not to mention being smart, too. On October 4, Amerigo Mariota and Carlo Espinas lit up the screen by winning $125,000. Scott McKeeve also did, too, by winning $250,000 at the end of his show, and going for $500,000 next Thursday. Carlo and Amerigo had some really good personality displayed in the hotseat. If you recall, Carlo came back from the last episode, in which he already won $32,000. According to him, he makes his living by babysitting and being a delivery boy. Regis commented that it'd be nice to win a nice chunk of cash to help Carlo with his schooling. Carlo happily agreed with Regis. Well, Carlo had the determination to win a lot of money, and he did just that. Carlo won $125,000 that night, which should help quite a bit with his income. Amerigo Mariota (yes, Amerigo Vespucci came to mind when I heard his name) got into the hotseat after Carlo was finished. When I saw him, I could tell he was the type of guy who could do quite well on this show. Amerigo won $125,000, just like his predecessor, Carlo. Amerigo was also quite personable in the hotseat, too. Amerigo took the $125,000, and went home with a nice piece of cash. Then Scott McKeeve got into the hotseat, and the show ended with Scott having a big cliffhanger - going for $500,000. More on Scott later, but I'd like to give my best wishes to Carlo Espinas and Amerigo Mariota, two very fine players.
October 14-20: Scott McKeeve
On the nights of October 4 & 11, Scott McKeeve, an engineering manager from Alamena, California, won a total of $250,000 in the hotseat over those two nights. Caroline, Scott's companion, was saying how when she was on the show once (she didn't make it to the hotseat), she said that if she made it to the hotseat she would give Scott as much money as he liked, so she wants him to return this favor. At one point, their conversation went like this:
Regis: "Caroline, how much did you say you were gonna share with him?"
Caroline: "What's mine is his, Regis."
Regis: "What's mine, is his. So whats Smartypant's is yours? Wouldn't ya say?"
Caroline: "Yeah I guess we could say that."
Scott: "Interesting Theory."
Regis: "Just a theory, so far!"
Most likely, we think that Scott was nice enough to give some of his money to Caroline. :) Scott was a real professional at playing this game: he had a very extensive amount of knowledge and wise lifeline usage to get him where he was. Scott went through 12 straight questions and only used one lifeline, which was ask the audience. For $250,000: In Mary Shelley's classic novel, Frankenstein's monster reads which of these literary works? Scott said he was almost positive it was "Paradise Lost," but he took a 50:50, because there is no messing around when $93,000 is at stake. The computer left "Paradise Lost" and "The Divine Comedy." He still wasn't quite sure, so he called Henderson, Caroline's father, who is "a pretty smart guy." Henderson said he was pretty sure it was "Paradise Lost," so Scott said "Paradise Lost" for his final answer. Regis put it in the most simplest words: "Right for $250,000!" The next week, Scott was going for $500,000, but he was out of lifelines. The half-million dollar question: Which of these Renaissance Artist was the apprentice to the sculptor Verrochio? Scott said he was 95% sure it was Michaelangelo, but he wasn't 100% sure, so he walked with $250,000. The answer, by the way, wasn't Michaelangelo, but Leonardo DiVinci. Scott was a quite intelligent player, and we can only wonder whether Caroline got some of that money.
Regis: "Caroline, how much did you say you were gonna share with him?"
Caroline: "What's mine is his, Regis."
Regis: "What's mine, is his. So whats Smartypant's is yours? Wouldn't ya say?"
Caroline: "Yeah I guess we could say that."
Scott: "Interesting Theory."
Regis: "Just a theory, so far!"
Most likely, we think that Scott was nice enough to give some of his money to Caroline. :) Scott was a real professional at playing this game: he had a very extensive amount of knowledge and wise lifeline usage to get him where he was. Scott went through 12 straight questions and only used one lifeline, which was ask the audience. For $250,000: In Mary Shelley's classic novel, Frankenstein's monster reads which of these literary works? Scott said he was almost positive it was "Paradise Lost," but he took a 50:50, because there is no messing around when $93,000 is at stake. The computer left "Paradise Lost" and "The Divine Comedy." He still wasn't quite sure, so he called Henderson, Caroline's father, who is "a pretty smart guy." Henderson said he was pretty sure it was "Paradise Lost," so Scott said "Paradise Lost" for his final answer. Regis put it in the most simplest words: "Right for $250,000!" The next week, Scott was going for $500,000, but he was out of lifelines. The half-million dollar question: Which of these Renaissance Artist was the apprentice to the sculptor Verrochio? Scott said he was 95% sure it was Michaelangelo, but he wasn't 100% sure, so he walked with $250,000. The answer, by the way, wasn't Michaelangelo, but Leonardo DiVinci. Scott was a quite intelligent player, and we can only wonder whether Caroline got some of that money.
October 21-27: Archie Harris
The very personable Archie Harris, from Washington DC, won $125,000 on October 18. Archie has to be one of my favorite contestants of all time because of his awesome and funny personality. Although most times I disagree with the "Millionaire" auditions, which search for contestants with personality rather than there being a chance anyone could get into the hotseat through the phone game, I must admit they did one hell of a job with Archie Harris. Archie was very funny; often throwing in little jokes to add to his big money winning. When Archie was going for $250,000, before Regis read the question, here's what happened.
Regis: "Didn't know you're a Shakespearean actor, too! Is there anything you HAVEN'T done?"
Archie: "Won a million!"
Regis: "That's coming up next!"
That is just a small sample of the comedy that went on between Regis and Archie throughout their playing. I'm not even going to get into the questions, because that is beside the point at why I selected Archie for Contestant of the Week. A normal $125,000 winner isn't really big news, but when you add personality and humor with the brains, then it's big news. Archie was a perfect combination of $500,00 winner Steve Perry, who had the brains, and Millionaire Bernie Cullen, who had the personality (along with the brains.) Archie made "Millionaire" especially fun that night, even if he didn't take home the big prize.
Regis: "Didn't know you're a Shakespearean actor, too! Is there anything you HAVEN'T done?"
Archie: "Won a million!"
Regis: "That's coming up next!"
That is just a small sample of the comedy that went on between Regis and Archie throughout their playing. I'm not even going to get into the questions, because that is beside the point at why I selected Archie for Contestant of the Week. A normal $125,000 winner isn't really big news, but when you add personality and humor with the brains, then it's big news. Archie was a perfect combination of $500,00 winner Steve Perry, who had the brains, and Millionaire Bernie Cullen, who had the personality (along with the brains.) Archie made "Millionaire" especially fun that night, even if he didn't take home the big prize.
October 28 - November 3: Mike DiStefano
Mike DiStefano and Paula Litman won the most ($64,000) on a low money week on "Millionaire." Not even a Comedy Edition Celebrity made it as high as $250,000. (Yes, I do find that surprising with all the help they're given...) Mike DiStefano seemed to be a better candidate for this Contestant of the Week because he seemed to be the most knowledgable. Mike won $64,000, which in the Gameshow prime of the 1950's, would have been the buzz of the town and the most money anyone could dream. Nowadays, it still is a very nice piece of cash, but it is no longer the talk of the town and life-changing money. However, Mike DiStefano should be happy with a well-earned $64,000 that he won on October 25.
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