| Who Wants To Be A Millionaire - Contestant Archive | ||
| January, 2002 | ||
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Here are all of the Featured Contestants for January, 2002.
Contestant of the Year 2001
The year of 2001 has certainly been a very lively one in New York City. The September 11th attacks were a horrible disaster for the Big Apple, but there were some positive highlights about New York in 2001, too - "Millionaire" made some big winners, 2 of them broke the record of the former gameshow champ, David Legler. I picked Kevin Olmstead for the "Millionaire Contestant of the Year" because he was a great player. He broke the television winning record by winning $2,180,000, which was when "Millionaire" was doing the bonus game, where every show the total jackpot increased $10,000. Olmstead broke a long, 9 month streak of no million dollar winners, and it was a glorius victory. Kevin is a trivia king - he played trivia in high school, college, and now does it in his free time, coaching students in college. He was a five day champion on "Jeopardy!" in 1994, and now has won $2,180,000 - a very nice piece of cash, and he is officially the Gameshow King and our "Millionaire Contestant of the Year."
The Runner-Ups
For 2nd place, there wasn't any dilemma on who I would choose. My choice was definitely Ed Toutant, who won not $1 Million, but $1,860,000. For those of you who didn't hear what happened, let me explain. In January 2001, Ed Toutant went out going for $16,000. However, "Millionaire" decided to throw out one of the questions he was asked, due to a flaw. Ed started with a new $16,000 question. Since he was playing when their bonus game was in effect, he was playing for $1,860,000. I'll bet "Millionaire" wasn't expecting him to take home the grand prize, but he did. Ed was a guy who went home with $1,000, and a few months later, due to a flaw, he came back to win the grand prize. Toutant admitted that he struggled quite a bit, and in some cases he used his instincts and educated guesses to get the answers right. However, he was quite an entertaining and smart contestant too - it takes lots of guts and knowledge to take home the grand prize. All in all, I'd just like to congratulate Ed on being such a great contestant, and winning the spot of "Millionaire Contestant of the Year Runner-Up."
For the final "Millionaire Contestant of the Year Runner-Up," I couldn't think of anyone who could fit that category better than the 8th Millionaire, Bernie Cullen. Bernie was just absolutely fantastic in the hotseat. He had a great time - he has to be one of my favorite Million Dollar Winners. Bernie has a quality that no other Millionaire has shown - he is quite a comedian. Bernie could not only answer almost all the questions on his own, but was very funny, too. Also, on almost every question he answered (with the correct answer) before Regis even read the question. It seemed as if he would go out very early due to his freewill in answering the questions, but that only strengthened him. He used his final two lifelines on the million dollar question, and then only to give the audience some fun. Bernie was one of 3 people who conquered the game in the year 2001, and he deserves this honor as much as the other two.
Honorable Mentions
Although we can't make everyone a "Contestant of the Year" or a Runner-Up, we do find it necessary to make mention of some other smart and entertaining contestants and how they made "Millionaire" a success in 2001.
Steve Perry is the Randy Johnson or Roger Clemens of Millionaire. He's an ace. The young college student won $500,000 - a very great feat. However, he didn't use any of his lifelines - he had all 3 lifelines on the million dollar question. He was very knowledgable, and to me, he was the smartest player I have ever seen on "Millionaire."
Can anyone make a better team? Rob and Mary Beth McNally deserve a Honorable Mention because of their awesome and colorful teamwork in the May, 2001 Couples Edition. They won $500,000 together, and posessed a great amount of knowledge, which led to the victory.
On June 14, 2001, Mary Burke became the 4th woman to win $500,000. She showed very good knowledge, and she was quite entertaining to watch. She certainly does deserve an honorable mention, for she was a quite honorable contestant.
Martin Poteralski, just like Ed Toutant and Tim Shields, made one of those very memorable comebacks on the "Return of the Zero Dollar Winners" special in May, 2001. In April, 2000, Martin missed the $1,000 question, and went home empty-handed. However, "Millionaire" had a special series of shows, titled appropriately "The Return of the Zero Dollar Winners," and Martin Poteralski came back to win $250,000. Yes, and he did it well too - he still had two lifelines left at $250,000. Martin made an outstanding comeback, and it goes to show that just because you don't do well on a gameshow doesn't mean that you aren't smart.
The Runner-Ups
For 2nd place, there wasn't any dilemma on who I would choose. My choice was definitely Ed Toutant, who won not $1 Million, but $1,860,000. For those of you who didn't hear what happened, let me explain. In January 2001, Ed Toutant went out going for $16,000. However, "Millionaire" decided to throw out one of the questions he was asked, due to a flaw. Ed started with a new $16,000 question. Since he was playing when their bonus game was in effect, he was playing for $1,860,000. I'll bet "Millionaire" wasn't expecting him to take home the grand prize, but he did. Ed was a guy who went home with $1,000, and a few months later, due to a flaw, he came back to win the grand prize. Toutant admitted that he struggled quite a bit, and in some cases he used his instincts and educated guesses to get the answers right. However, he was quite an entertaining and smart contestant too - it takes lots of guts and knowledge to take home the grand prize. All in all, I'd just like to congratulate Ed on being such a great contestant, and winning the spot of "Millionaire Contestant of the Year Runner-Up."
For the final "Millionaire Contestant of the Year Runner-Up," I couldn't think of anyone who could fit that category better than the 8th Millionaire, Bernie Cullen. Bernie was just absolutely fantastic in the hotseat. He had a great time - he has to be one of my favorite Million Dollar Winners. Bernie has a quality that no other Millionaire has shown - he is quite a comedian. Bernie could not only answer almost all the questions on his own, but was very funny, too. Also, on almost every question he answered (with the correct answer) before Regis even read the question. It seemed as if he would go out very early due to his freewill in answering the questions, but that only strengthened him. He used his final two lifelines on the million dollar question, and then only to give the audience some fun. Bernie was one of 3 people who conquered the game in the year 2001, and he deserves this honor as much as the other two.
Honorable Mentions
Although we can't make everyone a "Contestant of the Year" or a Runner-Up, we do find it necessary to make mention of some other smart and entertaining contestants and how they made "Millionaire" a success in 2001.
Steve Perry is the Randy Johnson or Roger Clemens of Millionaire. He's an ace. The young college student won $500,000 - a very great feat. However, he didn't use any of his lifelines - he had all 3 lifelines on the million dollar question. He was very knowledgable, and to me, he was the smartest player I have ever seen on "Millionaire."
Can anyone make a better team? Rob and Mary Beth McNally deserve a Honorable Mention because of their awesome and colorful teamwork in the May, 2001 Couples Edition. They won $500,000 together, and posessed a great amount of knowledge, which led to the victory.
On June 14, 2001, Mary Burke became the 4th woman to win $500,000. She showed very good knowledge, and she was quite entertaining to watch. She certainly does deserve an honorable mention, for she was a quite honorable contestant.
Martin Poteralski, just like Ed Toutant and Tim Shields, made one of those very memorable comebacks on the "Return of the Zero Dollar Winners" special in May, 2001. In April, 2000, Martin missed the $1,000 question, and went home empty-handed. However, "Millionaire" had a special series of shows, titled appropriately "The Return of the Zero Dollar Winners," and Martin Poteralski came back to win $250,000. Yes, and he did it well too - he still had two lifelines left at $250,000. Martin made an outstanding comeback, and it goes to show that just because you don't do well on a gameshow doesn't mean that you aren't smart.
December 30 - January 5: David Murphy
Call him the guessing David. David Murphy, a recent $125,000 winner from Quincy, Massachusettes, literally guessed his way to $125,000. David had used up all of his lifelines by $32,000. At $32,000, David said "I didn't come to New York to only win $16,000." He had no clue what the answer was, but he winged it with a complete guess - and got it right for $32,000. But, would his luck continue to the next question? At $64,000, you have nothing to lose, so you might as well guess anyway. Once again, David had no idea. Like I said, you might as well take a guess, since you won't lose anything. David guessed again - and he was right for $64,000! Actually, we have seen quite a few people take guesses at $64,000 and nail it, but rarely do we see two guesses in a row that were both right. The next question, worth $125,000: Which ancient temple was moved to higher ground in the 1960s because of a lake created by Aswan High Dam? He guessed Abu Simbel. For his final answer. Can you believe this - he got it right! Wow! This was truly an amazing story of luck at WWTBAM Thursday. However, at $250,000, the luck of the Irish caught up to him. David considered guessing, but thankfully decided to do the smart thing and take a nice $125,000 and go home. David was quite a character, the whole time since he got into the hotseat to when he walked away. All I have to say is that some sort of supernatural force must have been with this guy - 3 straight guesses to win himself lifechanging money. I find it really hard to believe, but at the same time, I find it really fun to watch too - someone putting all that money on the line on a complete guess and they get it right. My absolute congratulations go to David, and may the luck of the Irish continue to follow him around.
January 6-12: Marion Jones
On a relatively low-scoring episode of Olympic Millionaire at Orlando Florida, it is only right to go with the Olympic Athlete that won the most on that show. That athlete is Marion Jones, who won $32,000. (In case you are wondering "but Dan Jansen won $32,000, too...," he won his $32,000 thanks to the minimum guarantee of $32,000 given to celebrities playing for charities. He actually missed his $32,000 question, so had he been a "regular" contestant, he'd have left with $1,000.) Although Marion wasn't the "sharpest tool in the shed," she did manage to keep her cool in the hotseat to win $32,000. She missed at $125,000, knocking her back to $32,000. Now remember, even though these Olympic Athletes are allowed to seek help, just like celebrities, up to $32,000, they are certainly closer to "regular" people like me and you than the bunch of celebrities on every Monday. From the moment Marion Jones stepped into the hotseat, she added some colorful fun and personality to the set. I honestly think that she enjoyed her time in the hotseat, and she did fairly well, too. I would like to congratulate Marion Jones on an entertaining performance in the hotseat, and keep representing America as well as she does at the Olympics.
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