The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: Patrick S on August 09, 2006, 07:39:30 PM
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Brad Rutter may be the reigning champion when it comes to game show winnings, but his $2 million win on the J! UTOC was a foregone conclusion and thus not at all exciting. Which million dollar win do you think was the most exciting? While no one individual person won seven digits, my vote has to go to the episode of Super Greed that gave us Lauren Griswold, Phyllis Harris, and that guy whose name I can never remember, winning an aggregate of $2 million. At the time, such a prize had never been awarded (IIRC) and Greed was just notorious for having losing contestants. Not to mention that it was just a great, energetic group of people. That's why I think it was exciting. What do you think?
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[quote name=\'Patrick S\' post=\'126774\' date=\'Aug 9 2006, 07:39 PM\']
What do you think?
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Agreed on Rutter's win not being too exciting, but my vote goes to John Carpenter. A lot of people argue that 1) he was smug as hell, and 2) he had an easy stack, but he did the one thing people wanted to see: win the lot. As much as people bitched about the way he burned his Phone-A-Friend, I loved it.
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One of the most exciting to me is Joe Trela's seemingly improbable win.....granted though I didn't know the answer to the last question.
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Kevin Olmstead's $2.18 Mil win when Millionaire had its progressive jackpot gets my vote.
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You know what? I'm gonna kinda go "off the board" on this one....The most exciting million dollar win to me was the first one I ever saw, and it predates "Millionaire" by 13 years.....It would be $1 Million Chance of a Lifetime (or just $1M COAL for short). I don't remember the first couple who won the million, but I remember watching it until that happened.
BTW, welcome to the board!
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For me, Kim Hunt's big win. It was exciting for me just because it was the only time I was ever shouting the answer at the television on a million-dollar question. :)
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I'll second Joe Trela. It wasn't spoiled for me ahead of time, and I lost track of how many times I was screaming, "TAKE THE MONEY!" as he pondered his $1,000,000 question. And when Regis Philbin declared, "HE JUST WON A MILLION DOLLARS!" that was a really big WOW moment in the history of WWTBAM.
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The winners on 1MCoaL always were a bit more excitable than the smug brains on WWTBAM. One particular couple, whose names escape me, nailed the fifth and sixth words with something like four seconds left. Big time thunder for that one. Mike Klauss used to have the clip on his website.
If you must narrow it down to millionaires, my (likely unpopular, "that's not a real game show!") nod goes to Jon Kenney from the first "Pepsi Play For a Billion," with Robert "Bob-O" Essig's Super Millionaire win coming in a close second. Dollar for dollar, though, nothing tops Jamaican Rose on Treasure Hunt, winner of $50,000 and the gold medal in the game show host clean & jerk.
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[quote name=\'CountdownRound\' post=\'126855\' date=\'Aug 9 2006, 10:23 PM\']
Jon Kenney from the first "Pepsi Play For a Billion,"
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Jon? Wasn't his name Richard something? Is it possible you're remembering the second one instead?
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For me, it would be Nancy Christy's Millionaire win because she was the first female contestant to snag seven figures on a quiz show even though Stephenie from Winning Lines came oh so close if she hadb't bailed with a couple seconds left. Curtis Warren's MDM on Greed was a close 2nd.
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Jon? Wasn't his name Richard something? Is it possible you're remembering the second one instead?
Yep; his name is Richard Bay...the only reason I remember that is because I was rooting for him through the whole thing, and he seemed so happy when he won...as I'm sure we all would! :)
Anthony
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BEST: Going along with the votes for Joe Trela. All the lifelines burned out many questions earlier and he had the stones to go all the way with The Million Dollar Moth.
WORST: John Carpenter. Don't like him. Can't stand him. The next day he was quoted in the press as saying all the attention was "all a little silly". Ass. How I hate him.
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My vote goes to the first UK million-pound winner, because it just hadn't been done before and Tarrant is a master host.
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I will also add my vote for Joe Trela's $1,000,000 win. Going for the million after having burned all the lifelines at the $32,000 mark must take real guts.
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[quote name=\'beatlefreak84\' post=\'126876\' date=\'Aug 10 2006, 09:01 AM\']
Yep; his name is Richard Bay...the only reason I remember that is because I was rooting for him through the whole thing, and he seemed so happy when he won...as I'm sure we all would! :)
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Yup, my bad. I tried looking it up and missed.
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I also vote for Joe Trela. Those last five questions... That's the only time I've been drained watching a game show at home.
And while I thought John Carpenter got lucky to get the stack he did, I thought his Phone-a-Friend usage was pretty funny. In my opinion, there have been multiple "Millionaire" wins more exciting than his, but I didn't hate him.
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Scott Robinson
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[quote name=\'Craig Karlberg\' post=\'126871\' date=\'Aug 10 2006, 04:26 AM\']
even though Stephenie from Winning Lines came oh so close if she hadb't bailed with a couple seconds left.
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Are you thinking of Catherine Rahm (from the first episode)? Yeah; I still watch that ep with a grimace on my face. She knew the $1,000,000 answer and had a pit stop! Yet she still bailed out. Shame on Dick Clark for not reminding her about the pit stop.
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[quote name=\'Patrick S\' post=\'126929\' date=\'Aug 10 2006, 11:48 AM\']
Are you thinking of Catherine Rahm (from the first episode)?
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Yes. You'll find Karlberg does this a lot. Stick around a little longer and you'll figure out why.
Shame on Dick Clark for not reminding her about the pit stop.
With four seconds left? Uh, no.
She had that information in front of her on her screen, and for Dick to try to blurt out "You still have a pitstop!" would only confuse her, and if done wrong in the heat of the moment (as in "Use your pitstop!") would have been a BIG hosting nono, and very likely a C&P violation. (Might have even been in violation of the policy I'm sure Celador took out in case they had to pay out the million, too.)
And ultimately, it's the player's job to be aware of their situation. I realize he did it during other times in the Wonderwall as a courtesy, but it was just that, a courtesy.
With ten seconds? Yeah, maybe I can see it. MAYBE. With four? No way.
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[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'126943\' date=\'Aug 10 2006, 03:34 PM\']
And ultimately, it's the player's job to be aware of their situation. I realize he did it during other times in the Wonderwall as a courtesy, but it was just that, a courtesy.
With ten seconds? Yeah, maybe I can see it. MAYBE. With four? No way.
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A good host is always "courteous". And since it was the final question, Clark should have just said "What chocolate company is located in San Francisco? Remember you have a pit stop". It wouldn't have even taken 2 seconds to blurt that out. Catherine was a smart person. I don't think she'd have gotten confused that easily. Anyway, maybe I'm just annoyed that she had the million in her grasp and didn't get it, and am trying to shift the blame.
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[quote name=\'Patrick S\' post=\'126961\' date=\'Aug 10 2006, 02:36 PM\']
A good host is always "courteous".
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TELL me you're not suggesting Dick Clark is a bad host. God, please, with nine posts under your belt, TELL me you're not making that accusation.
"Courtesy", in this case, is "not potentially confusing your contestant with four seconds left and a million bucks on the line."
And since it was the final question, Clark should have just said "What chocolate company is located in San Francisco? Remember you have a pit stop".
Ever host a game show? He's trying to juggle a lot of thoughts during that time, he knows the clock is running low, and he's also trying to deal with the adrenaline of his VERY FIRST CONTESTANT almost winning the whole damned thing. And if we know anything about Dick Clark, it's that he empathizes with his contestants.
Man, I'm sorry, but I'm just not going to crucify Clark for not thinking to do something that really wasn't even part of his job requirements at that moment.
It wouldn't have even taken 2 seconds to blurt that out.
And with four remaining, that's an eternity. Again: you try it.
Anyway, maybe I'm just annoyed that she had the million in her grasp and didn't get it, and am trying to shift the blame.
Sure seems like it. You're doing an awful lot of armchair hosting here from the benefit of hindsight.
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[quote name=\'Scott\' post=\'126816\' date=\'Aug 9 2006, 11:01 PM\']
Kevin Olmstead's $2.18 Mil win when Millionaire had its progressive jackpot gets my vote.
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This is my vote as well. Remember how his face lit up when the final question came up? That's a true blue feel good moment for the guy.
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[quote name=\'Patrick S\' post=\'126929\' date=\'Aug 10 2006, 02:48 PM\']
Are you thinking of Catherine Rahm (from the first episode)? Yeah; I still watch that ep with a grimace on my face. She knew the $1,000,000 answer and had a pit stop! Yet she still bailed out. Shame on Dick Clark for not reminding her about the pit stop.
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Catherine Rahm was at Congrefs III (not to be confused with GSC-3) and when questioned about this, she told me the taping session went hours upon hours and when you combine the fatigue with the lights and the cameras and the heat of the moment, you don't always make perfect judgment calls. After bailing out, she said she realized what she'd done, but had $500,000 so she lost not one wink of sleep.
Before the Wonderwall portion of Winning Lines would begin, Dick Clark would tell the player that he would keep him/her posted as to pit stop information, etc. "as best I can". And he did. And he was awesome. Neither Bill Cullen, Todd Russell nor Blake Emmons could have done better.