I, too, was embarrassed for the entire country when that woman said “mexico” had the longest border. C’mon, you must have seen a map of the US once or twice! They show it all the time on the TV weather reports. See that big country up there above us? The one that borders all of those northern states? Now, look down at the bottom, see the little dangley thing that is Mexico and then there’s the Gulf of Mexico and then Florida? How could you think Mexico has the longest border?! Even under pressure that’s a no-brainer! They showed her family and I think even they couldn’t believe she messed that up. The reason we have trouble with border security between the US and Mexico is apparently Mexicans actually want to come here but the Canadians are smarter than that and just want to keep us out
[sub]… and away from their canadian bacon, maple syrup and hockey.
Sorry, I am an American, after all. [/sub]
The reason that we don’t have a problem on the Canadian border is because it’s too narrow for any Canadians to fit through it.
This show might be far more entertaining if they just increased the pace by, say, tenfold. As it is, it’s going to die in its sleep. What the producers thought would be tension has turned into the exact opposite, bordom.
That having been said, I did miss one last night. I honestly thought that the star closest to the Earth was either Alpha Centuri or Proxima Centuri. I know that the Sun is a star, but the way the question was phrased, I call shenanigans.
So fight my ignorance, Dopers, and make me smarter than a 6th grader. What is the 2nd closest star to Earth?
Proxima [Centauri], the third star in the Alpha Centauri star cluster, is closest, at around 4.22 light years away, tdn. Alpha Centauri A is about 4.35 light years away.
Of the questions listed here, none I would have gotten wrong. What other questions were there? So far:
trapezoid (got that one on the show previews, then had to prove I was right to Mrs. D_Odds)
Well, in fairness, had the millenia question come up with Jeopardy style speed, I’d have gotten it wrong–and kicked myself for it. My thought process “A millenium is a thousand years so that’s ten decades, double that is twenty. . . . . wait a minute, that seems a little low. Thousand, divide by ten . . . oops.”
Sorry, gigi, that may have sounded a little flip. If you’re implying that the North Star is also the closest, then ISWYDT. A lot of people think that since the North Star is so important, it must also be the brightest and/or the closest. Actually, it is neither. Sirius is the brightest, Proxima Centauauauari is the closest. (Not including our own Sun. :smack: )
I think that that’s what that contestant did. Since the Mexican border is on the news so much, it’s important, and must therefore be the biggest.
Thanks for the spelling correction. I knew it was either a U or an A. I should have played it safe and thrown both in.
Red and yellow combine to make what color?
What star is closest to the earth?
What country has the longest border to the U.S.?
How many sides to a trapezoid?
How many decades in 2 millenia?
Can’t they just cut me the check for $1,000,000 now?
I could see it -
JF: D_Odds, red and yellow combine to make what color?
DO: Orange. Next question.
JF: Are you sure? Do you want to ask Junior over here for some help, maybe take a peek at his answer?
DO: Just get to the next question. If I want help, I’ll ask. Otherwise, I’m sprinting for the mill. The answer is orange. Proceed.
JF: Well, we’ll get to the answer right after this next break.
DO: Listen up, you illegitimate illiterate rat bastard. 10 simple questions - I can do that in 60 seconds - used to practice watching Win Ben Stein’s Money. You ask, I answer, you write the check. Do it, do it now, or the kids get hurt.
JF: Security!
Yeah, making such of a production out of every answer, one must conclude that they are short of contestants, short of questions, or short of million dollar checks.
The sad thing is that this had the potential to be a pretty good show. I bet they have so many episodes taped that by the time they retool the format, they will have already lost all viewership.
I predict that this turkey will be cooked by, say, April 1st.
Nope, I was just curious about the real name of the North Star. Besides the Sun, I’ve only heard of Alpha Centauri, and maybe something like Betelgeuse??
The other thing is, once you give the contestant the choice of subject and level, how would difficulty correspond to dollar level, as on Millionaire? I guess you assume they will choose according to what they find hard??
That’s exactly how I’d be too. Not just on “5th Grader,” but on “Millionaire” or “Deal” as well. I’d just want to keep moving and dispense with the filler. I wouldn’t be trotting out any family members either. I’m sure they screen out people like us (i.e. people of at least average intelligence) almost immediately.
That’s precisely what made this show so repellant for me. If she had the grace to look embarrassed, to say something like, “I should have known this; thank goodness my ten-year-old playing partner did!” I’d feel much friendlier towards the show.
Dude, you have me seriously laughing - it’s a good thing the person who sits in the cube next to me is down in the cafeteria - I have tears in my eyes.
Thank you. For the record, I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I would have won Ben Stein’s $5,000. Two hands if you include ties.
How is this fair? To get the chance to win BS’ money, you have to compete at difficult questions against 2 others. Then you have to answer 10 difficult questions in 60 seconds. Get more right answers than Ben, you win a whopping $5,000.
Here, an idiot who can’t be arsed to have a decent understanding of US geography, who has all the time in the world to answer questions, and who gets 3 chances for help, can win $1,000,000. Nothing like celebrating the wretchedly ignorant.
I remember when Drew Carey was on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. For the first five or so questions, his answers were something like “B, Spain, final answer, and I don’t want to discuss it.” Regis was pretty rattled by it.
I think the appeal of winning Ben Stein’s show was for the nerd cred more than the money. Stein hardly ever lost, so it’s kind of a cool badge for anyone who can say that beat him.
Well, if you’re not stupid you don’t get on the show. So they clearly pick for fools who have a personality.
It’s like that thing that Jay used to do on the Tonite show, where’d he asked questions only a moron could miss- but your didn’t get your 15 seconds of fame unless you answered wrong. Thus, rather clever dudes will answer wrong on purpose. In fact, IIRC, two dudettes got a rather nice spot on the show for acting that stupid!
If there was a time limit for the triangle question, I might have blown it. And, it’s possible my mind might have blanked on Johnson, I might have said “Umm, err the dude who was Lincoln’s VP but who got to be Prez after Abe was assassinated…”. My mind often blanks on names.
