That has to be specified? What, now, the public considers alcohol a necessary expense when trying out for a game show?
It’s about the only thing I remember. It wasn’t until decades later that I learned about how it takes the sun’s light ~8 minutes to get to the earth and the implications of that for just how far a light-year is made my ears bleed.
I think the most painful one I saw was a woman who’d gotten up to $250k. She agonized over the $500k question, certain that she’d just read something about that subject the night before. She hashed over it and hashed over it and finally settled on an answer, fairly certain she was right, but nervous as all get-out to commit. She says, "C, “whatever the answer was” and Regis does his typical “try to fake the contestant out” schtick and says something like, “Ooh boy, that’s a toughie. You gonna go with that, huh? Is that your final answer?” Now she’s not certain she’s so certain anymore and starts rehashing it, ultimately settling for “B, whatever that one was, Final Answer.”
Of course you see where this is going, right? She walked out of that chair FURIOUS, cursing up a storm (obviously without audio). Whew - that was a tough one to sit through.
I’ve seen a few people miss the $100 question. One was something to the effect of, "What comes next in the popular children’s game, "Duck, Duck. . . "
A. Duck B. Goose
C. Dog D. A Big Brown Shoe
The contestant guessed “Duck,” I guess because in their mind, you go around the circle tapping people on top of the head saying, Duck, Duck, Duck, Duck, Duck. . . until you choose one to be the Goose, who then has to get up, chase you around the circle and try to tag you before you can make it back to their former spot and sit down.
Someone missed a $100 question about Little Jack Horner (guessed wrong as to what he pulled out with his thumb) and someone missed a low-level question about velcro, guessing zipper instead, and leaving with $0.
Having never watched the show, are the questions always multiple choice? 'Cuz I rock on those.
Yes, all questions are multiple choice.
I remember this! I was trying to think what he said, but I remember now- he stuck in his thumb and pulled out a grapefruit.
I learned that in elementary school, too.
But they also told me there were nine planets, so I don’t know what I should believe anymore. 
I could have been more informative here.
I don’t think the issue is specified as such. I arrived at the studio and, along with the other contestants, was told that having a drink at lunchtime was unwise. The production staff cited an example whereby someone, perhaps nervous, got totally drunk in the bar and was taken off the show.
After the show the contestants are supplied with free drinks at the studio bar, beer or wine but no spirits. Most of them stay overnight in a hotel and this is where alcoholic drinks are paid for by the contestants and not by the organisers of the show. In my case, generous chap that I am, I stood all the drinks for about 6 other contestants. They were very thirsty as I recall. The remaining 3 lived locally and went straight home.
To clarify, we weren’t trying out for the show. We appeared on it. Also I am describing the procedure as it was 5 years ago. It may have changed in the interim.
Yes. But he’s better known for “A Sale of Two T–tties”.
I’m going to maintain my skepticism that you can accurately recall the exact time you learned the distance of the Sun to the Earth, especially when it was 53 years ago, or that in any normal school eight-year-olds are expected to learn and retain such a fact.
Surely every pupil knows that light from the Sun takes about 9 minutes to reach us. So multiply that by the speed of light… 
Recently a children’s book illustrator (middle aged graduate, nerdy looking) won the £1,000,000 on UK TV. He didn’t jump around or anything, just looked pleased.
(I thought the quizmaster, Chris Tarrant, was a bit out of line when he told the guy’s daughter to “hug your Dad because he’s rich” :eek: )
The million question was: which boxer banged the gong at the start of J. Arthur Rank films?
Bombadier Billy Wells
I don’t have a dog in this fight. But I can assure you as a former fourth-grade teacher, kids don’t really have a grasp of number sense in the millions. Hundreds, thousands, but beyond that you’re reaching.
I was a talented and gifted kid, and I knew the distance from the earth to the sun by third grade… however, it’s probably because I read astronomy books and was something of a space nut. It’s reasonable to know by that age that there are (were) nine planets, even the mnenomic that helps you remember their order… but I don’t think the distance is catalogued in the third grade curriculum. And I still wager if you took an informal poll of people on the street, very few would know the exact distance from the earth to the sun. Hell, in my astronomy class in high school, it was a question on the final exam!
…in other words, I agree with RickJay - again.
Hi, I just took an informal poll of the 10-year-old in my house, who is in no way an exceptional student. “How far away is the sun?”
He rolls his eyes like this is the stupidest question he ever heard. “Oh, well, like abuot 93 million miles, or something.”
Next question: “How long does it take light to get from the sun to earth?”
This one stumped him, so I made it multiple choice. (a) one hour (b) eight days © eight minutes* (d) eight seconds.
He guessed (d). Then, after a minute, he said, “I meant 8 minutes.”
*I think it’s actually 8½ but we’re a mile high here so that takes some time off.
I’ve known kids that can rattle off dates and periods of dinosaurs when they’re five or six years old. They may not understand the concepts but they can remember dates and numbers.
Kids definitely study the planets in 3rd or 4th grade and the distance is in their book and on children’s internet sites. I helped my nephew with his little solar system project for school and still have it on my computer.
Check out any of the kids sites, it’s there.
They do learn it at that age. Whether they remember is a different story.
I was playing a game of Trivial Pursuit with some friends when I was in my twenties and the question came up: What is the distance from the Earth to the Sun? For some unknown reason, “ninety-three million miles” popped into my head. I don’t know why, I certainly learned it at school and almost definitely in elementary school, and it was still in my brain, waiting for me to use it.
On the other hand, at the same age I didn’t know what year or even what half-decade saw the first man walk on the moon.
(Sorry this is so long, but I’ve been wanting for a chance to write about this for a long time.)
I was on Jeopardy a few years ago. When I took their written test I knew I had only missed a few of the questions, even though they don’t tell you your score (they just read off the names of the people who “passed” and ask them to stick around afterwards).
We (the at-that-point pool of potential contestants) then played a mock game (after being shown the mechanics of ringing in and a few other things). That must have stood in for an interview, giving them a chance to check individuals out for energy, quickness, personality, etc.
Given the qualities mentioned above by Hampshire that are usually looked for when it comes to TV/game shows, I didn’t think I had a chance, until they called me and invited me to LA for the taping(s).
But wait, I’m Black. Meaning, around that time I had heard rumors that, because of complaints about not enough people of color getting on, that might have boosted my chances (I don’t know if the rumor or the potential boost are true). But then again, I might really just have lots of charisma. 
(I know I’m good-looking – if the light is right (low), you take off your glasses, close your better eye and pull the bag down tighter over my head. :eek: )
I won’t even go into what I think about how the show/outcome is put together, the actual ringing-in setup, etc., but let’s just say I lost.
Don’t ever mention the word “Pequod” to me. I got the right word, but mispronounced it (somehow never having heard it pronounced before). 
After the show aired, I found out many people I knew (and some I didn’t) had seen it.
My barber at the time would not stop mentioning the fact I was on the show; it became so annoying I finally stopped going to him.
A neighbor of mine did and still does talk about the show, frequently stating she wishes I could go back on (and perhaps redeem myself?). I get a real sense of ethnic pride from her regarding my making it onto the show in the first place, however, so it’s not as annoying as my ex-barber’s obsession (but still annoying).
Finally (phew!), one of my fellow contestants in the pool was a real hottie, this guy who went to NYU at the time. I was able to wrangle his phone number in LA (and suggested drinks after the taping) but, apparently upset that he didn’t make it to the next show, had checked out of his hotel that same day and returned to New York.
So I guess I lost two times in that one day. :rolleyes:
About a dozen years ago I heard a radio report that paraphrased a study by saying that less than half of American adults know how long it takes the Earth to go around the Sun. I couldn’t believe it, so I started giving my students (ages 25 and up, all with at least a high school education) the question for extra credit, along with the choices 24 hours; 7 days; 29 days; 365 days.
Only about 30% got it right. Certainly, that is a lot easier than the Earth-Sun distance.
I weep for our country.
I’m certain that I knew 93 million miles by age 11. But I’m also fairly certain that I learned it from a Child’s Guide to Our Solar System picture book, and not at school.
This is a interesting thread. But why is this in the pit?