(I’ve seen lots of discussions here from Dopers who’ve been on Jeopardy, but I don’t think Who Wants to be a Millionaire has come up.)
To make a long story short…I recently was able to fulfill a dream of the past 10 years: coming into possession of a free airline ticket, I flew from Calif to NY, just to audition for WWTBAM. Fly on Wednesday; audition on Thursday; return flight on Friday.
My ticket said to arrive at the ABC studio on W 57th St at 2:30, on Thursday 2 weeks ago…but that admittance was first-come-first-served (a bit perturbing…). I found the address at 1:30, and a Production Assistant (one of several assigned to crowd control, audience herding and schmoozing – all of them about 18 years old) gave me a number and said I was now guaranteed admittance (Yay!) and to return at 2:30. I had never been in NYC before, so this gave me a little time – went to Central Park (Sheep Meadow); found a pizzeria (extremely impressed).
Back at 2:30. A crowd had now started forming on the sidewalk…the plan was to let people in at 2:30, with taping to begin at 3:30. But the 18YOPA’s let us know that the previous taping was running late, so we could leave & come back in an hour. Having no particular place to go, I chose to just hang around on the sidewalk. 18YOPA’s kept us amused with trivia questions, and handed out water and candy. Those of us who had indicated an interest in auditioning were given application forms, which included lots of questions about what makes you interesting & unique.
Around 4:00 the doors opened and we were allowed inside –through security, up and around hallways, and eventually onto the set, into the bleachers. I got a front row seat…cool. The warm-up comedian led us through Applause Practice, but didn’t do much of anything otherwise amusing. The Tournament of Ten was underway (and I’m still fuzzy on how the tournament worked); Meredith Viera and some contestants came out to film promo spots.
And then taping of the first show began. The contestant was starting from zero, and flamed out fairly early, burning through all his lifelines (he asked the audience, so I got to use the keypad attached to my seat…I got it right). He used both his Phone a Friend and Ask the Expert on the $15k question, neither of whom were any help. (The question: Nevada’s state motto “Battle Born” refers to the fact that it was admitted to the union during what conflict? Mexican War, Civil War, Spanish-American War, WWI. I knew it.) The contestant walked away…then they brought out a Tournament of Ten contestant and asked her a $1M question…which I also knew. I’ve been sworn to secrecy about the tournament results, so I won’t divulge much else.
Break time. More promos taped. Some audience members were moved around (including me) apparently to give the appearance that the audience for the second show was different from that of the first show.
Taping of the 2nd show, with a new contestant. She did fairly well (again, used the Ask the Audience fairly early…and again, I got it right). Time ran out; another Tournament of Ten contestant was brought on and another $1M question asked. This time, I had no clue, and would’ve guessed wrong. A tournament champion was named, and confetti was released.
The audience was then dismissed. Those of us who were auditioning were instructed to follow one of the 18YOPA’s down a hall and through the bowels of the building, finally emerging in the cafeteria. (About half the audience auditioned – 100 or so). As we entered the cafeteria we were given a numbered sealed envelope containing a test, a #2 pencil and a scantron answer sheet. An 18YOPA gave us brief instructions: 30 multiple choice questions, 10 minutes. Go.
The questions covered a variety of subjects (just like the show), and were moderately difficult. There were 4 that I had no clue on, and had to guess. Of those 4, I now know I got 3 right and one wrong – feeling fairly confident about the other 26, I think I got 29/30. After 10 minutes, the 18YOPAs collected the answer sheets and the tests. I got to keep the pencil.
The 1 wrong: what does Molly Ringwald give Judd Nelson at the end of The Breakfast Club?
A short break while the tests were scored; then an 18YOPA read the numbers of those who passed…mine was the 2nd number called, so I had little chance to get anxious. But only 8 numbers were called. They gave us no hint as to what a passing grade was, but it must’ve been fairly high.
Those Who Passed were asked to assemble at the other end of the room, where each was photographed, and then given an extremely brief and cursory interview with an 18YOPA. I thought I was absolutely charming, engaging and witty…my interviewer looked a bit bored. Smile, thank you…we’ll send you a postcard within 2 weeks to let you know if you’re in the contestant pool.
Back on the streets of NY, about 8:00 PM.
I got my postcard yesterday…I was not selected for the contestant pool. I’m disappointed (it was fun fantasizing about how I’d spend the money), but not crushed. I figured that I’d gone for it, and passed the test – if I didn’t meet some silly demographic criteria (ie, they’d already had enough pudgy middle-aged white guy contestants) or I was too charming or not charming enough, there’s not much I can do about that.
Behind the scenes stuff:
I had a clear view of Meredith’s teleprompter. Other than the intros coming back from commercial, it just said “ad lib interview”.
Meredith flubbed some lines/questions, and we had to go back to the last break point and start over.
Meredith seemed perfectly charming, bantering with the audience during breaks.
The delay on Ask the Audience while the results are tabulated is a lot longer than it appears on the show. When it airs, it’s about 10 seconds…in reality, it’s more like 30