On October 22, 2003, I taped my second appearance on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. The first one occurred two and a half years earlier with me narrowly missing a chance in the hot seat by being about a half second too slow on the fast finger question. I had to wait a year before trying to get back on. In the meantime, the primetime version with Regis Philbin had been canceled. But soon after, a syndicated daily version arose with Meredith Vieira as host. The great thing about the new version was that they eliminated the fast finger part of the game. They just had people lined up backstage waiting their turn in the hot seat. Since I’d already gone through the audition process a few times, I felt confident that I could somehow get my little tush in that darned hot seat!

So I occasionally checked their website for up coming auditions. I finally noticed some posted for New York City for August 2003. I sent an email requesting a spot and got a reply just a week before the date. I got a cheap plane ticket through a friend and the two of us flew up for the audition, which was August 18.

I was really nervous taking the test since I’d flown all that way. If I failed, I’d feel like a huge idiot. But luckily I passed along with about 10 other people (out of about sixty). We each got a three-minute interview with one of the producers of the show and were told that they would “let us know.”

A couple weeks after we returned home, I got a postcard in the mail saying that I was in the contestant pool. It said it wasn’t a guarantee off being called, but I thought it was a good sign.

Then the toughest part of the process was just waiting for “the call.” I must’ve checked my messages 100,000 times in the next month and a half. But around the first of October, I answered the phone at work to hear on the other end, “Hello Jason. This is Matt from Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.” I somehow managed to breathe and concentrate enough to answer all the legal questions and get confirmed for a tape date – October 22.

For the next few weeks, I studied the almanac and kept my ears peeled for any trivial information that might float by. The day before the tape date, Tony, Cheryl and I boarded the plane for JFK. We were met at the airport by a limo that Tony had arranged. We settled into the Righa Royal hotel in midtown and had a nice dinner in the hotel restaurant, which featured Tony’s new favorite dish – lobster bisque.
The tape date was a full day of meetings, rehearsals, lunch, and lots of green room waiting. When the taping finally started, my heart started racing and didn’t stop until I had left the building that afternoon. They had a couple of carry-over contestants that didn’t get on the previous day and then I was first up out of our day’s group.

I remember waiting just backstage, hearing the lady before me miss her question and the stagehand telling me “now.” So I walked out onto the stage, shook hands with Meredith, sat in the hot seat and started the game. I just remember being so nervous and being relieved that I answered the first question correctly. The whole time I was in the hot seat, it felt like every synapse in my body was firing all at once.

I had told myself prior to going up there that I would risk it in certain parts and play it safe in others. I played it safe on the $32,000 question by using the 50-50 just to guarantee that I wouldn’t leave with less than that. But then I had planned to risk it on the next questions until I got $125,000. Then I would walk with whatever I had. Fortunately, I immediately knew the $64,000 question and still had my phone-a-friend lifeline in my pocket. I didn’t know the $125,000 question, so I called Matt and he didn’t know either. After thinking about it, I decided to go for it and chose wrong. I still won $32,000 and had an amazing time that I’ll never forget, including the post-show festivities at a few of New York’s finest watering holes with my crazy uncle and step-mother.

The show finally aired on April 14, 2004 after being delayed three months by the show planners. I’m not allowed to go back on Millionaire since I was in the hot seat, but after a year, I can try to get on another game show. *Ding* What is Jeopardy?!