Carpenter's Million Dollar Stack
sqg469
Carpenter's stack of questions were intentionally made easy by
the producers in order to produce a $1 million winner. Can
anyone point me to a source that has the 15 questions that
Carpenter answered to be WWTBAM's first millionaire? Thanks.
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Douglas T. Massey
In article <0f2997c0...@usw-ex0105-037.remarq.com>,
sqg469 <sqg469N...@aol.com.invalid> writes:
> There seems to be a continuing debate over whether John
> Carpenter's stack of questions were intentionally made easy by
> the producers in order to produce a $1 million winner. Can
> anyone point me to a source that has the 15 questions that
> Carpenter answered to be WWTBAM's first millionaire? Thanks.
I'd do this:
Go to http://www.deja.com/usenet
Select "Power Search"
Enter "John Carpenter" as your keywords, "alt.tv.game-shows" as your
Forum, and Dec 1 1999 as your "to" Date, and 100 results per page.
Hit Search, then sort the results by date (click on "Date").
Go to the bottom (they sort them most-recent-first) to find the
first posts to the newsgroup about John Carpenter. His stack will
be in one of those . . . the posts that start "JS Millionaire" are
Jeremy Soria's excellent recaps of each episode.
Doug
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wrest...@my-deja.com
What dates did he do it on????
Put JS Millionaire in your keyword line, and do either of those dates --
or the one date -- and you should get what you need.
Mike
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Zach Horan
>Let's even make it simpler:
>
>What dates did he do it on????
The shows aired November 18th and 19th.
Ruben Torres
>
>What dates did he do it on????
John Carpenter became the first Million$$$ winner on the 11/19 episode.
I believe he was the hold over contestant from the night before.
Ruben
sqg469
that they seemed pretty simple, particularly in comparison with
some of the questions in the $64,000 - $1,000,000 range that
have been on the show recently. None of Carpenter's questions
were all that obscure. I think it might be a stretch however to
say that the questions were "dumbed down" to ensure that there
would be a $1,000,000 winner. Tonight, ABC is broadcasting a
show about inside WWTBAM and I am sure that Carpenter will be
featured. It would be interesting to hear him respond to the
assertion that his questions were easy, although I doubt that
the producers asked him. We'll see.
wrest...@my-deja.com
sqg469 <sqg469N...@aol.com.invalid> wrote:
> Thanks for the help. Having reviewed the questions, I agree
> that they seemed pretty simple, particularly in comparison with
> some of the questions in the $64,000 - $1,000,000 range that
> have been on the show recently. None of Carpenter's questions
> were all that obscure. I think it might be a stretch however to
> say that the questions were "dumbed down" to ensure that there
> would be a $1,000,000 winner. Tonight, ABC is broadcasting a
> show about inside WWTBAM and I am sure that Carpenter will be
> featured. It would be interesting to hear him respond to the
> assertion that his questions were easy, although I doubt that
> the producers asked him. We'll see.
Carpenter is on the promos being interviewed for the special.
TenthSFGA
>In article <0ec63ffc...@usw-ex0104-033.remarq.com>,
> sqg469 <sqg469N...@aol.com.invalid> wrote:
>> Having reviewed the questions, I agree that they seemed pretty simple,
particularly in comparison with some of the questions in the $64,000 -
$1,000,000 range that have been on the show recently. None of Carpenter's
questions
were all that obscure.
Smug-boy Carpenter and millionaire #2 won only a few weeks apart. Neither one
faced any particularly difficult questions. Their wins were shortly followed
by a threat from the show's insurance company to drop their coverage. (Like
local golf tournaments that promise expensive cars for a hole-in-one, the 2 or
3 largest WWTBAM payouts are covered by insurance.) I think it's pretty clear
that most of the questions in the early weeks were considerably easier than
many of the lower level questions currently. It's not surprising. The show
got the excitement benefit while the insurance company footed the bill.
Zach Horan
Carpenter won on the show airing November 19th. Dan Blonsky won in late
January.
TenthSFGA
>
>Carpenter won on the show airing November 19th. Dan Blonsky won in late
>January.
Thank you. Point remains.
Matt Ottinger
TenthSFGA wrote:
> Smug-boy Carpenter and millionaire #2 won only a few weeks apart. Neither one
> faced any particularly difficult questions. Their wins were shortly followed
> by a threat from the show's insurance company to drop their coverage. (Like
> local golf tournaments that promise expensive cars for a hole-in-one, the 2 or
> 3 largest WWTBAM payouts are covered by insurance.)
Which brings me back to one of my favorite rants. I just don't see why any
insurance company would go within a mile of covering something like this. A
hole-in-one, or a half-court shot for a million dollars is one thing -- you can
judge the difficulty of the feat with a reasonable degree of accuracy and human
involvement is minimal.
But on Millionaire, people write the questions. Who makes the determination that
the questions are too hard or too easy, and how is that something you can
quantify? Sure, some players are going to do better than others, just like better
golfers will be more likely to hit the ace than duffers. But from the point of
view of the writers, a good writer knows an easy question from a hard one,
regardless of who's playing. Why would an insurance company want to underwrite
something that is so much in the control of human hands?
Just wondering.
--Matt
otti...@acd.net
c319...@aol.com
>got the excitement benefit while the insurance company footed the bill.
Now it's got the audience and doesn't need $1 million winners as much any more.
c319...@aol.com
it until the limits of the policy are reached, then cancel the policy.
Matt Ottinger
> Why wouldn't an insurance company cover something like Millionaire? They cover
> it until the limits of the policy are reached, then cancel the policy.
Well, maybe I don't get this whole insurance racket, then. My understanding for
these hole-in-one things was that a company pays X to an insurer, and if the event
happens, the insurer pays Y (some amount far greater than X) to the lucky winner.
From the insurer's point of view, it's all based on the odds of the event
happening, which they can predict to some level of comfort. But on a game show
like "Millionaire", it's impossible to predict the results if you don't have some
amount of direct control over the question writing.
It sound like the insurer in this case based their predictions merely on the fact
that no British player had ever reached the million-dollar level, and so were
shocked and alarmed when it happened twice (and later, a third time) fairly quickly
here. It's easy to say the questions should be "as difficult as the British
version" but how is that determined, and whose fault is it if they're not?
And even if you've got some kind of cap on the payouts, you as the insurer are
counting on receiving more in premiums than you're paying back in winnings. That's
kinda the point. If your "limits" are reached in the first year, and you've payed
three millionaires while collecting a few hundred thousand in premiums, you've got
a problem. And if it's written so that you can't pay out more than you've collected
in premiums, then there's no point for WWTBAM to be insuring the payoffs in the
first place.
If I'm missing something here, will some actuarial type explain it to me?
--Matt
otti...@acd.net
Schmolik tpir
http://www.stormseeker.com/games/wwtbam/millionaire.html
FOR $100:
In the "Road Runner and Coyote" cartoons, what famous sound does the Road
Runner make?
A: Ping! Ping!
B: Beep! Beep!
C: Aooga! Aooga!
D: Vroom! Vroom!
FOR $200:
Where should choking victims place their hands to indicate to others that they
need help?
A: Over the eyes
B: On the knees
C: Around the throat
D: On the hips
FOR $300:
Which of these dance names is used to describe a fashionable dot?
A: Hora
B: Swing
C: Lambada
D: Polka
FOR $500:
In what "language" would you say "ello-hay" to greet your friends?
A: Bull Latin
B: Dog Latin
C: Duck Latin
D: Pig Latin
FOR $1000:
What part of a chicken is commonly called the "drumstick"?
A: Breast
B: Wing
C: Leg
D: Gizzard
FOR $2000:
What is the only position on a football team that can be "sacked"?
A: Center
B: Wide Receiver
C: Tight End
D: Quarterback
FOR $4000:
What god of love is often depicted as a chubby winged infant with a bow and
arrow?
A: Zeus
B: Mercury
C: Cupid
D: Poseidon
FOR $8000:
What Steven Spielberg film climaxes at a place called Devil's Tower?
A: ET: The Extra Terrestrial
B: Jurassic Park
C: Raiders of the Lost Ark
D: Close Encounters of the Third Kind
FOR $16000:
In what U.S. town did the famous 1881 shoot-out at the OK Corral take place?
A: Laramie
B: Tombstone
C: El Paso
D: Dodge City
FOR $32000:
Which of the following months has no U.S. federal holiday?
A: August
B: February
C: September
D: November
FOR $64000:
What mythological beast is reborn from its own ashes?
A: Phoenix
B: Minotaur
C: Dragon
D: Golem
FOR $125000:
Who developed the first effective vaccine against polio?
A: Albert Sabin
B: Niels Bohr
C: Louis Pasteur
D: Jonas Salk
FOR $250000:
Which of the following is NOT a monotheistic religion?
A: Islam
B: Judaism
C: Hinduism
D: Christianity
FOR $500000:
What architect designed the glass pyramid in the courtyard of the Louvre?
A: Philip Johnson
B: Le Corbusier
C: Frank Gehry
D: I.M. Pei
FOR $MILLION:
Which of these U.S. Presidents appeared on the television series "Laugh-In"?
A: Lyndon Johnson
B: Richard Nixon
C: Jimmy Carter
D: Gerald Ford
CARPENTER SET ANSWERS:
$100: B
$200: C
$300: D
$500: D
$1000: C
$2000: D
$4000: C
$8000: D
$16000: B
$32000: A
$64000: A
$125000: D
$250000: C
$500000: D
$MILLION: B
Comments about the questions? They do seem a little easier. I am too young for
Laugh In, and I would never have gotten the half million one. I did know the
$64K and $125K and most likely would have gotten the $250K.
Schmolik
c319...@aol.com
money as if it were a loan, then continue to receive premiums after the payouts.
That is a total stab in the dark on my part.
Kelvin Chung
sqg469N...@aol.com.invalid wrote on 5/17/00 5:32 AM:
> There seems to be a continuing debate over whether John
> Carpenter's stack of questions were intentionally made easy by
> the producers in order to produce a $1 million winner. Can
> anyone point me to a source that has the 15 questions that
> Carpenter answered to be WWTBAM's first millionaire? Thanks.
>
> * Sent from RemarQ http://www.remarq.com The Internet's Discussion Network *
> The fastest and easiest way to search and participate in Usenet - Free!
>
I can name two sites where they have it. One has the FF and the other
hasn't. The one with the FF I do not know the precise address, but if you
go to http://www.stormseeker.com/games/wwtbam/ and click on the link that
says "Could you be a Millionaire?" you will find it. Answers are at the
bottom of the page. The second page is
http://members.xoom.com/wwtbam/compare.html. Here you will find the 15
questions posed to Carpenter, Michael Shutterly, and Doug Van Gundy. The
site is fairly old, but it has that information, and it also keeps track of
when each contestant used their lifelines. The right answers should be
highlited.