Transcript 6/26/2009 - Frank Cardia

[BBTranscriptTeam]

Frank Cardia
Moonachie, NJ
Mortgage broker

Frank got the call to be on the show on his birthday, but it was only the second-best present he received. His 19-month old son Drew Alexander got him a key chain that read, "My Father, My Hero".

Topic Tree:
- All Together Now
- The Oval Office
- Joke Origins
- Don't Mess with Taxes
- Celebrated Composers
- The Hail Mary
- TV Pets
- Islands
- The Searchers
- To The Moon!
- The Sound of Music
- Don't Get Burned
- Political Comedies
- Two Scoops
- 'Tis the Season

$100 - Because it coincides with the yearly flowering of trees and weeds, March is considered the start of what medical "season"?
A - dandruff season
B - heartburn season
C - allergy season
D - nasal spray-palooza

Frank says his wife would kill him if he didn't know the answer to this one.

Spoiler

C - allergy season (3)

$200 - A long-running ad campaign promises "two scoops of raisins" in every box of a popular brand of what?
A - pasta
B - cereal
C - pet food
D - crackers

Spoiler

B - cereal (8)

$300 - Which of these Kevin Costner films is a political comedy?
A - Swing Vote
B - Message in a Bottle
C - The Bodyguard
D - Tin Cup

Frank lets the clock tick down to 6 seconds before deciding to "poll" the audience.

ATA results

ATA results:
A - 86%
B - 5%
C - 3%
D - 6%

Frank goes with the audience.

Spoiler

A - Swing Vote (5)

$500 - What do the "S" and "P" stand for in "SPF", the abbreviation typically found on bottles of sunscreen?
A - solar pigmentation
B - skin peeling
C - summer preservation
D - sun protection

Spoiler

D - sun protection (8)

$1000 - According to the lyrics of a famous song from "The Sound of Music", what musical note is "a long, long way to run"?
A - fa
B - do
C - re
D - mi

Frank says he's going to have to use a phone a friend, stopping the clock with 9 seconds remaining. On his PAF list are Susan, from Sparta, NJ; Gary, from Toms River, NJ; and Rose, from Toms River, NJ. Frank chooses Susan.

PAF results

Frank reads the entire question and the answers. Susan immediately gives him the right answer, ending the call with 13 seconds on the PAF clock.

Spoiler

A - fa (8)

Frank has earned the Ask the Expert lifeline. Today, as all week, the expert is the host of CNBC's "On the Money", Carmen Wong Ulrich.

$2000 - In 2008, what country joined the "space race" with the launch of its first-ever lunar orbiter, the Chandrayaan-1?
A - Australia
B - Canada
C - Germany
D - India

Frank mulls over the question and finally decides to ask the expert, stopping the clock with 16 seconds remaining.

ATE results

Carmen says that she's very familiar with where the root of "Chandrayaan" comes from, so she's going to go with "D - India". Frank says that's what he was thinking.

Spoiler

D - India (13)

commercial break

$4000 - In 2008, the American Film Institute named the classic film "The Searchers" the greatest movie of all time in what genre?
A - Gangster
B - Western
C - Mystery
D - Epic

Frank doesn't know this so he's going to have to walk away. The clock stops with 18 seconds left.

Spoiler

B - western (18)

[ulysses5019]

Frank Cardia
Moonachie, NJ
Mortgage broker

Frank got the call to be on the show on his birthday, but it was only the second-best present he received. His 19-month old son Drew Alexander got him a key chain that read, "My Father, My Hero".

Topic Tree:
- All Together Now
- The Oval Office
- Joke Origins
- Don't Mess with Taxes
- Celebrated Composers
- The Hail Mary
- TV Pets
- Islands
- The Searchers
- To The Moon!
- The Sound of Music
- Don't Get Burned
- Political Comedies
- Two Scoops
- 'Tis the Season

$100 - Because it coincides with the yearly flowering of trees and weeds, March is considered the start of what medical "season"?
A - dandruff season
B - heartburn season
C - allergy season
D - nasal spray-palooza

Frank says his wife would kill him if he didn't know the answer to this one.

Spoiler

C - allergy season (3)

$200 - A long-running ad campaign promises "two scoops of raisins" in every box of a popular brand of what?
A - pasta
B - cereal
C - pet food
D - crackers

Spoiler

B - cereal (8)

$300 - Which of these Kevin Costner films is a political comedy?
A - Swing Vote
B - Message in a Bottle
C - The Bodyguard
D - Tin Cup

Frank lets the clock tick down to 6 seconds before deciding to "poll" the audience.

ATA results

ATA results:
A - 86%
B - 5%
C - 3%
D - 6%

Frank goes with the audience.

Spoiler

A - Swing Vote (5)

$500 - What do the "S" and "P" stand for in "SPF", the abbreviation typically found on bottles of sunscreen?
A - solar pigmentation
B - skin peeling
C - summer preservation
D - sun protection

Spoiler

D - sun protection (8)

$1000 - According to the lyrics of a famous song from "The Sound of Music", what musical note is "a long, long way to run"?
A - fa
B - do
C - re
D - mi

Frank says he's going to have to use a phone a friend, stopping the clock with 9 seconds remaining. On his PAF list are Susan, from Sparta, NJ; Gary, from Toms River, NJ; and Rose, from Toms River, NJ. Frank chooses Susan.

PAF results

Frank reads the entire question and the answers. Susan immediately gives him the right answer, ending the call with 13 seconds on the PAF clock.

Spoiler

A - fa (8)

Frank has earned the Ask the Expert lifeline. Today, as all week, the expert is the host of CNBC's "On the Money", Carmen Wong Ulrich.

$2000 - In 2008, what country joined the "space race" with the launch of its first-ever lunar orbiter, the Chandrayaan-1?
A - Australia
B - Canada
C - Germany
D - India

Frank mulls over the question and finally decides to ask the expert, stopping the clock with 16 seconds remaining.

ATE results

Carmen says that she's very familiar with where the root of "Chandrayaan" comes from, so she's going to go with "D - India". Frank says that's what he was thinking.

Spoiler

D - India (13)

commercial break

$4000 - In 2008, the American Film Institute named the classic film "The Searchers" the greatest movie of all time in what genre?
A - Gangster
B - Western
C - Mystery
D - Epic

Frank doesn't know this so he's going to have to walk away. The clock stops with 18 seconds left.

Spoiler

B - western (18)

I generally don't comment on contestants, but what general knowledge test did he pass to qualify him to be on the show?

[hanzz]

Oy.

On a lighter note...Carmen got her question right.

[hbomb1947]

I would make a comment about this contestant and the selection process that chose him, but then "some" might label me a Gloomy Gus.

[ulysses5019]

I would make a comment about this contestant and the selection process that chose him, but then "some" might label me a Gloomy Gus.

I'm not a gloomy gus, I'm a disgusted gus.

[ontellen]

This was the 2009 version of Jeremy. I think that with a multiple choice question application you're occasionally (thankfully not too often) going to get someone who simply guessed the answers and passed with sheer dumb luck.

Pathetic.

[silvercamaro]

He actually answered three questions on his own -- $100, $200 and $500. Considering he went home with $2,000, this must have been his lucky day.

[Estonut]

I'm not a gloomy gus, I'm a disgusted gus.

If a gus is disgusted, what does that leave? Empty space?

[Bob Juch]

I would make a comment about this contestant and the selection process that chose him, but then "some" might label me a Gloomy Gus.

Maybe he took the tests so many times he memorized them?

[NellyLunatic1980]

Frank Cardia
Moonachie, NJ
Mortgage broker

WE®

Does anybody know this contestant personally? I'm really tempted to call this contestant a dumbass. Not even Hotseatitis would cause somebody not to know that a film called "Swing Vote" might just be a political film.

Nihil obstat®

[earendel]

Frank Cardia
Moonachie, NJ
Mortgage broker

Frank got the call to be on the show on his birthday, but it was only the second-best present he received. His 19-month old son Drew Alexander got him a key chain that read, "My Father, My Hero".

An obvious "awwwwww" moment. Is Moonachie in WE® territory?

$100 - Because it coincides with the yearly flowering of trees and weeds, March is considered the start of what medical "season"?
A - dandruff season
B - heartburn season
C - allergy season
D - nasal spray-palooza

Frank says his wife would kill him if he didn't know the answer to this one.

Spoiler

C - allergy season (3)

I love how Frank wanted to banter on the question but it nearly cost him. Remember TDC®!

$300 - Which of these Kevin Costner films is a political comedy?
A - Swing Vote
B - Message in a Bottle
C - The Bodyguard
D - Tin Cup

Frank lets the clock tick down to 6 seconds before deciding to "poll" the audience.

ATA results

ATA results:
A - 86%
B - 5%
C - 3%
D - 6%

Frank goes with the audience.

Spoiler

A - Swing Vote (5)

This should have been a gimme. Is Frank suffering from the "yips"?

$1000 - According to the lyrics of a famous song from "The Sound of Music", what musical note is "a long, long way to run"?
A - fa
B - do
C - re
D - mi

Frank says he's going to have to use a phone a friend, stopping the clock with 9 seconds remaining. On his PAF list are Susan, from Sparta, NJ; Gary, from Toms River, NJ; and Rose, from Toms River, NJ. Frank chooses Susan.

PAF results

Frank reads the entire question and the answers. Susan immediately gives him the right answer, ending the call with 13 seconds on the PAF clock.

Spoiler

A - fa (8)

Two lifelines in the first five questions? Frank is the kind of contestant that makes me wonder how he managed to pass the written test.

$2000 - In 2008, what country joined the "space race" with the launch of its first-ever lunar orbiter, the Chandrayaan-1?
A - Australia
B - Canada
C - Germany
D - India

Frank mulls over the question and finally decides to ask the expert, stopping the clock with 16 seconds remaining.

ATE results

Carmen says that she's very familiar with where the root of "Chandrayaan" comes from, so she's going to go with "D - India". Frank says that's what he was thinking.

Spoiler

D - India (13)

Three lifelines in six questions does NOT bode well.

$4000 - In 2008, the American Film Institute named the classic film "The Searchers" the greatest movie of all time in what genre?
A - Gangster
B - Western
C - Mystery
D - Epic

Frank doesn't know this so he's going to have to walk away. The clock stops with 18 seconds left.

Spoiler

B - western (18)

Inexplicable. That's all I can say.

[gsabc]

Seeing a transcript like this makes me shudder. It's not just from wondering how the contestant passed the test, or wondering if TDC or hotseatitis got him or her. It's the thought that it could be me doing that when I finally get on. Worst nightmare scenario.

I must get those ideas out of my head. Think positive. High hopes, he's got high hopes. I think I can, I think I can ...

[MarleysGh0st]

Is Moonachie in WE® territory?

Definitely. Moonachie is just south of Teterboro Airport (one of the primary airports for NYC private aircraft) and is about five miles from the WWTBAM studios, as the crow flies.

[MarleysGh0st]

Frank Cardia
Moonachie, NJ
Mortgage broker

Being a mortgage broker gives him a tie-in to the recession and "needing the money". Some might says that the excesses of the mortgage brokerage industry helped get us into this mess.

Frank got the call to be on the show on his birthday, but it was only the second-best present he received. His 19-month old son Drew Alexander got him a key chain that read, "My Father, My Hero".

I'll buy Frank another keychain and say it's from his son, too, if he gives me his turn in the Hot Seat.

$100 - Because it coincides with the yearly flowering of trees and weeds, March is considered the start of what medical "season"?
A - dandruff season
B - heartburn season
C - allergy season
D - nasal spray-palooza

Tree and weeds are not flowering in March, up here in six-season country!

And let's just skip to the bottom line...

$4000 - In 2008, the American Film Institute named the classic film "The Searchers" the greatest movie of all time in what genre?
A - Gangster
B - Western
C - Mystery
D - Epic

Frank doesn't know this so he's going to have to walk away. The clock stops with 18 seconds left.

Spoiler

B - western (18)

And Meredith approves of his decision to walk away with $2,000. "Why take the risk if you don't know?"

Maybe because this was his once-in-a-lifetime chance on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, and at this particular point in the stack he'd be taking a 50/50 risk (if he used the DD) to lose $1,000 for the chance to win $2,000 more plus the chance to go on? Mortgage brokers should be used to taking far worse gambles than that!

[ghostjmf]

OK, this guy must have sent in a great video.

Oh, different contest, oh well.

And cruel, too!

You do have to wonder, though, what test he passed. He's a nice guy. He deserves to have a nice life. He isn't congenitally irritating, like Annalisa (remember her?) who actually left with more money, though its hard to remember how. But why was he picked to play this game?