Estonut wrote:silverscreenselect wrote:Two days of riveting television in the books and contestants have broken the bank so far for a whopping $7800. Actually, they would have won $3000 just for showing up, so their grand total of actual winnings over the two days is only $4800.
Ellen's $5800 winnings were
entirely "actual." She earned every penny. The fact that there is a $1000 consolation prize had she blown a question does not make $1000 of her $5800 winnings not "actual."
It's earnings, not winnings, that are actual. Essentially, just by showing up on stage, she earned $1,000. She won whatever she was able to walk away with in excess of that amount. Just as if you bet on a horse that pays $10 and win, you haven't won $10. You've only won $8 (assuming the ticket cost you $2).
At least, on the old version of the show, everyone except the llamas actually won something. The show is engaging in a bit of verbal sleight-of-hand here to give the illusion that a lot of people are actually winning money when all they are doing is getting appearance fees. Jeopardy gives everyone at least a $1000 appearance fee and doesn't hide it, but you don't see Alex Trebek try to sugarcoat it by saying, "I'm sorry, Mr. Contestant, that you finished with -$20,000 and won't be able to play Final Jeopardy, but at least you've won third prize today of $1,000." You're going to see a bunch of $1,000 "winners" on Millionaire this year.
