incident on German WWTBAM

[earendel]

German contestant on BAM uses his phone-a-friend lifeline to call Angela Merkel.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/ ... l_for.html

[silverscreenselect]

German contestant on BAM uses his phone-a-friend lifeline to call Angela Merkel.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/ ... l_for.html

If only I had phoned my good friend Barack Obama....

[MarleysGh0st]

Apparently, German contestants (or at least German celebrity contestants) don't have to submit their PAF list in advance. Otherwise, the chancellor would have spent the entire afternoon OTC by her landline phone, like she was supposed to!

[Estonut]

German politician Wolfgang Bosbach learned this the hard way. Bosbach, a member of parliament, was a contestant on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire and had managed to win 125,000 euros using his own brainpower, but when facing the 500,000 euro stumper, ...

So their money tree quadruples from 125k to 500k? Seems like the author doesn't know the game...

[plasticene]

German politician Wolfgang Bosbach learned this the hard way. Bosbach, a member of parliament, was a contestant on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire and had managed to win 125,000 euros using his own brainpower, but when facing the 500,000 euro stumper, ...

So their money tree quadruples from 125k to 500k? Seems like the author doesn't know the game...

It would be consistent with a "Jump the Question" lifeline, but I looked it up and Germany doesn't seem to have that.

They do have an interesting variation, according to Wikipedia. Before you start, you're allowed to choose whether you'd like to give up the €16,000 plateau in exchange for a fourth lifeline, in which audience members who believe they know the answer stand up; you choose one to chat with about the answer. If the audience member wins €500 if the answer is correct. That's an interesting twist--I wonder if it's a popular choice.

[silverscreenselect]

a fourth lifeline, in which audience members who believe they know the answer stand up; you choose one to chat with about the answer. If the audience member wins €500 if the answer is correct.

Let's see, if the contestant picks me and I'm right (and I've got at least a 25% chance of being right), I win 500 Euros.

Why wouldn't everyone in the audience stand up regardless of whether they thought they knew the answer?

[jarnon]

a fourth lifeline, in which audience members who believe they know the answer stand up; you choose one to chat with about the answer. If the audience member wins €500 if the answer is correct.

Let's see, if the contestant picks me and I'm right (and I've got at least a 25% chance of being right), I win 500 Euros.

Why wouldn't everyone in the audience stand up regardless of whether they thought they knew the answer?

If I have no idea, I wouldn't want to look like a dummkopf on national TV, and in front of the producers if I'm trying to become a real contestant.

[Bob78164]

a fourth lifeline, in which audience members who believe they know the answer stand up; you choose one to chat with about the answer. If the audience member wins €500 if the answer is correct.

Let's see, if the contestant picks me and I'm right (and I've got at least a 25% chance of being right), I win 500 Euros.

Why wouldn't everyone in the audience stand up regardless of whether they thought they knew the answer?

Ethics? A sense of responsibility to the contestant? --Bob

[silverscreenselect]

If I have no idea, I wouldn't want to look like a dummkopf on national TV, and in front of the producers if I'm trying to become a real contestant.

You realize that being willing and eager to look like a dumnkopf on national TV is a prerequisite to being selected for many, many game and reality shows.