WWTBAM Bored

Would've had to use the ATA on the Jolie twins (although if I were still show-eligible I would probably still be reading People Magazine), and then would have been similarly stumped on the Lunar Locations. If I get by that, I get to see the $1M Q if I have the guts to go with my instinct on General Lee.

BBTranscriptTeam wrote: Brianne chooses to call Bob. Meredith points out to Bob that his picture is from the set of Jeopardy! and says "OK, that's it. Bye bye." She's kidding, of course.

For the record, the image of Bob that they displayed on air was cropped to show a closeup of his smiling face and had nothing in the background that would be recognizable (except, perhaps, for the most diehard J! fanatics) as being from the Jeopardy! set. I'm curious if the photo Bob provided was a wider angle shot that clearly showed he was on the set or if he was identified as a J! champ in his official PAF info.

WOW! I just want to sincerely thank all of you for being so nice. (Especially you, MBFFB!) This whole experience was insane. I'm really not used to all the attention, but it's been fun. I'm so happy a lot of you got to see it too!

I've been getting some crap for the ATA on the Golden Girls question, but even if I'd had more time to think about it and reason it out, I wouldn't have used the ATA anywhere else. I doubt they could have helped me with the McLeans. I grew up without TV and had therefore never seen the Golden Girls or Happy Days, and I couldn't remember where Frasier was set, (which is even worse because I'm originally from the Seattle area.) So I definitely knew the audience would overwhelmingly be able to help me on that one, and I was right. I felt a little silly when I saw the huge percentage, but it's better to be sure, right?

Also, I think I can safely say the timer is the reason I did so well. Without it, I probably would have had time to talk myself out of Double Dipping on the 250k question after Bob narrowed it down to two. Bob, I assumed you were googling and therefore thought you sounded pretty sure on those two! Meredith told me in the break that she thought you'd said you thought it might be one of those two, not that you thought it wasn't one of those two. Without the clock, she might have had time to tell me what she thought she heard like she's done for some other contestants. If she told me that, I would have burned my ATE lifeline on Renee, who probably wouldn't have been able to help me, and then I might have walked away. So I LOVE the clock for not allowing me time to chicken out!

I was pretty sure Renee wouldn't have any idea on the 500k question, but it was such a high level that I'm not even sure I would have listened to any answer she would have given me. I didn't expect anyone to know that offhand, so if I'd been able to call Bob on that one it might have helped.

I've played the game over and over in my head, trying to figure out how I might have just gotten those last two questions. I'm so thrilled with how I did, but I'm sure you all understand that it's hard not to be just the teensy bit disappointed when I had 3 lifelines and 3 questions, yet still didn't take it all the way. But that said, I'm so, so, SO happy and excited and emotional and grateful! Hate to beat a dead horse, but I'm only 21 for god's sake! I have never seen this much money in my entire life and who knows if I will again.

So really, all I can say is wow. Thank you Bob, for practicing with me and narrowing down those two choices. Thanks everyone else for watching and being so supportive! NO thanks to the people who keep commenting on the dimples. They're all I've heard about for two days. I never realized they are so big! Embarrassing.

I love you guys. I can't help but feel gushy right now. Seriously. This board helped me out so much, from studying to keeping sane. Gah, and now I'm going to cry again.

We love you too, Brianne! Thanks for providing us with the best Millionaire in quite some time. And take the compliments about your dimples... it should make you feel good that people are recognizing how pretty you are.

And don't feel bad about using Ask the Audience so early. At first I was like, "all you have to do is use process of elimination", but hey... you didn't know. The thing is, Ask the Audience basically becomes useless in the third tier, because there's usually never a clear-cut choice. So if you were going to use it, it's better that you used it sooner rather than later.

madamemeisha wrote: I've played the game over and over in my head, trying to figure out how I might have just gotten those last two questions. I'm so thrilled with how I did, but I'm sure you all understand that it's hard not to be just the teensy bit disappointed when I had 3 lifelines and 3 questions, yet still didn't take it all the way. But that said, I'm so, so, SO happy and excited and emotional and grateful! Hate to beat a dead horse, but I'm only 21 for god's sake! I have never seen this much money in my entire life and who knows if I will again.

Don't beat yourself up over that! Those were two very obscure questions. With the first being so difficult to google, you played it perfectly to follow up Bob's response with the Double Dip. As we've observed, you showed a lot of guts to take that gamble at this level; many, many contestants--especially those who are only 21 and have never handled that much money--would have been afraid to.

And as for the ATE lifeline, what was Rene an expert at again? If you'd have gotten an experienced game show veteran like Ogi or KJ, you probably would have been given more helpful advice than "take the money".

trevor_macfee wrote:Congratulations! Sounds like an awesomely incredible experience (and the $$$ will be nice, too!)

But for me, another reason to lament Millionaire being off the air in the Baltimore TV market.

This is weird. I TiVO it every day and our Comcast gets Baltimore channels rather than DC ones. I will have to go home and see what station I'm picking up the show from. I know it's on at 12:30 pm.

BTW, I'm sitting in McLean, VA right now, so my homer guess (and it would have been a complete guess) turned out to be right. Hell of a run!! Congrats, Mme!

For those who didn't see the show:

Dimples? What dimples? What is that picture supposed to be, and why is it so dark and fuzzy on my screen?

Are we having an eclipse?

Congratulations, Bob... you've just created the desktop wallpaper for tons of guys across the country.

MarleysGh0st wrote:I don't like the precedent set by placing that call to your mom. One more step away from being a trivia game show towards being a talk show.

I wonder why they chose the $250K level to call her mom. Were they implying that they had no confidence in Brianne going any farther in the stack? Would they have called her again if she had advanced higher? It kind of made the producers seem desperate to manufacture another John Carpenter moment.

Brianne, I commented earlier in a different thread, but I agree with everyone that you did great, and I admired your guts in going for the double dip at 250K.

madamemeisha wrote:WOW! I just want to sincerely thank all of you for being so nice. (Especially you, MBFFB!) This whole experience was insane. I'm really not used to all the attention, but it's been fun. I'm so happy a lot of you got to see it too!

I've been getting some crap for the ATA on the Golden Girls question, but even if I'd had more time to think about it and reason it out, I wouldn't have used the ATA anywhere else. I doubt they could have helped me with the McLeans. I grew up without TV and had therefore never seen the Golden Girls or Happy Days, and I couldn't remember where Frasier was set, (which is even worse because I'm originally from the Seattle area.) So I definitely knew the audience would overwhelmingly be able to help me on that one, and I was right. I felt a little silly when I saw the huge percentage, but it's better to be sure, right?

Also, I think I can safely say the timer is the reason I did so well. Without it, I probably would have had time to talk myself out of Double Dipping on the 250k question after Bob narrowed it down to two. Bob, I assumed you were googling and therefore thought you sounded pretty sure on those two! Meredith told me in the break that she thought you'd said you thought it might be one of those two, not that you thought it wasn't one of those two. Without the clock, she might have had time to tell me what she thought she heard like she's done for some other contestants. If she told me that, I would have burned my ATE lifeline on Renee, who probably wouldn't have been able to help me, and then I might have walked away. So I LOVE the clock for not allowing me time to chicken out!

I was pretty sure Renee wouldn't have any idea on the 500k question, but it was such a high level that I'm not even sure I would have listened to any answer she would have given me. I didn't expect anyone to know that offhand, so if I'd been able to call Bob on that one it might have helped.

I've played the game over and over in my head, trying to figure out how I might have just gotten those last two questions. I'm so thrilled with how I did, but I'm sure you all understand that it's hard not to be just the teensy bit disappointed when I had 3 lifelines and 3 questions, yet still didn't take it all the way. But that said, I'm so, so, SO happy and excited and emotional and grateful! Hate to beat a dead horse, but I'm only 21 for god's sake! I have never seen this much money in my entire life and who knows if I will again.

So really, all I can say is wow. Thank you Bob, for practicing with me and narrowing down those two choices. Thanks everyone else for watching and being so supportive! NO thanks to the people who keep commenting on the dimples. They're all I've heard about for two days. I never realized they are so big! Embarrassing.

I love you guys. I can't help but feel gushy right now. Seriously. This board helped me out so much, from studying to keeping sane. Gah, and now I'm going to cry again.

Congrats Brianne, you were fun to watch. Don't worry about playing the game over and over in your head. That will go away after oh.............you never know how long.

Glad you went for the double dip, as I thought Bob### gave you "something" to work with and watching it play out I could see that the two of you had practiced so you both had a comfort level to what you might do.

Enjoy the loot in about 30 days. Or wait, is some of yours an annuity?

kusch wrote: Enjoy the loot in about 30 days. Or wait, is some of yours an annuity?

$250K is paid out in a lump sum; $500K and $1 million are the annuity levels.

At least, they were according to the official rules of June 26, 2007; Skip the Intern never has gotten around to posting the official rules for this season, which does have a few significant rule changes, or so I've heard.

MarleysGh0st wrote:

kusch wrote: Enjoy the loot in about 30 days. Or wait, is some of yours an annuity?

$250K is paid out in a lump sum; $500K and $1 million are the annuity levels.

At least, they were according to the official rules of June 26, 2007; Skip the Intern never has gotten around to posting the official rules for this season, which does have a few significant rule changes, or so I've heard.

There will be withholding taxes, however.

Don't end up like Richard Hatch!

slam wrote:

MarleysGh0st wrote:

kusch wrote: Enjoy the loot in about 30 days. Or wait, is some of yours an annuity?

$250K is paid out in a lump sum; $500K and $1 million are the annuity levels.

At least, they were according to the official rules of June 26, 2007; Skip the Intern never has gotten around to posting the official rules for this season, which does have a few significant rule changes, or so I've heard.

There will be withholding taxes, however.

Don't end up like Richard Hatch!

It's been a while since I've received any game show checks, but I never had a dime of federal tax withheld from my WWTBAM or Jeopardy winnings.

slam wrote:

MarleysGh0st wrote:

kusch wrote: Enjoy the loot in about 30 days. Or wait, is some of yours an annuity?

$250K is paid out in a lump sum; $500K and $1 million are the annuity levels.

At least, they were according to the official rules of June 26, 2007; Skip the Intern never has gotten around to posting the official rules for this season, which does have a few significant rule changes, or so I've heard.

There will be withholding taxes, however.

Don't end up like Richard Hatch!

Nope, they do not withhold taxes. I advise you to pay a good tax guy to figure out how to minimise them.

I had thought they did because I had always heard that CA withholds state taxes on J! winnings.

In any event, make sure you set aside enough to pay the taxes that WILL come due.

Oh lord, Bob J., that picture!!

And don't worry. I will definitely be hiring someone to help me because I have no idea what I'm doing. Some people keep bringing up the taxes like they're such a bad thing, almost like it's not even worth it to win. Whatever! It's still a huge amount for me!

madamemeisha wrote:
Some people keep bringing up the taxes like they're such a bad thing, almost like it's not even worth it to win. Whatever! It's still a huge amount for me!

It's always better to have money on which you must pay taxes than to have no money at all.

madamemeisha wrote:Oh lord, Bob J., that picture!!

And don't worry. I will definitely be hiring someone to help me because I have no idea what I'm doing. Some people keep bringing up the taxes like they're such a bad thing, almost like it's not even worth it to win. Whatever! It's still a huge amount for me!

We're just concerned that without some good advice, more of the money will go to taxes (and penalty and interest, yuck) than it should.

Enjoy. You really earned it. And you looked like you had a ton of fun!

Thanks. Oh, I did have one question that I thought you guys might be able to answer. I don't have to pay any taxes in New York, do I?

MarleysGh0st wrote:

kusch wrote: Enjoy the loot in about 30 days. Or wait, is some of yours an annuity?

$250K is paid out in a lump sum; $500K and $1 million are the annuity levels.

At least, they were according to the official rules of June 26, 2007; Skip the Intern never has gotten around to posting the official rules for this season, which does have a few significant rule changes, or so I've heard.

Yes, you're right about the annuities.

$250K = lump sum

$500k = $250k lump, $250k paid out annually over 10 years. ("so inflation over the years will make that 500k feel more like 430k", per a financial planner friend)

$1mil = $250k lump, $750 paid out annually over 20 years. ("so call it $680K", per that same friend)

Winning the million is still big money, but if a player is weighing the risk/reward of an educated guess at that final question, the above numbers are interesting.

madamemeisha wrote:Thanks. Oh, I did have one question that I thought you guys might be able to answer. I don't have to pay any taxes in New York, do I?

When I was in the ROF, in 2001, I asked that very question, and I was told no. The NY laws may have changed since then, but any good tax planner will be able to find the current law.

If I hadnt had an idea already, I read about Cadillac in the year 2000 preparing for the phone game of the one and only instance of Canadian Millionaire. The reference (probably Hurtig's Canadian Encyclopedia) said he was a bit of a bounder.

Congratulations on a terrific ride through the stack, and hope you enjoy whatever the prize can bring you.

doitneatly wrote:

MarleysGh0st wrote:

kusch wrote: Enjoy the loot in about 30 days. Or wait, is some of yours an annuity?

$250K is paid out in a lump sum; $500K and $1 million are the annuity levels.

At least, they were according to the official rules of June 26, 2007; Skip the Intern never has gotten around to posting the official rules for this season, which does have a few significant rule changes, or so I've heard.

Yes, you're right about the annuities.

$250K = lump sum

$500k = $250k lump, $250k paid out annually over 10 years. ("so inflation over the years will make that 500k feel more like 430k", per a financial planner friend)

$1mil = $250k lump, $750 paid out annually over 20 years. ("so call it $680K", per that same friend)

Winning the million is still big money, but if a player is weighing the risk/reward of an educated guess at that final question, the above numbers are interesting.

A few years ago when I had the delusion that I'd get into the Hot Seat and be going for large sums of money, I did those calculations for exactly that purpose: to evaluate the risk/reward on the $500K and $1mil questions. One thing to note is that those numbers are sensitive to interest rate changes.

FWIW, it the values of $430K and $680 look like they were calculated using a 6% interest rate. At a few other rates, the values would be:

4%: $450K, $760K
5%: $440K, $720K
6%: $430K, $680K
7%: $425K, $650K
8%: $420K, $620K

Let's hope these numbers are useful to another BB in the near future!