WWTBAM Bored

Melissa Brown
Syracuse, NY
Psychology graduate student

Melissa is broke, basically. She's living off her loans and has had to drop some luxuries like cable TV. She's down to ten channels, but she still gets Millionaire!

Melissa is currently (at the time of taping) taking summer classes that are only two weeks long; she's already missed two days of that to be here.

Melissa's mom, Deborah, is in the audience.

Question Topics:
* All Together Now
* On Time
* Fear Itself
* Classical Music
* Investments
* Such Great Heights
* Bad Guys
* Tops in Tennis
* Correct!
* Let's Get It On
* (One Too Many)
* (Howdy, Partner)
* (Judging a Book)
* (Basic Arabic)
* (Campaign Trail)

Melissa has all her lifelines, including the ATE with today's expert, $1 million winner John Carpenter.

$2,000 * Let's Get It On
For Valentine's Day in 2009, Amazon.com offered users free downloads of what singer's sexy tune "Let's Get It On"?

A: Sam Cooke B: Al Green
C: Marvin Gaye D: Otis Redding

Answer

C: Marvin Gaye ( 23 )

$4,000 * Correct!
The American Correctional Association is an professional organization that certifies and accredits what?

A: Newspapers B: Mattress vendors
C: Weight-loss centers D: Prisons

Answer

D: Prisons ( 20 )

$8,000 * Tops in Tennis
Getting red clay on his knees as he dropped to them in joy, what tennis tournament did Roger Federer win for the first time in 2009?

A: Australian Open B: Wimbledon
C: French Open D: U.S. Open

With 19 seconds left, Melissa decides to Ask The Audience.

ATA: A: 4% B: 33% C: 49% D: 14%

With 10 seconds left, Melissa decides to Double Dip.

Melissa's first answer is

Spoiler

B

.
Melissa's second answer is

Spoiler

C

.

Answer

C: French Open ( 5 )

$16,000 * Bad Guys
Referred to as "the Napoleon of Crime," what literary villain is the nemesis of Sherlock Holmes?

A: Augustus Melmotte B: Colonel Pyncheon
C: Roger Chillingworth D: Professor Moriarty

With 19 seconds left, Melissa decides to Ask The Expert.

John: That's D: Professor Moriarty, 100%.

Melissa: That's what I was thinking, too, but I wanted to be sure, so thank you, very much!

Answer

D: Professor Moriarty ( 10 )

-- Commercial Break --

Deborah knows that Melissa is a smart girl. She's so calm!

$25,000 * Such Great Heights
Which of these U.S. landmarks is the tallest?

A: Statue of Liberty B: Gateway Arch
C: Washington Monument D: Capitol Building

With 18 seconds left, Melissa decides to Phone A Friend.

Melissa PAF team are her friend, Chris, Syracuse, NY; her friend, Fred, Syracuse, NY; and her uncle, Doug, Cato, NY. Melissa calls Chris.

Chris: Tallest U.S. landmark?

Melissa: Yes, out of those four.

Chris: All right. Statue of Liberty--

Melissa: Gateway Arch, Washington Monument, Capitol Building. Thirteen seconds.

Chris: [Repeats some of the Q & A to someone else in the room.]

Melissa: Eight seconds! Five!

Chris: Give me a guess!

Melissa: Three!

[Time runs out.]

Melissa thinks she has a great idea, but she doesn't want to risk it. She walks away with $16,000.

Answer

B: Gateway Arch ( 5 )

That's the one Melissa thought it was.

Tournament of Ten Leader Board

1. Will Capp $25,000 - 2:39
2. Karen Geddeis $16,000 - 1:23
3. Melissa Brown $16,000 - 1:34
4. Kazia MacLeod $1,000 - 0:42
5. Matt Sittel $1,000 - 0:53
6. Brian Peterkin $1,000 - 1:04

-- Commercial Break --

I knew all these. No lifelines for me- going for 50K with all 4 still in place.

Why didn't she believe the audience on the Federer Q? I knew the answer and I'm not much of a sports fan. As she said, she could have used the Double Dip on the landmark Q.

I'm virtually certain that the landmark question has been used before on the show. --Bob

Bob78164 wrote:I'm virtually certain that the landmark question has been used before on the show. --Bob

Did you play Frogman's Sploofus quiz which had the misleading photo?

Estonut wrote:

Bob78164 wrote:I'm virtually certain that the landmark question has been used before on the show. --Bob

Did you play Frogman's Sploofus quiz which had the misleading photo?

I'm not a Sploofer. --Bob

Bob78164 wrote:

Estonut wrote:

Bob78164 wrote:I'm virtually certain that the landmark question has been used before on the show. --Bob

Did you play Frogman's Sploofus quiz which had the misleading photo?

I'm not a Sploofer. --Bob

I just found it, and found I was misremembering, anyway. His question was not about comparing heights between the arch and other monuments, rather, it was whether it was taller than it was wide. Based on his accompanying picture, I said "yes," which turned out to be wrong.

A contestant who is broke and really needs the money is good; well at least good for the show's bean counters. Obvious that we would have a third-tier player if she did not need the $8-16K bounty. Would an assured 5K in the new rules make a difference in saving mid-tier lifelines?

The Federer Q may have been too close a result for her given that the audience has been wrong with those kind of splits. I thought the "red clay" would make it a giveaway, but it would only be to those who know that the French is the only major played on red clay.

The landmark was yesterday's teaser question.


.

jacorbett70 wrote:The landmark was yesterday's teaser question.

Yesterday's show hasn't aired yet here in Los Angeles and I didn't read the teaser. I remember it from a prior season. I'm certain of it because I remember the difficulty I had talking myself into the correct answer. --Bob

Kazoo65 wrote:Why didn't she believe the audience on the Federer Q? I knew the answer and I'm not much of a sports fan. As she said, she could have used the Double Dip on the landmark Q.

I know I'm wasting time typing this, since you never respond to direct replies to you, but...

...if you don't know the answer (which she didn't), a 49-33 audience split is not confidence-boosting.

Bob78164 wrote:

jacorbett70 wrote:The landmark was yesterday's teaser question.

Yesterday's show hasn't aired yet here in Los Angeles and I didn't read the teaser. I remember it from a prior season. I'm certain of it because I remember the difficulty I had talking myself into the correct answer. --Bob

And here it is!

Prime-time 5/13/01
$64000- What is the tallest man-made national monument in the United States National Parks system?
A. Gateway Arch B. Washington Monument
C. Statue of Liberty D. Lincoln Memorial

Also...

Super Millionaire 5/23/04
Fastest Finger
Put these structures in order of their height starting with the shortest
A White House
B Gateway Arch
C Statue of Liberty
D Sears Tower

Spoiler

Add correct order ACBD - Sears Tower is taller than the others.

.

Jeemie wrote:

Kazoo65 wrote:Why didn't she believe the audience on the Federer Q? I knew the answer and I'm not much of a sports fan. As she said, she could have used the Double Dip on the landmark Q.

I know I'm wasting time typing this, since you never respond to direct replies to you, but...

...if you don't know the answer (which she didn't), a 49-33 audience split is not confidence-boosting.

Half of the audience doesn't instill confidence??????

Especially in light that it is impossible that Wimbledon's GRASS courts would be the answer.

(How 33% of the audience voted for Wimbledon is mind-boggling.)

Appa23 wrote:

Jeemie wrote:

Kazoo65 wrote:Why didn't she believe the audience on the Federer Q? I knew the answer and I'm not much of a sports fan. As she said, she could have used the Double Dip on the landmark Q.

I know I'm wasting time typing this, since you never respond to direct replies to you, but...

...if you don't know the answer (which she didn't), a 49-33 audience split is not confidence-boosting.

Half of the audience doesn't instill confidence??????

Especially in light that it is unlikely that Wimbledon's GRASS courts would be the answer.

Why?

Jeemie wrote:

Appa23 wrote:

Jeemie wrote:
I know I'm wasting time typing this, since you never respond to direct replies to you, but...

...if you don't know the answer (which she didn't), a 49-33 audience split is not confidence-boosting.

Half of the audience doesn't instill confidence??????

Especially in light that it is unlikely that Wimbledon's GRASS courts would be the answer.

Why?

Because grass and red clay are different.

Appa23 wrote:

Jeemie wrote:

Appa23 wrote:
Half of the audience doesn't instill confidence??????

Especially in light that it is unlikely that Wimbledon's GRASS courts would be the answer.

Why?

Because grass and red clay are different.

Why would you assume that a contestant sitting in the hotseat, who doesn't know the answer, would think about that?

If you don't remember that Wimbledon plays on grass, then 33% is a confidence-sapping spike on the second choice.

Appa23 wrote:

Jeemie wrote:

Kazoo65 wrote:Why didn't she believe the audience on the Federer Q? I knew the answer and I'm not much of a sports fan. As she said, she could have used the Double Dip on the landmark Q.

I know I'm wasting time typing this, since you never respond to direct replies to you, but...

...if you don't know the answer (which she didn't), a 49-33 audience split is not confidence-boosting.

Half of the audience doesn't instill confidence??????

Especially in light that it is impossible that Wimbledon's GRASS courts would be the answer.

(How 33% of the audience voted for Wimbledon is mind-boggling.)

I'm thinking a crowd at a daytime TV show taping might not know shinola about sports. The 33% might have picked Wimbledon as the most famous name of the four. To resurrect a dead horse from this morning, this shows that those who are really weak in sports need a PAF in that area.

jacorbett70 wrote:

Appa23 wrote:

Jeemie wrote:
I know I'm wasting time typing this, since you never respond to direct replies to you, but...

...if you don't know the answer (which she didn't), a 49-33 audience split is not confidence-boosting.

Half of the audience doesn't instill confidence??????

Especially in light that it is impossible that Wimbledon's GRASS courts would be the answer.

(How 33% of the audience voted for Wimbledon is mind-boggling.)

I'm thinking a crowd at a daytime TV show taping might not know shinola about sports. The 33% might have picked Wimbledon as the most famous name of the four. To resurrect a dead horse from this morning, this shows that those who are really weak in sports need a PAF in that area.

I agree. I happened to see today's show because I was at the dentist's and they had it on the television. I don't know too much about tennis and I don't keep track of who wins what, but I thought that it was the French. The office has a staff of five and all of them chose Wimbledon. I said that I was thinking the French because Wimbledon has grass and I was pretty sure that the US was hard court. They all just looked at me blankly because they had no idea of what surface the courts had.

So, according to my real time experience with other people on this question, if somebody has no idea they'll probably pick Wimbledon because that's the famous one that everybody's heard of.

Appa23 wrote:

Jeemie wrote:

Kazoo65 wrote:Why didn't she believe the audience on the Federer Q? I knew the answer and I'm not much of a sports fan. As she said, she could have used the Double Dip on the landmark Q.

I know I'm wasting time typing this, since you never respond to direct replies to you, but...

...if you don't know the answer (which she didn't), a 49-33 audience split is not confidence-boosting.

Half of the audience doesn't instill confidence??????

Especially in light that it is impossible that Wimbledon's GRASS courts would be the answer.

(How 33% of the audience voted for Wimbledon is mind-boggling.)

Perhaps the contestant knew that Wimbledon is played on grass. That 33% would guess Wimbledon would not instill much confidence in the choice made by the 49%...

Everyone knows I'm a sports nut, and tennis is one of my favorite sports... but let's not hate on the contestant in this situation. As frustrating as it is to see a question like that and wish it was me getting that question, it's not an easy question to answer if you don't know tennis.

Nihil obstat®

Here's an article about Melissa's carryover appearance.

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/ ... 16000.html

Brown said during the show she made friends with some of the other contestants.

"A few of us got really close during the show and we're planning a trip to Vegas in November," she said.

A ROFfest?

MarleysGh0st wrote:Here's an article about Melissa's carryover appearance.

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/ ... 16000.html

Brown said during the show she made friends with some of the other contestants.

"A few of us got really close during the show and we're planning a trip to Vegas in November," she said.

A ROFfest?

I thought she was broke.

How's she affording a trip to Las Vegas?

Jeemie wrote:

MarleysGh0st wrote:Here's an article about Melissa's carryover appearance.

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/ ... 16000.html

Brown said during the show she made friends with some of the other contestants.

"A few of us got really close during the show and we're planning a trip to Vegas in November," she said.

A ROFfest?

I thought she was broke.

How's she affording a trip to Las Vegas?

She'll soon have 16k burning a hole in her pocket.

Jeemie wrote:

MarleysGh0st wrote:Here's an article about Melissa's carryover appearance.

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/ ... 16000.html

Brown said during the show she made friends with some of the other contestants.

"A few of us got really close during the show and we're planning a trip to Vegas in November," she said.

A ROFfest?

I thought she was broke.

How's she affording a trip to Las Vegas?

She's got $16,000 now!

Those student loans can wait, can't they?

MarleysGh0st wrote:She's got $16,000 now!

Those student loans can wait, can't they?

I guess some things are more important than...you know...having enough money to stay alive.

Let me borrow a Grumble (TM) from you, Marley.

I don't begrudge people having fun in their lives.

I don't look too fondly about people who have a sob story about being poor and then blowing some of their "found money" on a luxury.