BBTranscriptTeam wrote:Liz Bollinger (FloridaGirl)
Valrico, FL
Liz has a vision of how it's going to go today: $250,000. $1,000,000 wouldn't fit on her deposit slip and $500,000 seems like too much, so she's envisioning $250,000. But if she gets to $250,000, she'll keep going!
Question Topics:
* Inventors
* Awards
* Painters
* Life on Earth
* Geography
* Word Origins
* Transportation
* Popular Television
* Business
* (Photography)
* (Fashion Accessories)
* (Animal Kingdom)
* (Snack Foods)
* (High School)
* (U.S. History)
Liz still has all her lifelines, including the ATE with today's expert, Ali Wentworth.
$10,000 * Business
Undoing a failed merger between old and new media, in 200 Time Warner announced it was spinning off what internet company?
A: eBay B: Amazon.com
C: Cisco D: AOL
With 8 seconds left, Liz decides to Ask The Audience.
ATA: A: 6% B: 7% C: 2% D: 87%
That's what Liz thought.
D: AOL ( 6 )
My problem here was that I over-thought this! I kept wondering why it didn't read "spinning off from." It technically didn't spin off a company, it spun itself off from a company. That's what was throwing me off. This is where my proofreading skills have made me neurotic about word choice! So, I thought that maybe Time Warner spun off a company and I wasn't aware of it.
$12,500 * Popular Television
Which of these famous movie directors has appeared on "American Idol" as a celebrity mentor?
A: Spike Lee B: Quentin Tarantino
C: M. Night Shyamalan D: John Waters
B: Quentin Tarantino ( 23 )
I knew this because I remembered seeing him on American Idol. I also remember thinking at the time, "Why is he on American Idol, a singing show, when he's a movie guy?" This is rather ironic, because on this day, I was thinking, "Now, why is Ali Wentworth an expert when she's not very smart?
$15,000 * Transportation
Which of these parts of a sailboat is intended to be underwater during a voyage?
A: Jib B: Boom
C: Keel D: Mast
With 9 seconds left, Liz decides to Double Dip.
Liz's first answer is Keel
Meredith: No...way you're going back down. You got it right.
C: Keel ( 9 )
This was very lucky because I only knew that it wasn't Mast. I didn't even have a second answer picked out. I figured if Keel was wrong, I'd go with either Jib or Boom. What the heck was I thinking? Man, was I lucky with this!
Meredith: Well, well, well.
Liz: You're good!
Meredith: You're good! No, you're good!
I love Meredith!
And, here's where things go oh-so horribly wrong!
$25,000 * Word Origins
Used to describe food prepared for consumption by Muslims, "halal" comes from an Arabic word meaning what?
A: Lawful B: Trusted
C: New D: Blessed
With 17 seconds left, Liz decides to Phone A Friend.
Liz's PAF team (who get no introduction from Meredith) are Jenni, Wesley Chapel, FL; Robert, Mayfield Heights, OH; and John, Streetsboro, OH.
Liz decides to call Jenni. She paraphrases the question, beginning by spelling "halal".
Liz: Five seconds!
Jenni: Oh my gosh, Liz, I'm not sure!
Liz: Any idea?
Jenni: Ummm--give me the chances again?
[Time runs out.]
This was a very, very bad situation. Jenni and I both went through the auditions together; we both went to Regis together; and, now, we were each other's phone a friends (she was going to the show a week after me). Jenni is obsessed with the show and has a notebook filled with questions that she has transcribed after watching the show endlessly. I figured she would be the ideal PAF. She actually had me practice with her for hours, during which she was very fast on google. We talked about how we would have google, google images, google maps, and wikipedia all open, to be prepared for anything. We also discussed what would and wouldn't be a good google question. So, when I saw this question, I knew there could be no better lifeline to use than the PAF.
When she didn't get the answer, I was really, really surprised. I'm not sure if that came through -- because our satellite went out due to heavy rain here and I still haven't seen the episode! -- or not. After the show was over, my mom was saying, well, maybe there are a lot of restaurants with that term in the name and she couldn't find it. OK, I went with that ... until I got home and googled it myself. That's when I saw that it's the very first thing that comes up, no clicking through needed or anything.
There are a lot of other thing that have happened since then -- some things I've heard she's said about people getting in the hot seat who didn't really need the money (apparently that's me). And, she called me before she was leaving to tape her show and said she wouldn't be calling me to be her PAF since she wouldn't expect me to help her after she didn't help me.
It's all very odd and junior-high-school like. It just stinks, but I learned a valuable lesson -- a $5,000 lesson perhaps
-- about trust. I keep thinking about how so many of you offered to be my PAF and how I should have taken you up on it.
With 15 seconds left, Liz decides to Ask The Expert.
This was pure desperation at this point. I knew she was going to be zero help. For goodness sake, she looked like she just rolled out of bed!
Meredith: Ali, what do you know about Arabic?
Ali rolls her eyes, then without seeing her move her lips, we hear a voice say "A lot!"
Ali reads the question and makes a face with her mouth agape.
Liz: Don't make that face! Don't make that face!
Ali makes a different face with her mouth agape, but smiling.
Liz: Good! Better.
Ali: I would say--I would say Blessed. I'm guessing, but "used to describe food prepared for consumption," you'd bless food. Wouldn't trust it. You don't know if the food is new. And it's not illegal food.
Liz: Right. I wonder if there was like a Muslim law or something, that--I don't know.
Ali: I am so not the person to ask.
Liz: Okay.
Ali: I'm sorry. I would have brushed up on my Arabic. Okay, good luck!
Liz: Okay, I'm gonna go with her. That's what I was thinking and that's it! I'm gonna go with Blessed, final answer.
Liz drops to $5,000.
I was really looking for some confirmation that "lawful" should be ruled out. And, I got the confirmation, but now I think that whatever she thought, I should have done the opposite.
I was thinking too much like the Catholic girl I am, where so many things have to be blessed. Looking back, I wonder if I hadn't used the ATA on the AOL question if they might have known the answer. Guess I'll never know!
-- Commercial Break -- 
