Transcript 12/17/2010 - Kat Keating (kmk355) (carryover)

[BBTranscriptTeam]

Kat Keating (kmk355)
Woodside, NY

Kat has banked $63,500 and has her two JTQ lifelines left. She's 23 years old and graduated college in 2008. Her father Dave is in the audience. He couldn't have answered some of Kat's questions.

Topic Tree: (unrandomized)
- Passing Laws
- Great Scot
- My Precious
- Celebrity Couples
- Viral Videos
- Natural Habitats
- Award Time
- Inventive Sayings
- ZZ Top 40
- Super Heroine

Topic Tree: (randomized)
- Viral Videos
- Great Scot
- Passing Laws
- Super Heroine
- My Precious
- Natural Habitats
- Inventive Sayings
- Award Time
- ZZ Top 40
- Celebrity Couples

Question #8 (Passing Laws)
In order to amend the U.S. Constitution, how many state legislatures must ratify the amendment?
A - 25
B - 38
C - 34
D - 41

She guesses it would be

Spoiler

2/3

but she isn't sure and decides to jump the question.

Spoiler

Answer: B (38)
Value: $2,000
Bank: $63,500

Question #9 (Great Scot)
In 2008, Glasgow and Aberdeen had a war of words over the disputed birthplace of what character on "The Simpsons"?
A - Groundskeeper Willie
B - Professor Frink
C - Principal Skinner
D - Reverend Lovejoy

She's pretty sure

Spoiler

Groundskeeper Willie

is Scottish.

Spoiler

Answer: A (Groundskeeper Willie)
Value: $3,000
Bank: $66,500

Question #10 (Viral Videos)
In 2010, while promoting her movie "Grown Ups," what actress memorably freaked out when a snake slithered onto the set of "Extra"?
A - Salma Hayak
B - Scarlett Johansson
C - Jessica Biel
D - Keira Knightley

Kat has seen ads for the movie but she couldn't identify the actress. She is pretty sure it's either

Spoiler

Jessica Biel or Scarlett Johansson

. She's going to have to jump this question.

Spoiler

Answer: A (Salma Hayak)
Value: $100
Bank: $66,500

CLASSIC MILLIONAIRE

$100K - Coincidentally within a state where same-sex marriage is legal, Gay City State Park is located where?
A - Connecticut
B - Massachusetts
C - Iowa
D - New Hampshire

Kat is from Connecticut but she's never heard of Gay City State park there or in any other state. She can't reason this one out so she decides to walk away with her $66,500.

Spoiler

A (Connecticut)

commercial break

Edited to correct her father's name and add her BB name.

[earendel]

Kat Keating
Woodside, NY

Kat has banked $63,500 and has her two JTQ lifelines left. She's 23 years old and is just out of college. Her father Jay is in the audience. He couldn't have answered some of Kat's questions.

Question #8 (Passing Laws)
In order to amend the U.S. Constitution, how many state legislatures must ratify the amendment?
A - 25
B - 38
C - 34
D - 41

She guesses it would be

Spoiler

2/3

but she isn't sure and decides to jump the question.

Spoiler

Answer: B (38)
Value: $2,000
Bank: $63,500

It's not 2/3, it's 3/4, so the answer is 38. Good thing she used her JTQ.

Question #10 (Viral Videos)
In 2010, while promoting her movie "Grown Ups," what actress memorably freaked out when a snake slithered onto the set of "Extra"?
A - Salma Hayak
B - Scarlett Johansson
C - Jessica Biel
D - Keira Knightley

Kat has seen ads for the movie but she couldn't identify the actress. She is pretty sure it's either

Spoiler

Jessica Biel or Scarlett Johansson

. She's going to have to jump this question.

Spoiler

Answer: A (Salma Hayak)
Value: $100
Bank: $66,500

I'd JTQ also. I've not even heard of this movie.

$100K - Coincidentally within a state where same-sex marriage is legal, Gay City State Park is located where?
A - Connecticut
B - Massachusetts
C - Iowa
D - New Hampshire

Kat is from Connecticut but she's never heard of Gay City State park there or in any other state. She can't reason this one out so she decides to walk away with her $66,500.

Spoiler

A (Connecticut)

commercial break

I also walk away from this one. elwing knew that the park was in New England (which is more than I knew).

[MarleysGh0st]

$100K - Coincidentally within a state where same-sex marriage is legal, Gay City State Park is located where?
A - Connecticut
B - Massachusetts
C - Iowa
D - New Hampshire

Kat is from Connecticut but she's never heard of Gay City State park there or in any other state. She can't reason this one out so she decides to walk away with her $66,500.

Spoiler

A (Connecticut)

This park might be in the backyard of one of the question writers, but isn't it a bit obscure for everyone else? WWOQ!

[mcd1400de]

Kat Keating
Woodside, NY

Kat has banked $63,500 and has her two JTQ lifelines left. She's 23 years old and is just out of college. Her father Jay is in the audience. He couldn't have answered some of Kat's questions.

I wonder if she's one of five children....

[kmk355]

Kat Keating
Woodside, NY

Kat has banked $63,500 and has her two JTQ lifelines left. She's 23 years old and is just out of college. Her father Jay is in the audience. He couldn't have answered some of Kat's questions.

I graduated in 2008, which doesn't make a big difference, but my dad is Dave (that'd make a difference to him!).

Kat Keating
Woodside, NY

Kat has banked $63,500 and has her two JTQ lifelines left. She's 23 years old and is just out of college. Her father Jay is in the audience. He couldn't have answered some of Kat's questions.

I wonder if she's one of five children....

If this is a reference to something, I don't get it! If not, nope, I only have one sibling.

[kusch]

Kat Keating
Woodside, NY

Kat has banked $63,500 and has her two JTQ lifelines left. She's 23 years old and is just out of college. Her father Jay is in the audience. He couldn't have answered some of Kat's questions.

I graduated in 2008, which doesn't make a big difference, but my dad is Dave (that'd make a difference to him!).

Kat Keating
Woodside, NY

Kat has banked $63,500 and has her two JTQ lifelines left. She's 23 years old and is just out of college. Her father Jay is in the audience. He couldn't have answered some of Kat's questions.

I wonder if she's one of five children....

If this is a reference to something, I don't get it! If not, nope, I only have one sibling.

I am guessing he was joking about the "Keating Five". You are too young to know or remember.

[Snaxx]

I am guessing he was joking about the "Keating Five". You are too young to know or remember.

Further background: mcd1400de was on the original prime-time WWTBAM and missed a high level question about the Keating Five causing him to leave with $32000.

[kmk355]

Oh, I should've gotten it! Sorry, the only comments anyone's ever made in person have just been about "Uncle Charles" (actually no relation).

[MarleysGh0st]

$100K - Coincidentally within a state where same-sex marriage is legal, Gay City State Park is located where?
A - Connecticut
B - Massachusetts
C - Iowa
D - New Hampshire

Kat is from Connecticut but she's never heard of Gay City State park there or in any other state. She can't reason this one out so she decides to walk away with her $66,500.

Spoiler

A (Connecticut)

This park might be in the backyard of one of the question writers, but isn't it a bit obscure for everyone else? WWOQ!

Since you've joined us, Kat, I should explain this acronym, too.

WWOQ = Wicked Weed-Out Question, i.e., one that is unreasonably obscure and difficult for its dollar value and is intended to force a contestant to burn a lifeline or walk away.

earendel, you said that elwing knew that this park was in New England. Did she explain how she knew even that much?

[christie1111]

$100K - Coincidentally within a state where same-sex marriage is legal, Gay City State Park is located where?
A - Connecticut
B - Massachusetts
C - Iowa
D - New Hampshire

Kat is from Connecticut but she's never heard of Gay City State park there or in any other state. She can't reason this one out so she decides to walk away with her $66,500.

Spoiler

A (Connecticut)

This park might be in the backyard of one of the question writers, but isn't it a bit obscure for everyone else? WWOQ!

Also from CT and never heard of it. Really obscure.

[earendel]

$100K - Coincidentally within a state where same-sex marriage is legal, Gay City State Park is located where?
A - Connecticut
B - Massachusetts
C - Iowa
D - New Hampshire

Kat is from Connecticut but she's never heard of Gay City State park there or in any other state. She can't reason this one out so she decides to walk away with her $66,500.

Spoiler

A (Connecticut)

This park might be in the backyard of one of the question writers, but isn't it a bit obscure for everyone else? WWOQ!

Nope. She never does. She just gives me that enigmatic Cheshire Cat smile.
Since you've joined us, Kat, I should explain this acronym, too.

WWOQ = Wicked Weed-Out Question, i.e., one that is unreasonably obscure and difficult for its dollar value and is intended to force a contestant to burn a lifeline or walk away.

earendel, you said that elwing knew that this park was in New England. Did she explain how she knew even that much?

Nope. Although I suspect she knew it because of the New England trip we took a few years ago - she probably ran across it during her research.

[littlebeast13]

Kat Keating
Woodside, NY

Kat has banked $63,500 and has her two JTQ lifelines left. She's 23 years old and is just out of college. Her father Jay is in the audience. He couldn't have answered some of Kat's questions.

I wonder if she's one of five children....

NTTAWWT.....

lb13

[kmk355]

Since you've joined us, Kat, I should explain this acronym, too.

WWOQ = Wicked Weed-Out Question, i.e., one that is unreasonably obscure and difficult for its dollar value and is intended to force a contestant to burn a lifeline or walk away.

Thanks!

Awhile after the taping, I started wondering if it might actually have been the opposite. It was obviously difficult, but they knew I was originally from Connecticut -- I'd have a much better chance of knowing it than a contestant from Idaho, say, would have. I know there haven't been a ton of big winners with the current setup, and I was wondering if they might have been trying to change that a little.

I definitely didn't see any indications of anything sketchy going on -- it just seemed like a major coincidence to me. And it's definitely obscure regardless: the park's less than 2.5 square miles, and it's not really notable for anything either! Oh well.

[MarleysGh0st]

I definitely didn't see any indications of anything sketchy going on -- it just seemed like a major coincidence to me. And it's definitely obscure regardless: the park's less than 2.5 square miles, and it's not really notable for anything either! Oh well.

With 14 questions in each stack, it'd be surprising if there wasn't a question that seemed coincidental, from time to time.

So, I've been looking for more info about the history of Gay City State Park, and one of the best descriptions I've found was from L. L. Bean's Park Search:

http://www.llbean.com/parksearch/parks/html/792lls.html

Like so many Connecticut state parks, Gay City offers recreational activities with a big serving of history on the side.

Gay City was founded in 1796 as a religious settlement that for years held itself aloof from neighboring communities. Its name came from the Gay clan, which made up the majority of the 25 resident families.

A succession of mills along the Black Ledge River drove the town's economy until it collapsed after the Civil War. Today, only some decrepit stone foundations, cellar holes and a few old headstones remain from the settlement.

About 11 miles of trails for equestrians, hikers and cyclists loop through the park's 1,569 acres, which straddle the Hebron-Bolton town line. The trails pass the pond, old dam and mill sites along the Black Ledge and connect to the Shenipsit Trail just outside the park.

Decrepit stone foundations, cellar holes and a few old headstones--yeah, that'd make this park someplace everyone would learn about and remember!

[Phil Ken Sebbin]

Well Done, Kat! Good use of your helps and overall a great game! Enjoy that check next month!

Bonus: You don't have to pay taxes on it until you file 2011! I had the same situation last year. Now I have to pay

[Estonut]

Decrepit stone foundations, cellar holes and a few old headstones--yeah, that'd make this park someplace everyone would learn about and remember!

If they asked questions to which everyone knows the answers, you'd bitch about that, too...

[Thousandaire]

My great-grandmother was a Gay; wonder if they're related.

(Insert annoying response by esto-idiot here).

[MarleysGh0st]

Decrepit stone foundations, cellar holes and a few old headstones--yeah, that'd make this park someplace everyone would learn about and remember!

If they asked questions to which everyone knows the answers, you'd bitch about that, too...

No, Esto, the $100 questions should be knowable by just about everyone, so you're not going to get away with this statement.

Furthermore, the entire stack of (unrandomized) questions should follow a progression of difficulty. Certainly, "difficulty" is a subjective measure for each individual contestant with different strengths and weaknesses, but, on average, each question in the stack should be answerable by a higher percentage of contestants than the next higher question.

So, we're discussing this one question in particular and trying to find any basis, whatsoever, for people who don't live in this park's vicinity to know the answer (and not just take a 1 in 4 lucky guess). Can you supply a reason for it?

[Bob78164]

Well Done, Kat! Good use of your helps and overall a great game! Enjoy that check next month!

Bonus: You don't have to pay taxes on it until you file 2011! I had the same situation last year. Now I have to pay

This assumes she doesn't actually receive the check until after the first of the year. If Valleycrest rushes to get the check out so that she receives it before year-end, she'll need to report it on her 2010 taxes.

Also, Kat should become familar with the "safe harbor" withholding rules, which are useful to know in any year where you have an income spike (say, from a fairly hefty win on a game show). Basically, in many circumstances you don't even need to make an estimated tax payment, so you can hold onto the whole windfall (and whatever earnings you can get from it) until April of the year after the income is received. --Bob

[Estonut]

Decrepit stone foundations, cellar holes and a few old headstones--yeah, that'd make this park someplace everyone would learn about and remember!

If they asked questions to which everyone knows the answers, you'd bitch about that, too...

No, Esto, the $100 questions should be knowable by just about everyone, so you're not going to get away with this statement.

Furthermore, the entire stack of (unrandomized) questions should follow a progression of difficulty. Certainly, "difficulty" is a subjective measure for each individual contestant with different strengths and weaknesses, but, on average, each question in the stack should be answerable by a higher percentage of contestants than the next higher question.

So, we're discussing this one question in particular and trying to find any basis, whatsoever, for people who don't live in this park's vicinity to know the answer (and not just take a 1 in 4 lucky guess). Can you supply a reason for it?

Your complaint to which I responded was that the answer to the $100,000 question was not about "someplace everyone would learn about and remember."

There are thousands of ways this park could have hit the radar of the question writers. All it takes is 1.
• Googling "Gay City State Park" brings up 29,400 hits. A writer may have stumbled upon any one of them.
• It is a state park.
• It is a historical site.
• It is rumored to be haunted.
• A young man drowned in the park on 5/24 this year. That may have made the news.
• "Ghost Hunters" (remember them?) did an episode at the Norwich hospital, which is nearby. Perhaps the park was mentioned. I don't know, as I don't watch that show.

[MarleysGh0st]

If they asked questions to which everyone knows the answers, you'd bitch about that, too...

No, Esto, the $100 questions should be knowable by just about everyone, so you're not going to get away with this statement.

Furthermore, the entire stack of (unrandomized) questions should follow a progression of difficulty. Certainly, "difficulty" is a subjective measure for each individual contestant with different strengths and weaknesses, but, on average, each question in the stack should be answerable by a higher percentage of contestants than the next higher question.

So, we're discussing this one question in particular and trying to find any basis, whatsoever, for people who don't live in this park's vicinity to know the answer (and not just take a 1 in 4 lucky guess). Can you supply a reason for it?

Your complaint to which I responded was that the answer to the $100,000 question was not about "someplace everyone would learn about and remember."

There are thousands of ways this park could have hit the radar of the question writers. All it takes is 1.
• Googling "Gay City State Park" brings up 29,400 hits. A writer may have stumbled upon any one of them.
• It is a state park.
• It is a historical site.
• It is rumored to be haunted.
• A young man drowned in the park on 5/24 this year. That may have made the news.
• "Ghost Hunters" (remember them?) did an episode at the Norwich hospital, which is nearby. Perhaps the park was mentioned. I don't know, as I don't watch that show.

The phrase that you quoted was sarcasm. To repeat what I said in my last post in a more mathematical way, a $100,000 question ought to be answerable by X% of contestants. The value of X is unknown to us, but TPTB ought to have some rough guidelines and it ought to be less that the percentage that could answer a $25,000 question and more than the percentage than could answer a $250,000 question.

I'm not arguing that there aren't multiple ways that a question writer could have come across the name of this park. My first post in this thread offered one suggestion: that the park is in the question writer's back yard. That is immaterial. My argument is that this state park is too obscure to be a reasonable $100,000 question on this nationally-syndicated show, i.e., that it's a WWOQ.

I'm still open to evidence from anyone to refute my assertion. Did that drowning, in fact, make the national news? Did Ghost Hunters, in fact, do an episode about the alleged ghosts at this park?

Until anyone offers that evidence, kindly withdraw your pot shot about my "bitching".

[Estonut]

The phrase that you quoted was sarcasm.

Oh gee, I missed that.

Until anyone offers that evidence, kindly withdraw your pot shot about my "bitching".

Bitching means complaining. You do that on a near-daily basis, but call it "grumbling" because you think that makes it cute. Request denied...

[Snaxx]

The phrase that you quoted was sarcasm.

Oh gee, I missed that.

Until anyone offers that evidence, kindly withdraw your pot shot about my "bitching".

Bitching means complaining. You do that on a near-daily basis, but call it "grumbling" because you think that makes it cute. Request denied...

Since I don't have a dog in this fight...

On one hand, I did find this question very obscure given that all four states allow gay marriage and usually their really obscure facts turn out to be reason-it-out questions like if the choices were CT, NY, OH, and PA with only one of the four allowing gay marriage. It is a cute coincidence that we all now know.

However, since it is a syndicated show with a lower budget and now the chance to jump WWOQs altogether, they must see the need to make some of the questions really obscure to keep the six-figure payouts down. Kat pointed out that had she figured out the ZZ Top one, she would have ATA'd instead of jumped the Viral Videos one. Then she would jump this one entirely and see a $250K question, something huge on a syndicated show that carries about 1/3-1/2 the ratings of J! and Wheel.

[kmk355]

Well Done, Kat! Good use of your helps and overall a great game! Enjoy that check next month!

Bonus: You don't have to pay taxes on it until you file 2011! I had the same situation last year. Now I have to pay

This assumes she doesn't actually receive the check until after the first of the year. If Valleycrest rushes to get the check out so that she receives it before year-end, she'll need to report it on her 2010 taxes.

Also, Kat should become familar with the "safe harbor" withholding rules, which are useful to know in any year where you have an income spike (say, from a fairly hefty win on a game show). Basically, in many circumstances you don't even need to make an estimated tax payment, so you can hold onto the whole windfall (and whatever earnings you can get from it) until April of the year after the income is received. --Bob

Thanks! They pay out 30 days after your episode airs, so I'll receive my check in mid-January 2011. I'd been planning to pay taxes upfront just to make things simple, but for this amount of money, it might make sense to keep it around and making interest (can you tell I'm going to be having some accountant chats?). FWIW, on the show they tell you to expect about half will go for taxes -- you'll never see it.

On one hand, I did find this question very obscure given that all four states allow gay marriage and usually their really obscure facts turn out to be reason-it-out questions like if the choices were CT, NY, OH, and PA with only one of the four allowing gay marriage. It is a cute coincidence that we all now know.

Exactly like the Andean flamingo question I'd gotten earlier in the game! If they'd asked where yellow-legged Andean flamingos lived, out of the choices Argentina, Chile, Peru, Bolivia, then oh boy would I have been out of luck. Instead, the question was basically "Are the Andes in Australia, Switzerland, Peru, or Nepal?" Yeah, got that.

I was really hoping this question would have a similar setup and I'd be able to eliminate at least some of the choices -- I'm pretty sure if you watch the episode, my face doesn't really fall until after the potential answers are revealed. I realized there were no secondary hints and either I knew it or I didn't.

Kat pointed out that had she figured out the ZZ Top one, she would have ATA'd instead of jumped the Viral Videos one. Then she would jump this one entirely and see a $250K question, something huge on a syndicated show that carries about 1/3-1/2 the ratings of J! and Wheel.

Yeah, I'm going to keep kicking myself for that. Logically it had to be Sleeping Bag -- I could see all those tipoffs -- but because I'd never heard of the song, I just wasn't 100% sure it wasn't a trick question somehow. I was mostly just scared of being overconfident and leaving on the second question.

It was weird I hadn't come across that Viral Video, too, since I obviously spend too much time online. :p When I saw the topic come up in the tree, I was really glad about it -- I figured it would be a small detail about an older, more popular video, like "What action did the Star Wars Kid take in response to the publicizing of his video?" or "What language does the Numa Numa Kid's song use?"; I would've gotten things like that right. But no -- instead, at the viewing party, half my friends were saying "omg, I should've forwarded that to you!"

Making it to the second round was my goal, since it was even rarer when I taped (October), so I'm glad I got there. I do feel like if only I'd played a little smarter, I could've kept going and I would have had a shot at getting further questions right. I don't suppose Millionaire does a Tournament of Champions for all contestants who make it to the second round, huh? :p

[Bob78164]

Thanks! They pay out 30 days after your episode airs, so I'll receive my check in mid-January 2011. I'd been planning to pay taxes upfront just to make things simple, but for this amount of money, it might make sense to keep it around and making interest (can you tell I'm going to be having some accountant chats?).

Jeopardy! says the same thing, but I ended up not having to wait the entire 30 days. And if they pay you before year end, then they get to deduct they payment from their 2010 taxes (assuming Valleycrest is a cash-basis taxpayer), rather than having to wait a year, so they may have some incentive to pay you more quickly.

The "safe harbor" rule I was referring to is fairly simple. Assuming that your 2010 adjusted gross income ("AGI") is less than $150,000, then the sum of your salary withholding and equal and on-time estimated tax payments must be at least as much as your federal income tax liability for 2010. In other words, if your 2010 AGI is $50,000 and your total federal income tax liability for 2010 is $2,000, then if your salary withholding is at least $2,000 in 2011, you won't need to pay the balance of the taxes due until April 2012. If you don't have any salary withholding, you can achieve the same effect by making $500 estimated tax payments in April, June, September, and next January. --Bob