WWTBAM Bored

Leszek Pawlowicz
Flagstaff, AZ

Leszek was deemed "The Michael Jordan of Game Shows" by The New York Times.

$500
Citing its long dry spells and unbearable heat, scientists claim to have
finally solved the mystery of why early dinosaurs largely avoided living near what?
A: Nuclear power plants
B: Public dumps
C: The Equator
D: Area 51

Spoiler

C: The Equator

$1,000
Which of these words is the name of an artificial sweetener,
and NOT a synonym for "superb"?
A: Splendid
B: Splendiferous
C: Resplendent
D: Splenda

Spoiler

Leszek puts it in his coffee every morning.

D: Splenda

$2,000
With faux lapels and "bottoms not included," in 2015 Hillary Clinton's website
introduced what casual version of the politician's clothing item of choice?
A: Pantsuit Tee
B: Ball Gown Hoodie
C: Denim Tuxedo
D: Relaxed Fit Yoga Pants

Spoiler

A: Pantsuit Tee

First commercial

$3,000
A patient who sees a plastic surgeon about a "turkey wattle"
typically wants loose skin removed from where on the body?
A: Stomach
B: Upper arms
C: Thighs
D: Neck

Spoiler

D: Neck

$5,000
Before hits like "Girl on Fire" and "Empire State of Mind," who made
her album debut at age 16 on the "Men in Black" soundtrack?
A: Alicia Keys
B: Christina Aguilera
C: Lana Del Rey
D: Kesha

Spoiler

Leszek seems to remember her singing it on a commercial.

A: Alicia Keys

Chris: "You know enough pop culture."

$7,000
With a famous case involving Helen Keller's "The Frost King,"
cryptomnesia is the term for what unfortunate act?
A: Destroying a manuscript
B: Committing libel
C: Unconsciously plagiarizing
D: Running out of ink

Spoiler

Leszek breaks the word apart.

C: Unconsciously plagiarizing

$10,000
Native Valencians believe that unless you cook what dish according
to tradition, you're just making "arroz con cosas," or "rice with things"?
A: Paella
B: Huevos rancheros
C: Frijoles negros
D: Chorizo

Spoiler

Another quick answer from Leszek.

A: Paella

$20,000
Which of these is a federal holiday only for government employees
in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area?
A: Arbor Day
B: Election Day
C: Earth Day
D: Inauguration Day

Spoiler

Leszek says D, because of the celebrations that happen, and since they only take place in D.C.

D: Inauguration Day

Second commercial

$30,000
Related to the owners of both teams, what actress admitted to
David Letterman that she likes the Steelers but roots for the Giants on Sundays?
A: Rooney Mara
B: Jessica Chastain
C: Emma Stone
D: Kristen Bell

Spoiler

Leszek doesn't know it off the top of his head, deeming it "a good question", which Chris appreciates.

Leszek recognizes the name Mara, connecting it to Wellington Mara, the owner of the Giants.

A: Rooney Mara

$50,000
An ancestor of computers, the ancient Greek Antikythera mechanism
is a 2,000-year-old system of gears that was used to predict what?
A: Blizzards
B: Sandstorms
C: Floods
D: Eclipses

Spoiler

Leszek has seen a documentary about the Antikythera mechanism, and is so happy this question came up.

D: Eclipses

Leszek: "I'm shaking!"
Chris: "You know, I feel like everybody has this feeling that something special's going on here. I hope that's the case. Being called the Michael Jordan of trivia and game shows, you'd think this calm, cool and collected sense would come over you, but this is nerve-wracking even for you."
Leszek: "Yeah, right now I feel more like Homer Simpson."

$100,000
Seen in communities across America, what is the name of the shadowy figure
in a cape who acts as the logo for the National Neighborhood Watch?
A: Boris the Burglar
B: Ronald the Robber
C: Carl the Crook
D: Theo the Thief

AtA

A: 33%
B: 29%
C: 29%
D: 9%

Plus One: Brandon Saunders

This is a free guess, and Brandon would guess Carl the Crook.

(Editor's note: Leszek has mentioned elsewhere that more discussion took place, which didn't make the air.)

Spoiler

Leszek goes with Brandon's hunch.

A: Boris the Burglar

Leszek leaves with $50,000.

Third commercial

QotD:
The polar opposite of TIME's famous feature, GQ publishes what list
that has included people such as Guy Fieri, Justin Bieber and Mitt Romney?
A: Least Attractive People
B: Least Influential People
C: Least Intelligent People
D: Least Hygienic People

Spoiler

B: Least Influential People

30K: I have no idea. I've read bios on these ladies, too. OK, gossip mag things.

I might well waste all lifelines on this & still not get it. Would not have brought a sports +1, so say I ATA, then 50/50.

100K: Feel pretty sure about Boris, who kinda resembles Boris of Boris & Natasha from Rocky & Bullwinkle, but is taller. Waste +1 to see if they agree, but even if they don't, since you lose no $$ on this one, go for it anyway.


I sure wish Leszak had 50/50ed this as well as ATAed & +1ed.

BBTranscriptTeam wrote:Leszek was deemed "The Michael Jordan of Game Shows" by The New York Times.

Oh, Chris, you can't throw out a line like that without mentioning when the NYT said that, what other shows Leszek appeared on to earn that title, and who else might have eclipsed the title since then.

BBTranscriptTeam wrote:$5,000
Before hits like "Girl on Fire" and "Empire State of Mind," who made
her album debut at age 16 on the "Men in Black" soundtrack?
A: Alicia Keys
B: Christina Aguilera
C: Lana Del Rey
D: Kesha

Spoiler

Leszek seems to remember her singing it on a commercial.

A: Alicia Keys

Chris: "You know enough pop culture."

There goes my ATA.

BBTranscriptTeam wrote:$7,000
With a famous case involving Helen Keller's "The Frost King,"
cryptomnesia is the term for what unfortunate act?
A: Destroying a manuscript
B: Committing libel
C: Unconsciously plagiarizing
D: Running out of ink

Spoiler

Leszek breaks the word apart.

C: Unconsciously plagiarizing

And I'm in trouble here. IIRC, "mnesia" implies forgetting something, so that supports C, but "crypto" is secret (as in cyptography) so that part of the word doesn't seem to fit any of the answers perfectly. I was leaning towards D.

BBTranscriptTeam wrote:$30,000
Related to the owners of both teams, what actress admitted to
David Letterman that she likes the Steelers but roots for the Giants on Sundays?
A: Rooney Mara
B: Jessica Chastain
C: Emma Stone
D: Kristen Bell

Spoiler

Leszek doesn't know it off the top of his head, deeming it "a good question", which Chris appreciates.

Leszek recognizes the name Mara, connecting it to Wellington Mara, the owner of the Giants.

A: Rooney Mara

Uhhh, can I use my second ATA?

BBTranscriptTeam wrote: $100,000
Seen in communities across America, what is the name of the shadowy figure
in a cape who acts as the logo for the National Neighborhood Watch?
A: Boris the Burglar
B: Ronald the Robber
C: Carl the Crook
D: Theo the Thief

AtA

A: 33%
B: 29%
C: 29%
D: 9%

Plus One: Brandon Saunders

This is a free guess, and Brandon would guess Carl the Crook.

(Editor's note: Leszek has mentioned elsewhere that more discussion took place, which didn't make the air.)

Spoiler

Leszek goes with Brandon's hunch.

A: Boris the Burglar

Leszek leaves with $50,000.

Brandon also has game show credits, but we wouldn't know that from the introduction he got on this show.

As for the question (which is a difficult one, because we've all seen the logo, but I doubt if many people have heard of the name, without looking for it), I was leaning towards the right answer, because burglary is a crime that would most properly be the concern of a Neighborhood Watch, while theft and robbery are more direct person-to-person confrontations, and "crook" is too generic.



Congratulations for reaching the upper tier, Leszek!



I know this transcript was posted late, but it says something about the condition of the Bored that a whole week went by without anyone mentioning that a BB had made an appearance on the show. It's not like the good ol' days.

There is a version of the sign with his name on it. I only saw it once, but that's how I knew it.

No lifelines for me all the way through.

triviawayne wrote:No lifelines for me all the way through.

You must be the Joe Dumars of game shows, then.

Congrats Leszek! I didn't know the last two questions you had.

smilergrogan wrote:

triviawayne wrote:No lifelines for me all the way through.

You must be the Joe Dumars of game shows, then.

At least of Millionaire. The level one questions have been incredibly easy this season.

Part of that is those no brainer first five.

Leszek:
You were looking good, rockin' the MAWG blue shirt with a good run.
That was a nasty $100K question.
Congratulations on the $50K!

- Tim H.

So I haven't watched an episode of this show in at least two years. The other night, my wife is flipping channels, and she turns it to Millionaire, thinking I'd be interested. I was only paying about half-attention, but from somewhere I heard something about "the Michael Jordan of Game shows." I figured I had to see this. And what to my wondering eyes should appear but a MAWG in a blue shirt (no less) named Leszek. So yes, I watched the whole episode. Chris is not bad, but still a little mechanical. And I wholeheartedly agree with Marley -- why in the world would they not do a little more exposition of that Michael Jordan thing?

Anyway, congrats, Leszek, on the 50 grand.

I watched it in real time. I didn't want to spill the beans, & can't type in a transcript on this tab.


If I were really playing & had the presence of mind, which I would *not* have, I'd have figured Giants would have meant something to a New York audience. But wait! They no longer film in NYC. Would CT know? I'm in Boston, & I didn't. If ATA had been overwhelming, maybe I'd have trusted them. Maybe not.

I get the vibe that the producers of Millionaire would rather not talk about Jeopardy much at all these days, as if they see it as a competitor. They make an exception when talking about Ken Jennings, and that's just because he was one of their contestants too.

Thanks, all. Given some of the question sets they've had this year (and last), I felt lucky to make it to $50K. So, no complaints. In hindsight, I can think of some trains of thought that might have led me to Boris, but all of them required that I already know that Carl the Crook wasn't the right answer. And yup, not using the 50:50 was a mistake.

For reasons too long to go into, the "Michael Jordan of gameshows" was always a bogus title, made up by the author of a 2000 piece on gameshow contestants in the Sunday NY Times Magazine as a hook on which to hang his article. Wasn't true even back then, and with contestants like Brad Rutter, Ken Jennings and Roger Craig, definitely not true now. But Millionaire liked it, so they used it; can't complain, since it may have gotten me on the show this time, having hid my previous gameshow experience at previous auditions. At the time of the article, I had appeared on Jeopardy (regular and TOC), Win Ben Stein's Money, and WWTBAM, but the kicker that made him give me that title was that I had also just picked up the million-dollar prize in an online trivia competition run by Goldpocket.com. Since then, I've been on HistoryIQ, Jeopardy Ultimate TOC, Grand Slam, Jeopardy Battle Of The Decades, and now WWTBAM again. Not a bad resume, but hardly superstar status. They did actually want me to list the shows I'd been on, including Jeopardy!, but in the excitement of the moment that flew out of my brain. D'oh!

Let me know when you get to be the LeBron James of Trivia.... as if that is even attainable. Kind of like another championship....

$5,000
Before hits like "Girl on Fire" and "Empire State of Mind," who made
her album debut at age 16 on the "Men in Black" soundtrack?
A: Alicia Keys
B: Christina Aguilera
C: Lana Del Rey
D: Kesha

Spoiler

Leszek seems to remember her singing it on a commercial.

A: Alicia Keys

Chris: "You know enough pop culture."

ATA

$100,000
Seen in communities across America, what is the name of the shadowy figure
in a cape who acts as the logo for the National Neighborhood Watch?
A: Boris the Burglar
B: Ronald the Robber
C: Carl the Crook
D: Theo the Thief

AtA

A: 33%
B: 29%
C: 29%
D: 9%

Plus One: Brandon Saunders

This is a free guess, and Brandon would guess Carl the Crook.

(Editor's note: Leszek has mentioned elsewhere that more discussion took place, which didn't make the air.)

Spoiler

Leszek goes with Brandon's hunch.

A: Boris the Burglar

Leszek leaves with $50,000.

Plus One.

Well done, Leszek!

leszekmp wrote:Thanks, all. Given some of the question sets they've had this year (and last), I felt lucky to make it to $50K. So, no complaints. In hindsight, I can think of some trains of thought that might have led me to Boris, but all of them required that I already know that Carl the Crook wasn't the right answer. And yup, not using the 50:50 was a mistake.

Congratulations, Leszek! I agree with most of what has been said, and thought it was weird that they built you up as a superstar without elaborating on why you are so highly regarded.

On the J Board, you said that there was some discussion that was edited out. What was the nature of the discussion? It appeared on air that you and Brandon reached a very fast decision with almost no discussion. And I don't know why they would severely edit you, only to leave dead time at the end of the episode that had to be filled by an audience contestant.

Also, you said on J Board that the 100K question was either you know it or you don't, with no way to figure it out. I had never heard of Boris The Burglar, and I had a hard time visualizing him, but it seemed to me that neighborhood watch groups are formed specifically to keep an eye on neighbors' houses when they are away, to prevent burglaries, so only one of the criminal names fit that description.

BBTranscriptTeam wrote:Leszek Pawlowicz
Flagstaff, AZ

Leszek was deemed "The Michael Jordan of Game Shows" by The New York Times.

BBTranscriptTeam wrote:Related to the owners of both teams, what actress admitted to
David Letterman that she likes the Steelers but roots for the Giants on Sundays?
A: Rooney Mara
B: Jessica Chastain
C: Emma Stone
D: Kristen Bell

Spoiler

Leszek doesn't know it off the top of his head, deeming it "a good question", which Chris appreciates.

Leszek recognizes the name Mara, connecting it to Wellington Mara, the owner of the Giants.

A: Rooney Mara

I would have gone with this connecting "Rooney" with Art Rooney, owner of the Steelers.

BBTranscriptTeam wrote:$100,000
Seen in communities across America, what is the name of the shadowy figure
in a cape who acts as the logo for the National Neighborhood Watch?
A: Boris the Burglar
B: Ronald the Robber
C: Carl the Crook
D: Theo the Thief

AtA

A: 33%
B: 29%
C: 29%
D: 9%

Plus One: Brandon Saunders

This is a free guess, and Brandon would guess Carl the Crook.

(Editor's note: Leszek has mentioned elsewhere that more discussion took place, which didn't make the air.)

Spoiler

Leszek goes with Brandon's hunch.

A: Boris the Burglar

Leszek leaves with $50,000.

I would have tried 50:50 first, to see what was left; I was torn between A and C.