WWTBAM Bored

Megan Cox
Bedford, Ind.

Megan lives in China half the year. Her Chinese name is Lin Xinyi. Megan’s +1 is her dad Greg.

$500
With broken bones a common occurrence during competitions, what did the New Yorker call “the world’s most dangerous organized sport”?
A: Bull riding B: Chainsaw skating
C: Burning tree climbing D: 4 x 100 TNT relay

Answer

A: Bull riding

$1,000
On CableTV.com’s 2016 map of each state’s favorite reality show, what TLC show featuring a polygamist family is the most popular in Utah?
A: Naked and Afraid B: Pawn Stars
C: Sister Wives D: RuPaul’s Drag Race

Answer

C: Sister Wives

$2,000
Smithsonian.com says “Drinking alcohol will damage” them and “Drinking lots of water will flush out toxins” are two myths about human what?
A: Bones B: Kidneys
C: Spinal cords D: Fingernails

Answer

B: Kidneys

$3,000
If you look closely, you can spot an stylized “3” in the capital “B” and “1” in the capital “R” of what brand’s logo?
A: Banana Republic B: Baby Ruth
C: Baskin-Robbins D: Big Red

Answer

C: Baskin-Robbins

$5,000
Which of the following is neither a 16th century English song, nor the name of Hitler’s stormtroopers, nor the original name of a Chicago baseball team?
A: Brownshirts B: Black Hats
C: Greensleeves D: White Stockings

Spoiler

Megan thinks Hitler’s stormtroopers were called Black Hats.

Answer

Megan answers A: Brownshirts.
The correct answer is B: Black Hats.

Commercial break

Megan's an extremely smart young lady. Too bad she didn't get to show it on Millionaire.

Alumna’s cosmetics startup focuses on natural ingredients

So far so good

Wayne Schiff and I spent two days with her in the WWTBAM green room. Megan was with her father. I attempted a few conversations with her over the hours, but she did not reveal much about herself, so I'm surprised to learn that she speaks Chinese and went to M.I.T. She just told me she's from small town Indiana. Overall, there seemed to be minimal camaraderie and bonding among the contestants. Perhaps that is because they are all sequestered with their Plus Ones, so they mostly tended to talk to the one person in the room whom they knew, and not much with the others in the room. In many cases, it was not clear who was the contestant and who was the Plus One. Just a bunch of random strangers thrown together in a holding pen.

BBTranscriptTeam wrote: Megan Cox
Bedford, Ind.

Megan lives in China half the year. Her Chinese name is Lin Xinyi. Megan’s +1 is her dad Greg.

BBTranscriptTeam wrote:$5,000
Which of the following is neither a 16th century English song, nor the name of Hitler’s stormtroopers, nor the original name of a Chicago baseball team?
A: Brownshirts B: Black Hats
C: Greensleeves D: White Stockings

Spoiler

Megan thinks Hitler’s stormtroopers were called Black Hats.

Answer

Megan answers A: Brownshirts.
The correct answer is B: Black Hats.

I think Megan got a bad question. If you put "Brownshirts" into Wikipedia's search, it redirects to the page for the Sturmabteilung, or SA. These were Hitler's "bully boys" during the early 1930s but were disbanded after 1934 and superseded by the Schutzstaffel, or SS. These were also referred to as "stormtroopers", and also known for their black uniforms. I can see how Megan might have been confused.

earendel wrote:

BBTranscriptTeam wrote: Megan Cox
Bedford, Ind.

Megan lives in China half the year. Her Chinese name is Lin Xinyi. Megan’s +1 is her dad Greg.

BBTranscriptTeam wrote:$5,000
Which of the following is neither a 16th century English song, nor the name of Hitler’s stormtroopers, nor the original name of a Chicago baseball team?
A: Brownshirts B: Black Hats
C: Greensleeves D: White Stockings

Spoiler

Megan thinks Hitler’s stormtroopers were called Black Hats.

Answer

Megan answers A: Brownshirts.
The correct answer is B: Black Hats.

I think Megan got a bad question. If you put "Brownshirts" into Wikipedia's search, it redirects to the page for the Sturmabteilung, or SA. These were Hitler's "bully boys" during the early 1930s but were disbanded after 1934 and superseded by the Schutzstaffel, or SS. These were also referred to as "stormtroopers", and also known for their black uniforms. I can see how Megan might have been confused.

I wouldn't give this one a bad question rating, but a undervalued question as many people under 50 have never heard of the brownshirts. She did have three lifelines at this point and without clear knowledge I'm not sure why she didn't use any of those.

I don't have enough of a sample size yet, but so far, I think the questions are a little tougher this year.

TheConfessor wrote:Wayne Schiff and I spent two days with her in the WWTBAM green room. Megan was with her father. I attempted a few conversations with her over the hours, but she did not reveal much about herself, so I'm surprised to learn that she speaks Chinese and went to M.I.T. She just told me she's from small town Indiana. Overall, there seemed to be minimal camaraderie and bonding among the contestants. Perhaps that is because they are all sequestered with their Plus Ones, so they mostly tended to talk to the one person in the room whom they knew, and not much with the others in the room. In many cases, it was not clear who was the contestant and who was the Plus One. Just a bunch of random strangers thrown together in a holding pen.

I had 3 distinctly unique stays in the green room. Day 1, everyone was excited and we didn't have any hold-overs in the room so we all had great conversation. Unfortunately, that was the day of the Great Flood and taping was canceled. Day 2, I spent over 6 hours in the green room, so we all had good conversation between contestants and the producers. One of the guys who was on this week (can't remember his name--he had the "Millionaire" word jumble question) and his +1 were telling hilarious stories and helped pass the time. Day 3 almost all of us were hold-overs and everyone seemed burnt out. I was the first to tape that day, so I can't speak to the camaraderie of the group later in the day after watching all of the rerun episodes...

Sounds like she was committed to not using any lifelines too early, so she took a stab rather than admitting she didn't know an unusually difficult fact for $5000.

Sorry to hear that there wasn't much camaraderie in the green room, Ed. The energy in there when I took part was electric. We had lots of contestants and Plus Ones alike who were very outgoing and very excited to be there. I hope you get a chance to take part again.

So far, so good.