So sorry about the Bored problem you guys had. You sure are lucky writers save everything they write, so I've re-pasted my original message to you at the end of this one.
Thanks so much to everyone here for all of the warm welcomes and wishes. This is obviously a very friendly and helpful group. I'll try to drop by and play with you whenever I get a chance. Right now, I'm looking at weeks ahead of me filled with zillions of writing projects, deadlines, and jangling phones. But before I make that my final answer, I want to share something I adore that I think you will all like:
Go to www.bbc.co.uk/radio4 and click on the pink button for "Comedy/Quizzes" and listen to audiocasts of the BBC quiz show "Brain of Britain." It comes on once a week, and the questions are very like those found in Millionaire's and Jeopardy!s upper levels. Most are not Brit-specific, and I think the information would be very helpful to anyone studying for a U.S. quiz show. Plus it's great fun, with lots of dry wit and humour [sic], especially when the Brits try to figure out American pop culture questions.
With all my best to all of you on the Bored,
Lyn
And here's my original post:
Hi, Guys!
So, I was googling myself, and POW! I see the lovely remarks on this bored. Thanks so much to everyone for all the kind words about my Millionaire appearance. It's especially flattering considering that I recognize several of your names from Quiz Show Fameland. I'm thrilled that you think I gave you good TV.
Our mutual friend Leszek is indeed a gentleman, a scholar, and an all-around fabulous person to have in your corner, and I want to publicly thank him for being there for me. The reason he took so long to answer that ^%$#@ cat question was entirely because of me: We'd already strategized how we'd do it, but I couldn't spell "cat."
And I also want to thank the wonderful Bob Harris, whose lovely comments on his blog I treasure, and to whose knowledge of "The Compleat Angler" I owe my Jeopardy! Waterloo.
Since this is a group that will appreciate the particulars, here you go:
About the aforementioned ^&*$@# cat question: Linguistically, I knew it had to be Egypt, since "Caffre" I associate with Africa and Egypt, and I think it's related to the highly derogatory term "kaffir" used to refer to African peoples. I also knew that cats were worshipped in Egypt, the whole nine yards. But there were a couple of problems for me here:
1) I was the last person to play that day, and I'd spent the day in the green room watching person after person (whose shows won't air until later, since for obvious reasons they bumped me up to November) get the most foul, strange and unnatural questions at the $16K, $25K, and I think even $8K levels. None of us in the green room knew them, and we were a well-rounded bunch. I can't mention the content, since those shows haven't aired, but they felt so wrong and so complicated for those levels to me. If you watched Brian Cervantez, whose show aired Nov. 2, he had a $4K question that flummoxed me in the same way--it just seemed way too complicated for that level. (Brian, by the way, is an extremely bright guy and incredibly sweet, and I hurt right along with him when he made that mathematical miscalculation and went back to $1K--that's the kind of thing I paranoidedly tried to avoid doing, hence my cat fiasco.) Several of these questions dealt with words I'd never heard of, and to a writer that made them seem really extreme. I was already leery of questions at this level, since my strengths are for the literary/historical/humanities questions that tend to appear higher. So I had thoroughly convinced myself to expect some real zingers on the way to $25K.
2) Since I knew I'd likely have an easier ride after $25K than before, my pre-planned strategy was to do whatever I had to do to get to that anchor, and know that anything after that was extra. That included burning off all my lifelines if that's what it took.
3) I'm a low-paid writer, I have two kids, and the love of money being the root of all evil, I had to make absolutely sure I stayed in the game.
Had the cat question appeared at $4K, I would have said Egypt without hesitation--but at $8K, even though I knew that's what it logically had to be, I'd never specifically heard of a Caffre cat, and I just couldn't risk it being something such as: Rome conquered Egypt and took over the name to identify an Egyptian breed brought to Rome. Or it could be a Chinese term I'd just never encountered. -- I actually did have enough sense to rule out the Aztecs.
I knew I might need the audience at $16 or $25K for one of those off-the-wall pop culture questions, and I feared the 50/50 would leave Rome and Egypt, so I had only one option left: Have someone google it.
Which really was a mediocre way to play, since I wasted the brilliant Leszek at $8K. I agonized (in footage the show edited out) and at one point basically said, Oh this is just stupid, I'm going to say Egypt ... but I couldn't bring myself to say "Final Answer."
The horrible part is that I had to wait overnight for the show to be continued, and I wandered about Manhattan and Brooklyn calling myself an idiot and thinking I was completely out of the running for anything great.
But, as Scarlett O'Hara said: Tomorrow is another day.
And the Lyn Payne questions kept coming and coming...
And I really also wasted my 50/50 on the Georgia question, since I could almost picture the map exactly, but thinking now that I stood no chance to come anywhere near the million, I decided to go for a lot more caution than the question warranted. (Maybe someone just moved Chechnya and didn't tell me?)
So, had I not burned off those two, what would have happened? I'd have had them for the million dollar question, halved the choices, asked the audience, and finally phoned Leszek. He's told me since that he wouldn't have known it without a google, but I'm sure he could have done it with only two choices. The problem is, that unless those 30 seconds gave him time to find it in a source I considered iron-clad, there was no way I'd have risked answering anyway. So it might not have mattered. But, yes, it will always haunt me.
It was truly a great experience and a life-changing amount of money, and the publicity has been lots of fun. And Meredith is an absolute joy, professional, completely genuine, and as kind to the contestants as she seems when you watch at home.
If you want to see a couple of interviews my local TV station did with me, one after the first day of play and the other after the second, go to www.wftv.com and scroll down to the "IWitness" section. There I explain a bit of what I just told you.
When I did Jeop! and when I did Millionaire, my philosophy
was always to play my own game, not someone else's. I had to strategize and think my way through that stack in a way that was unique to me. The best advice I can give you guys is to do the same. You really must know yourself, plan ahead, prepare as best you can, and be very comfortable playing the game only you can play--I did, so I don't regret a minute of it.XOXO,
Lyn Payne
