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I'm on the hook to be a PAF tomorrow. I've received sketchy information about what to expect. I don't know if the process has changed in any meaningful way since my last PAF experience a few years ago.

If anyone sees this who has been already taped or been a PAF this season, would you please tell me anything you think would be helpful?

This is my general understanding (please make any additions or corrections):

10:00 - 11:00 EDT First call from the show to PAFs, verifying availability. I assume this is still a conference call with all the PAFs, now 3 of them instead of 5.

12:00 - 7:30 EDT Actual PAF call could come sometime in this span. I assume this is for two separate taping sessions.
Does that mean 5 episodes?
Does the show still call to let the PAFs know the contestant is in the hot seat?
Do they call to let you know you can stand down, either due to a miss, a walk away, or a different PAF being called?
Is it safe to leave the house after 7:30 if you haven't heard anything by then?
Does Meredith tell the PAF the dollar value of the question?
Do you stay on the phone line until you hear what happens on the question?

Is there anything else I should know? If they actually show photos of all 3 PAFs on the screen before the contestant picks one of them, does that mean the PAF is now more than just a disembodied voice, and is perhaps expected to be more of a conversationalist with Meredith before getting down to business on the actual question? Should I prepare talking points?

I'm probably not in the best of positions to answer the questions since I don't really know when the various calls are made, if they give you a stand-down call or not, etc. Also, I wont say whether or not I used my PAF lifeline as well.

I think either Bob Juch or DadOfTwins should be able to give you the low-down on what the PAF experience was like from the Friend's perspective.

I did ask my PAF's to do a quick curtesy e-mail if I happened to use that life-line - simply to give them a stand-down message but not reveal any other details. This way the remaining PAFs would know to relax at that point. I'm not sure if Millionaire calls you to say you are done for the day. On both of my taping days, since you don't have access to a phone inside the studio, I did a quick call to one PAF saying I was out of the building - so that they would also know and I asked that PAF to contact the others - (I would have called all my PAFs directly but my battery had drained when my phone was in the locker - so I had to borrow someones phone).

Since I attended a days worth of tapings I can tell you a few things from the perspective of a studio audience member. In general they show every PAFs photo with their names when PAF lifeline is used and the person picks from there - IIRC, the specific PAF photo that is selected then remains on the screen during the duration of the call. The rest is pretty much unchanged from all the previous seasons - Meridith chats with the friend, tells them the amount they are going for and hands the control over to the contestant. 30 seconds go by and the PAF is cut off prior to the contestant giving the answer, so you will not know if they used your answer or not, or what the result is. I did see one case where the contestant said the wanted to call and then gave the name of the PAF (using Jay as the name, have no clue what the name of the PAF was) - so they said I want to call Jay - in that case, only for the briefest instant did all 3 PAFs photos appear, it then almost immediately went to the selected PAF and the call started. Since once they say which lifeline they used, it stopped the countdown clock - saying the name of the PAF at the point that you are saying you want to use the lifeline does trim off a few additional seconds that you have 'off the clock' that is time where you can still see the question and the choices but not have the clock ticking away. So I would think it would be a better strategy to simplay say I want to PAF, let all the friends photos appear (plus give them their moment of national TV exposure) and then select the PAF only when they ask you, so you get a little more time with the question to either try to figure it out or try to come up with the best rewording to minimize time and maximize critical information transfer - but that is just my opinion based on watching the game from the seats.

I know I probably haven't been able to answer your real questions on what it is like to be on the recieving end - but it is the best I can do.

Here's hoping that Shade will be able do a John Carpenter with you - good luck tomorrow!

---Jay

Ed, the answer to all of your questions is yes.

Nothing's changed except that they show all three photos.

Thanks, frogman and BobJ. I wish I'd thought to get contact info for the other two PAFs, so we can contact each other with any updates.

Any more input from knowledgeable people would be welcome.

Good luck Confessor! Always exciting when we have a BBPAF!

Good luck today!

May you already know the answer when you hear the question!

TheConfessor wrote:Thanks, frogman and BobJ. I wish I'd thought to get contact info for the other two PAFs, so we can contact each other with any updates.

Any more input from knowledgeable people would be welcome.

When the AP calls you the first time (if it hasn't already happened) you could always ask him/her to pass your number along to the others, if they haven't been called yet. I doubt they'd give you the other PAFs info without permission but they might not mind giving yours to them, assuming they call you first. Might be worth a try.

One additional question for the PAF:

Any ideas how much time prior to actual arrival in the Hot Seat does the show call? One of my PAFs will be a school setting with the possibility of many people milling about for lunch, etc. In order to have order reign over chaos, is there a bit of lead time -- as in, "she is heading to the Hot Seat now and will be playing in a few minutes." Or is it more like "she is in the Hot Seat right now."

Winnamill wrote:One additional question for the PAF:

Any ideas how much time prior to actual arrival in the Hot Seat does the show call? One of my PAFs will be a school setting with the possibility of many people milling about for lunch, etc. In order to have order reign over chaos, is there a bit of lead time -- as in, "she is heading to the Hot Seat now and will be playing in a few minutes." Or is it more like "she is in the Hot Seat right now."

It's, "She's in the Hot Seat right now."

Winnamill wrote:One additional question for the PAF:

Any ideas how much time prior to actual arrival in the Hot Seat does the show call? One of my PAFs will be a school setting with the possibility of many people milling about for lunch, etc. In order to have order reign over chaos, is there a bit of lead time -- as in, "she is heading to the Hot Seat now and will be playing in a few minutes." Or is it more like "she is in the Hot Seat right now."

Also - is that person willing to hang around at school after everyone goes home?

One of the guys on my tape date had a group of teachers scheduled for PAFs, but when they got the confirmation call they said they were only available until 3 and so when he taped after 4, they were out.

I already know the teachers will have to come and go, but the "face" of the lifeline is a librarian who knows a lot of stuff on her own and knows how to search quickly online. So even if she is the only one remaining (and she will be working all the hours I'm waiting to tape), she should be a good lifeline for me on a variety of topics. I've tried to get her to try out but she doesn't want to. Who doesn't want to???

Winnamill wrote:I already know the teachers will have to come and go, but the "face" of the lifeline is a librarian who knows a lot of stuff on her own and knows how to search quickly online. So even if she is the only one remaining (and she will be working all the hours I'm waiting to tape), she should be a good lifeline for me on a variety of topics. I've tried to get her to try out but she doesn't want to. Who doesn't want to???

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you on the West Coast - is you school lifelines there as well? If so, then 7:30 PM Eastern time is only 4:30 your time - and I don't think they would call after that time. So 4:30, for a school isn't really staying all that late.

Again, good luck and have fun.

---Jay

You are correct! I am on the West Coast so she doesn't have to stay beyond her normal work hours. There was a brief moment today when she realized she should be leaving at 4:10 for another job and said someone else could be her for those few minutes. Since that won't fly at all (I can just imagine female students being the only ones around and giggling hysterically as they tried to be her; other co-worker is a guy), she was able to ask her other job about coming a bit late, if necessary. So all is well.

It won't hurt to let the APs know you might have PAF trouble if you're the last of the day to tape.