FACT: Canadian Questions Are Really Bad For 'Millionaire'

[Brit Canuck]

Speaking as a Canadian, I have to say that the number of questions involving Canadian trivia on 'Millionaire', especially this past season, has been astounding. The number of those questions that ended up stumping contestants, resulting in walks or losses, even more so. Yet again today (June 18th), a question to which a Canadian city was the answer, and it cost a contestant $15,000.

$25,000 - Monopoly
In the 2008 'World Edition' of Monopoly, which city replaced 'Boardwalk' as the most expensive property on the board?
Montreal *
Barcelona
Tokyo
Cape Town

Montreal??? The richest city in the world???

Montreal was the correct answer, as Wikipedia will verify ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly_(game) ), but Montreal, rich??? What were the voters thinking? Montreal finally finished paying off their debts from their Summer Olympics a few years ago - thirty years after the Games ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_Summer_Olympics ). Not a good omen for Vancouver's Winter Games eight months from now.

TRANSCRIPT LINK
http://wwtbambored.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=18414



Here are some more recent examples of the chaos caused by Canadian content - all from this past season alone:

Got it right, but it cost her two lifelines:
http://wwtbambored.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=17720

Got it right by asking the Audience - but later lost $15,000 as well:
http://wwtbambored.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=17069

Walked with $16,000 back in January (the audience was right, but a small number), rebroadcast last week:
http://wwtbambored.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=13689

...And on the exact same episode, the very next contestant, another $25,000 Canadian question, another $16,000 Walkie:
http://wwtbambored.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=13690
Wow! What are the odds?

Bored board member, didn't lose anything ($50,000 freebie), but Game Over anyway:
http://wwtbambored.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=16420

And this poor guy lost $7,000 on a Celine Dion question:
http://wwtbambored.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=16903

In response to which Frogman042, who lost back in September on the infamous $50,000 freebie about poutine ( http://wwtbambored.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=10203 ) famously ranted:

Canada, we know you are not the 51st state. We now admit that you are a big and important soverign nation and our great partner to the North.

We are sorry for taking you for granted and knowing little or nothing about you.

Please, please stop slaughtering our BAM contestants.

Sorry, Frogman - looks like the writers have taken Canadian questions to heart this season.

[SportsFan68]

Montreal was the correct answer, as Wikipedia will verify ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly_(game) ), but Montreal, rich??? What were the voters thinking? Montreal finally finished paying off their debts from their Summer Olympics a few years ago - thirty years after the Games ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_Summer_Olympics ). Not a good omen for Vancouver's Winter Games eight months from now.

Wikipedia cited a 300% increase in costs as one of the reasons Colorado voted itself out of the 1976 Winter Olympics. Opponents cited Montreal's experience early and often, as it was already heavily in debt by the 1972 elections. I think the increase would have been even more than 300% by the time new facilities were built and transportation was arranged between ski facilities outside of Denver and ice skating at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. The vote was actually about whether any state money should be used, and it was one of those horribly-worded monstrosities where a Yes vote meant "no state money for the Olympics;" a No vote meant "OK to spend state money on the Olympics." And the IOC was soon out the door to Austria. And Colorado can host the DNC but will probably never again be considered for the Olympics.

[a1mamacat]

What can I say.....I need the money

[hbomb1947]

Speaking as a Canadian, I have to say that the number of questions involving Canadian trivia on 'Millionaire', especially this past season, has been astounding. The number of those questions that ended up stumping contestants, resulting in walks or losses, even more so. Yet again today (June 18th), a question to which a Canadian city was the answer, and it cost a contestant $15,000.

$25,000 - Monopoly
In the 2008 'World Edition' of Monopoly, which city replaced 'Boardwalk' as the most expensive property on the board?
Montreal *
Barcelona
Tokyo
Cape Town

Montreal??? The richest city in the world???

Montreal was the correct answer, as Wikipedia will verify ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly_(game) ), but Montreal, rich??? What were the voters thinking? Montreal finally finished paying off their debts from their Summer Olympics a few years ago - thirty years after the Games ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1976_Summer_Olympics ). Not a good omen for Vancouver's Winter Games eight months from now.

TRANSCRIPT LINK COMING SOON

.

This isn't really a "Canadian" question, so it's not a data point for frequency of questions about Canada.

[Brit Canuck]

Wikipedia cited a 300% increase in costs as one of the reasons Colorado voted itself out of the 1976 Winter Olympics. Opponents cited Montreal's experience early and often, as it was already heavily in debt by the 1972 elections. I think the increase would have been even more than 300% by the time new facilities were built and transportation was arranged between ski facilities outside of Denver and ice skating at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. The vote was actually about whether any state money should be used, and it was one of those horribly-worded monstrosities where a Yes vote meant "no state money for the Olympics;" a No vote meant "OK to spend state money on the Olympics." And the IOC was soon out the door to Austria. And Colorado can host the DNC but will probably never again be considered for the Olympics.

Interesting. So Montreal got the Olympics after Colorado's preparations fell short, but they ended up with a much bigger price tag and less time to prepare.

I stand corrected. Don't ask me about that whole political gibberish, though.

Maybe it's not which is the richest city, but which is the most expensive city to live in, that drove the results for the Monopoly vote.

[NellyLunatic1980]

Here are some more recent examples of the chaos caused by Canadian content - all from this past season alone:

Got it right, but it cost her two lifelines:
http://wwtbambored.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=17720

Got it right by asking the Audience - but later lost $15,000 as well:
http://wwtbambored.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=17069

Walked with $16,000 back in January (the audience was right, but a small number), rebroadcast last week:
http://wwtbambored.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=13689

...And on the exact same episode, the very next contestant, another $25,000 Canadian question, another $16,000 Walkie:
http://wwtbambored.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=13690
Wow! What are the odds?

Bored board member, didn't lose anything ($50,000 freebie), but Game Over anyway:
http://wwtbambored.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=16420

And this poor guy lost $7,000 on a Celine Dion question:
http://wwtbambored.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=16903

In response to which Frogman042, who lost back in September on the infamous $50,000 freebie about poutine ( http://wwtbambored.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=10203 ) famously ranted:

Canada, we know you are not the 51st state. We now admit that you are a big and important soverign nation and our great partner to the North.

We are sorry for taking you for granted and knowing little or nothing about you.

Please, please stop slaughtering our BAM contestants.

Sorry, Frogman - looks like the writers have taken Canadian questions to heart this season.

You could go even farther back and find other Canadian stumpers from WWTBAM. Back in Season 2, Julie Hunter's $500,000 question asked for the name of the northernmost peninsula in Canada.

[15QuestionsAway]

Wikipedia cited a 300% increase in costs as one of the reasons Colorado voted itself out of the 1976 Winter Olympics. Opponents cited Montreal's experience early and often, as it was already heavily in debt by the 1972 elections. I think the increase would have been even more than 300% by the time new facilities were built and transportation was arranged between ski facilities outside of Denver and ice skating at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. The vote was actually about whether any state money should be used, and it was one of those horribly-worded monstrosities where a Yes vote meant "no state money for the Olympics;" a No vote meant "OK to spend state money on the Olympics." And the IOC was soon out the door to Austria. And Colorado can host the DNC but will probably never again be considered for the Olympics.

Montréal hosted the 1976 summer Olympics. so I wonder how they were cited in the Denver vote. The vote in Denver must have been in 1974 or so, right?

Today's Monopoly question was particularly heinous if you didn't know the world edition's cities were determined via a vote rather than by any sort of economic data. It was an easy Google though if David Muhlfelder had had a PAF so equipped.

(Edited - I thought at first your dates were incorrect.)

[etaoin22]

The amount of debt associated with the 1976 Summer Olympics was really not clear until after 1976, and I question the Colorado reference.

Having had a successful major infrastructure overhaul at the end of the 1960's, partly for expo 67, Montreal did not need the enormous civic improvements usually added to the bill for Olympic bids these days. I am curious what is on the tab in Vancouver, as I haven't been following closely. Recycled locations were used for most of the minor sports and some of the most famous events, in Montreal; part of Ile Notre-Dame got recycled for the rowing events, soccer prelims were in part doled out to other towns (I remember seeing Iran and Cuba prelims in Ottawa). The only failure in essence was the failure in control over the main Olympic Stadium expenditure, and a great deal of that was incurred because of the difficulty in choosing a stadium site right at the fault escarpment which bisects the island of Montreal below Sherbrooke Street.

The true embarrassment of the 1976 games was the total success of performance enhancing medications. Especially with the East German "female" team

[Bob Juch]

Canadian questions are the bane of NTN players. NTN is big in Canada so they throw them a bone from time to time. They're usually something that even Canadians would find tough.

[SportsFan68]

Wikipedia cited a 300% increase in costs as one of the reasons Colorado voted itself out of the 1976 Winter Olympics. Opponents cited Montreal's experience early and often, as it was already heavily in debt by the 1972 elections. I think the increase would have been even more than 300% by the time new facilities were built and transportation was arranged between ski facilities outside of Denver and ice skating at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. The vote was actually about whether any state money should be used, and it was one of those horribly-worded monstrosities where a Yes vote meant "no state money for the Olympics;" a No vote meant "OK to spend state money on the Olympics." And the IOC was soon out the door to Austria. And Colorado can host the DNC but will probably never again be considered for the Olympics.

Interesting. So Montreal got the Olympics after Colorado's preparations fell short, but they ended up with a much bigger price tag and less time to prepare.

I stand corrected. Don't ask me about that whole political gibberish, though.

Maybe it's not which is the richest city, but which is the most expensive city to live in, that drove the results for the Monopoly vote.

Sorry for the confusion -- Montreal was awarded the summer Olympics, Colorado the winter.

[SportsFan68]

Wikipedia cited a 300% increase in costs as one of the reasons Colorado voted itself out of the 1976 Winter Olympics. Opponents cited Montreal's experience early and often, as it was already heavily in debt by the 1972 elections. I think the increase would have been even more than 300% by the time new facilities were built and transportation was arranged between ski facilities outside of Denver and ice skating at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. The vote was actually about whether any state money should be used, and it was one of those horribly-worded monstrosities where a Yes vote meant "no state money for the Olympics;" a No vote meant "OK to spend state money on the Olympics." And the IOC was soon out the door to Austria. And Colorado can host the DNC but will probably never again be considered for the Olympics.

Montréal hosted the 1976 summer Olympics. so I wonder how they were cited in the Denver vote. The vote in Denver must have been in 1974 or so, right?

Today's Monopoly question was particularly heinous if you didn't know the world edition's cities were determined via a vote rather than by any sort of economic data. It was an easy Google though if David Muhlfelder had had a PAF so equipped.

(Edited - I thought at first your dates were incorrect.)

Montreal was cited because the debt was already piling up in the two years between the awarding of the Olympics in 1970 and the 1972 Colorado vote. Dick Lamm led the charge for environmental reasons, and his coalition found a sympathetic ear all over the state -- some responded to the excessive debt theme, some to the environmental wrecking theme, and some to the Denver Fat Cat theme. If the Olympics had gone forward in Colorado, a great many Denver and Colorado Springs business pockets would have been lined with mink, and many of those business people made the big mistake of being arrogant about calling the shots.

[SportsFan68]

The amount of debt associated with the 1976 Summer Olympics was really not clear until after 1976, and I question the Colorado reference.

Having had a successful major infrastructure overhaul at the end of the 1960's, partly for expo 67, Montreal did not need the enormous civic improvements usually added to the bill for Olympic bids these days. I am curious what is on the tab in Vancouver, as I haven't been following closely. Recycled locations were used for most of the minor sports and some of the most famous events, in Montreal; part of Ile Notre-Dame got recycled for the rowing events, soccer prelims were in part doled out to other towns (I remember seeing Iran and Cuba prelims in Ottawa). The only failure in essence was the failure in control over the main Olympic Stadium expenditure, and a great deal of that was incurred because of the difficulty in choosing a stadium site right at the fault escarpment which bisects the island of Montreal below Sherbrooke Street.

The true embarrassment of the 1976 games was the total success of performance enhancing medications. Especially with the East German "female" team

That's the way it happened, Doc. Maybe they were exaggerating, but Lamm and his bunch very effectively made the point again and again about how costs were already spiraling out of control, they pointed to the new and pricey venues in Montreal, and they promised that things would get worse and worse as the date got closer and IOC demands increased.

Ueberroth hadn't yet come aboard to show how some real money could be made and costs covered easily through merchandising, partnerships, and on and on.

[Brit Canuck]

A bit off-topic, but trivia relating to Celine Dion claimed another victim tonight (July 1st - Canada Day, coincidently) on Jeopardy.

...(challenger Michael) Huntington goes Daily Double-Hunting...and he finds it right away under the $600 'A World of Music' clue with (his score at) $2,400, trailing the champ for the lead by $1,200. He makes it a True Daily Double on the following:

The 1990 album "Unison" marked the English language debut of this Chanteuse from Quebec.

He can't come up with Celine Dion, so he's back to zero...

...and not only was he unable in the end to catch up to the current defending champion - he finished the Double Jeopardy round in the hole, and as per the rules, he was disqualified from participating in the Final Jeopardy round.

Woe, Canada.

Source: Game Show Kingdom
http://gskingdom.blogspot.com/2009/07/7 ... sults.html

[etaoin22]

A bit off-topic, but trivia relating to Celine Dion claimed another victim tonight (July 1st - Canada Day, coincidently) on Jeopardy.

...(challenger Michael) Huntington goes Daily Double-Hunting...and he finds it right away under the $600 'A World of Music' clue with (his score at) $2,400, trailing the champ for the lead by $1,200. He makes it a True Daily Double on the following:

The 1990 album "Unison" marked the English language debut of this Chanteuse from Quebec.

He can't come up with Celine Dion, so he's back to zero...

...and not only was he unable in the end to catch up to the current defending champion - he finished the Double Jeopardy round in the hole, and as per the rules, he was disqualified from participating in the Final Jeopardy round.

Woe, Canada.

Source: Game Show Kingdom
http://gskingdom.blogspot.com/2009/07/7 ... sults.html

DD hunting doesn't give you the feel for the category.
To sing in English was a bit controversial for her, amazing as it might seem now. Also amazing, she was sorta hot in her eighties songs and videos in French. No crappy jokes about going into bars and bartenders asking "why the long face".