We finally got our first really, really sharp contestant today, and while I'm sure he's happy with his payday, you have to wonder how different things might have been if he trusted himself a little bit more. He used three of his four lifelines on things he knew, but each time he just wasn't willing to commit. The $250,000 question was easy to Google, and the phone-a-friend he used at $100K was clearly chosen for that specific purpose. So if he had trusted himself, he'd be looking at the $500,000 question with the Double Dip and Ask the Audience still at his disposal.

And if I heard Regis correctly during the celebrity segment, the celebrity has the option of all four lifelines but can only use one.

Yea verily, Matt Ottinger, what might have been.
By the way, our celebrity player tonight saw question, thought she knew answer, went to audience for confirmation, got confirmation, won $50K. Snap, snap, click, bam, boom. That's the way.

Truth. It is easier to hear when the STAR! is being respectful of the game and not yammering over the host.

A few notes about the episode...

-- I do know Trevor, as well as two of his PAFs (they are regulars at TRASH quiz bowl tournaments). He used one of his teammates as his PAF, and I spoke to the other online while Trevor was taping, so I had an idea where Trevor was in the stack.
-- I was a PAF for another contestant on that episode who did not make the Hot Seat. So I was hearing from PAFs for two contestants (Trevor and the other PAFs for "Team Aaron Min") throughout the taping :)

From what I've read from Trevor (who I've also spoken to online), he did have some regret shortly after taping about using lifelines at 50K and 100K, but all of that regret passed when the episode aired. I felt the same way when I was on the "Zero Dollar" edition in 2001 (I doubted myself out of a question I used a 50:50 on), so I know how it feels.

Congrats Trevor! Nice to see another quiz bowl alum kicking butt in the Hot Seat.

JD

I remember at this time last year when the Millionaire producers were talking up the clock. "The clock is great, people are winning scads more money in tapings so far, etc."

I would bet $5 that if Trevor had infinity time to think about some of the questions in his stack, he might have won 5x the cash. I think this is one of the more blatant instances where the clock probably cost the contestant money.

So, if the producers introduced the clock as a cost-cutting measure, win.

I knew the answer to the $250K question "Who allegedly died of a nosebleed on his wedding night?" I heard this question before, so I knew Attila the Hun was the answer, but the contestant didn't know and wisely walked away. I was hoping the holdover contestant from last night would walk when he had $50K. He seemed to be a little more focused on this show. Oh well, c'est la vie. This was the best show yet in this series of Millionaire.

Good observation and perspective. Here's an article I found about the clock on Regis Millionaire which may be of interest to you:
http://gameshows.about.com/b/2009/08/12/sh...k-for-regis.htm
Comments appear below the article within the linked material.

I thought it was a given by now that the clock isn't meant to save time, but to save money (the producers'). I mean, would Joe Trela have won his million with a clock on him? Would most of the other million-dollar winners? (I'm not counting John Carpenter and that fellow whose top question concerned the distance of the Earth from the sun.)

Highly unlikely. This is personal preference, I grant you, but his was my favorite of the Million-Dollar wins.
While he was agonizing (and I don't believe that's an exaggeration) over that 15th question, my heart was pounding to beat the band.
The whole third tier with no lifelines! As Regis so aptly put it.....gutsball. Wouldn't have worked with :45 ticking away.
And it's a big part of the reason why the show was such a smasher in 2000. Edge of the seats tension.
"Reality TV" before that term became synonymous with backbiting trash and garbage.

Ratings are in...NBC carried Wednesday night but for the second time, Millionaire wins the 8:00 PM time slot:

Zap2It

Methinks Mr. Schultz's $100,000 win might have something to do with it.

Anyone think the ABC suits might be thinking the show still has some legs, despite what a lot of people think about the clock and Regis' issues with it?

My prediction for Thursday: it could go neck-and-neck with Big Brother, but four NFL preseason games might have an impact. We shall see...

So was I the only one who noticed that there was another Trela in the Ring of Finalists last night? That family's got some smarts, I tell ya what.

They aren't mutually exclusive, I don't think.