The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[mellowmom]

Well...actually it's more about my son, Joe, but if any of you get the Game Show Network, they are showing a documentary entitled The "Game Show Hall of Fame" - Who wants to Be a Millionaire. I haven't seen it, but one of my customers told me today that he saw it last night and that Joe's win was featured. He said he saw me too, as I was in the companion seat and gave Joe a big hug at the end..(and believe me, back in 2000 we BOTH were big! We figured since that show aired we've lost close to 200 pounds between the two of us! )

It's being repeated tomorrow, Tuesday, January 23rd on the Game Show Network GSN. Looks like 6:00PM PST, you'll have to check your local listings for your timezone.


Carmel

[dede4wd]

How exciting Carmel!

What fun it will be for both of you to see how far you've come and relive a GREAT day!

I'm setting my Tivo!

DeDe

[bikipatra]

Cool! I will be tuned in if I am still awake! I love the GSN! My favorite show is those 30 year old Match Game reruns. I love it!

[DonicaB]

That is really cool, Carmel. I'll have to try and catch it when I get home today.

DonicaB

[MusicalMomma]

OH MY Carmel!!! It's on at 8pm here in WI...I hope I'll be home in time to watch it!!!!! How exciting!!!

So, since I obviously didn't know your son had been on millionaire in 2000. How did he do??

[mellowmom]

Hi MM,

Well.. I could say you'll have to watch and see... (Just kidding)

He actually won the million dollars. He was the 3rd person to win it on the show back in its hey day. At the time he was the youngest person in TV history to have won $1,000,000. He was 25 at the time. It was a lot of fun, and gave the whole family a brief but memorable idea of what living life in a fishbowl is like. For about a year he couldn't go anywhere where people wouldn't recognize him. Even went to Europe and ran into people there who recognized him. It was fun while it lasted, but we're all glad that it eventually calmed down.

Carmel

[TonyR]

Okay we watched it, but never saw your son. Did we miss it somehow?

[mellowmom]

I Just finished watching it also, and I didn't see him either. That's so weird. The person I spoke to yesterday said that he saw Joe and I on the show...but I didn't see it either...

Sorry about the false alarm...

[TonyR]

What a bummer Carmel, we were so looking forward to seeing him.

Was he the one who had the question about what insect shut down the internet?

[mellowmom]

yes, that was his milliion dollar question.

[Mike]

We're bummed. We did try to watch (again). I remember watching the original.

[Lucy]

I did a little web surfing, I remember that episode, I was one of the ones shouting into the TV IT"S THE MOTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gilroy, I remember living there in like 85, there was so much rain the garlic crop was rotted in the fields, all of Gilroy STUNK, it was over 10 years before I had garlic in anything...

PS I am sorry I called him an idiot for not hurrying up with the answer, I get carried away .....

Very cool though!My favorite winner was the first cause he only used a lifeline to call his dad to say he did not need any help, but was about to win a million dollars.

[MusicalMomma]

OK, so it wasn't just me...I didn't see him either.

Well, it must have been so exciting for him and you! What a life changing experience!!!! You must be so proud

[Serendipity]

I fell asleep for a few seconds and thought I'd missed him, lol.

[mellowmom]

Lucy,

You would have had a stroke if you'd been there in person... He actually took about 15 minutes to come up with the answer...(Longest 15 miinutes in my life.) I thought Regis was going to jump out of his chair and strangle him...

I was confused because he had told me before the show that if he got to the million dollar question and didn't know the answer immediately he would just take the half million and be happy. So when he didn't answer the last question right away I was wondering what was he thinking? If he didn't know it, he's supposed to walk away!!

Afterwards I asked him about it and he said the answer "moth" popped into his head immediately, because he had read about it somewhere, but then doubt started creeping in because the answer seemed to him to be so obvious. The pressure of knowing that he could lose +$400,000 vs. win $1,000,000 all based on that one question gave him pause. And he began to doubt what he read/remembered. What if it was just an urban legend, and the "truth" was really some other insect?

The tension in the room was palpable...all you could hear was that $%^&* pounding "heartbeat-like" sound in the studio (they turn it up louder and faster as you move up the ladder.) Found out later that the staff in the control room wanted Joe to just take the $500K because they didn't want to see "the kid" go down in flames...

Watching it on TV just doesn't give you the same experience as being there in person and sitting is this ice cold studio, under painfully bright lights, sitting in a chair that feels somewhat unstable, listening to this pounding heartbeat in the background.

When he finally answered the question the room just exploded in cheers...people were crying!!! He got a standing ovation that must've lasted 10 minutes. I was stunned and just sat in my seat frozen... It was all very surreal. The person in the seat next to me had to nudge me to remind me that I was supposed to go up on the stage. (The production staff had briefed me during the commercial break that if he won over $250K I should go up on stage, but if he lost I was to remain seated!) I remember that when I finally got to the stage, I couldn't see him. There was so much confetti flying around the stage and he was wearing a light shirt so I honestly couldn't pick him out... But Regis was wearing a dark suit that I could sort of make out so I headed in his direction and literally ran into Joe.

When we were finally able to get off the stage, Joe almost broke down. In fact, they had stationed a person next to him, because they thought he was going to pass out. That's how stressful the whole experience was. Joe is a really laid back, mellow individual so for him to react that way really is a good indication of how emotionally draining the experience is.

Prior to that experience, I was like you...used to yell at the TV/contestant and shout out the answers like "the dummy" could hear me. But after going through it in person...I totally understand how players can freeze up and have all rational thought evaporate while on stage.

Joe has also joined me in using Medifast and has lost over 80 pounds on it. We joke that between us we've lost a whole person. Hey, I just figured once we lose all the weight we want to we can do a commercial for Medifast..."and that's our final answer.."