2008-10-04

Week 4 statistics
Number of contestants: 7
Total amount won: $177,000
Top performers: Jacquie Howard, Elmhurst, NY and Larry Kanturek, Lakeview, AR: $50,000
Expert 1 (Mon-Wed): Lyn Payne, $500,000 Millionaire winner, season 6 (October 31 and November 1, 2007)
Expert 2 (Thu-Fri): Ogi Ogas, $500,000 Millionaire winner, season 5 (November 7 and 8, 2006)

Spare a thought for Lyn Payne. Lyn performed so well as last season's top contestant, but Ask the Expert proved an entirely different challenge for her. In Lyn's three days as the expert, she sadly went 0 for 4. No matter how intelligent or knowledgeable one is, sometimes the Millionaire questions are outside what one knows.

However, all was not lost for the week. Ogi Ogas came to the rescue of week 4's top two performers. Larry Kanturek and Jacquie Howard were the final two week 4 contestants that completed their run, and both had Ogi as their expert. Larry successfully used Ogi on his question 11 ($50k) Jacquie used Ogi a bit earlier, on question 9 ($16k), but was able to hold on to her phone-a-friend, which helped her get past question 11.

Both Larry and Jacquie were stumped by their question 12s (for $100k). See how well you would have done. First, here's Larry's question 12. The topic - Theatre:

Which of these famous plays ends with a woman blowing out candles?

a. The Glass Menagerie

b. The Crucible

c. A Raisin in the Sun

d. Long Day's Journey into Night

Larry did have phone-a-friend left on this question, but his cousin Linda couldn't come up with the answer. It is a difficult question - the type you (or your phone-a-friend) either know or don't. The correct answer is a. The Glass Menagerie.

For your consideration and amusement, here's Jacquie's question 12. The topic - The Internet:

In order to conform with California law, what one word did Google add to its famously sparse home page in 2008?

a. Employment

b. Spanish

c. Recycling

d. Privacy

If you were in the hot seat facing this question and had your phone-a-friend lifeline available, and your phone-a-friend was willing to try and Google you an answer, this could quite possibly be the easiest question ever asked. Unfortunately, Jacquie used her phone-a-friend on her previous question. And she was unaware that California was very concerned about d. Privacy as it relates to the Internet.

Ready to lead off week 5 is Alex Vaclavik from Omaha, NE. Alex will face question 8 (for $8k) with all four lifelines available.