Student turns trivia knowledge into cash
Like some other college students, Richard Hansen plans to pay off his student loans, travel and get involved in charity work.And to get started on that list, the 18-year-old University of Nevada, Reno student will use his $25,000 winnings from “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.”
Hansen said when he was a high school senior, he looked for ways to help pay for college. He applied to be a contestant on the game show “Jeopardy,” but it wasn’t until his uncle suggested applying to compete on a different game show that he saw results.
Within a week of completing an online application for “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire,” Hansen had scored an audition. He flew to New York City and, along with 150 other potential contestants, took a preliminary 30-question multiple-choice trivia quiz as part of the audition process.
After the quiz, Hansen and about 20 other people moved on to the interview portion of the audition. In a large room, executive producers from the show asked contestants a variety of questions.
“The interview process was very nerve-wracking,” Hansen said. “They asked a lot of vague, personal questions. I was very loud and eccentric.”
Hansen’s personality may have appealed to producers as he received a postcard in the mail weeks later – Hansen made the contestant pool. After the postcard, Hansen received a phone call and heard even better news. He had been picked to appear on the show.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Hansen said. “I was going nuts, calling everyone.”
To prepare for the show, Hansen kept a notebook of anything new he learned. He memorized dates of events and other information that he thought would help him for the show. He says his knowledge is a result of his own curiosity and self-learning.
Hansen arrived for the taping several hours before it was scheduled to begin to speak with producers and the corporation’s lawyers. The contestants waited their turns in a green room.
“I was exhausted when it was my turn. When I arrived, I was all pumped and excited, and after waiting several hours, I was really tired,” Hansen said. “When it was finally my turn, I had to pull all this energy from out of nowhere.”
Hansen moved through all the easier questions and won $25,000. Going for $50,000, Hansen used his “Phone-a-Friend” lifeline and then switched the question with another lifeline when he didn’t get a clear answer from his friend. He answered the question about which Pop-Tart flavor was not an original flavor incorrectly.
He won’t receive his prize money for another month, a week after his birthday, but Hansen said he doesn’t mind too much. With the money he plans to pay his student loans, travel and get involved in charity work of some kind.
He said he’s interested in micro-credit loans. A micro-credit loan is an interest-free loan given to start businesses in other countries.
Hansen hopes to graduate with a political science degree, with a minor in journalism. His plans also include pursuing a career as a print journalist and eventually working for the U.S. State Department.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007 at 12:58 am and is filed under News.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Print this post
Email this post© 2008 The Nevada Sagebrush
