One of the things I had NOT to do? Tell everyone at work what happened. I didn't have $4 million to spend on a Disney lawsuit. That did NOT stop everyone from asking. I was pretty good at telling people that I could not tell them the results. Sometimes, I would just make stories up.... "They gave me 15 questions all about jellybeans!"
I did, however, write a very long letter to Valleycrest Productions, specifically directed at the attorney. In this letter, I pointed out that I did not want Valleycrest to reverse their decision outright. I wanted another shot at the show. Let me explain.
One of the contracts I signed, very early on, was an agreement that I would only be able to appear on the evening show or any future syndicated show twice every two years. One of the contestants from my show, in fact, was on his 2nd trip to the show - his first was the first US $1 million winner, so he got to see a lot of momentous occasions. If I qualified for the hot seat, that would be my last trip to the general show - they reserve(d) the right to invite me back for special events.
So, now I could never go back to the show. And THAT'S how it ended.
I also included in my letter details of my after-elimination conversation with Michael Davies, during which he informed me that magazine publishers he contacted could not come to consensus on this subject; I included examples where my answer was correct, and the magazine had no masthead. Finally, I included the dictionary definition of masthead. No mention of staff members.
The reply I would get, well after the air date, would thank me for my kind letter and for being a contestant. And for my examples that supported their answer. Even though they didn't. At least they read the letter, I guess.
The week the show was to air - the show would air on a Thursday, and as far as the local ABC station knew, that was it - I started to get the media calls. The first was from the big newspaper in town, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. They ran a small story - "Greece Man Wants To Win Million." I didn't live in Greece, but I did work there. The Democrat and Chronicle, who did their interview over the phone, were a little sloppy in their headline, and ran a retraction the next day. The photo with that story was taken by a Greece Central School District media person - that's where I worked.
It should be noted that I got an awful lot of permission from Greece Schools to have all this media coming to talk to me. Media frequently visited Greece Schools - to cover school events, board meetings... community outrage... fire bombings..... and so the district had a media relations team. They didn't often let people outside of leadership - principals, assistant superintendents, and the like - speak to the media on district property. The Director of Information was my boss, so I knew who to ask. He readily gave permission (after all, I had already been in front of a lot of cameras) so long as I didn't speak for the district.
The next interview was from the local hometown smalltown newspaper - ABC was good at including them, but they saw the Democrat and Chronicle story - in Greece, NY. A reporter - Jennifer Wedow - was sent to my office to interview me. Ms. Wedow was a young reporter who wrote an excellent (long) story about me and my pursuit of game show fame and fortune. I'm pretty sure she no longer writes for the Greece Post, but wherever she is writing, her stuff is surely worth reading.
I vowed, after I read her story, that I would plug her work whenever possible. Who knew I'd be writing about this myself 11 years later?
Finally, Channel 13 - WOKR-TV at the time - the local ABC affiliate - contacted me. They wanted to do an on-camera pre-interview with me. My name was to appear on the show from the 15th of August, and they wanted to make sure they got me on the news soon after that. The first segment aired on the 16th of August. I would soon tire of seeing my face on the local news...
Wow. I look so young. I wonder where that shirt went? I don't think I have it anymore.
A cameraman was sent out to do the interview - I didn't get a reporter in my workplace - but this was very exciting! At this time, I told the camerareporterman - prompted by a question from him - that I would be having a party to watch the episode. He, of course, asked to be invited. I really couldn't say no - after all, ABC would want to see this.... right?
Little did I know they'd be back again.
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