TV Show Goofs on Great Lake Question
By SUE PRICE WILSON, AP
10:00 AM ET 08/20/99
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - A graduate student will get a second chance at $1 million
after a game show goofed when it ruled that his answer on a $64,000 question was wrong.
David Honea, a doctoral student in computer engineering from Raleigh, had won
$32,000 on ABC's new prime-time show ``Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.'' But in the show,
taped Wednesday and broadcast Thursday night, he was stopped in a quest for $1 million by
a question on which of the five Great Lakes is the second largest in area after Lake
Superior.
A correct answer would have given him $64,000 and put him only four questions
away from the big prize. Honea said Lake Huron. The show said Lake Michigan.
The show's host, Regis Philbin, told Honea that he had lost, and he accepted the
results. But after the show Honea decided to voice his doubts. ``A couple of other
contestants said, `You've got to talk to them because you were right,''' he said today.
After several hours of fact-checking, the show's executive producer, Michael
Davies, returned with the news: Honea was correct and the show was wrong.
``He said, 'You don't have to worry. I can tell you right now you've won $64,000
and you are going to get a chance to win from here,''' Honea said.
``I felt awful,'' Davies told The New York Times. He said the confusion stemmed
from the fact that Lake Michigan is second-largest in volume but Lake Huron is
second-largest in surface area.
``Every game show makes mistakes,'' Davies said. ``It happens on `Jeopardy'
every so often, but they're not in prime time.'' The show taped a new segment to
explain that it erred and that Honea would be back to play again, and it was tacked on to
the end of the broadcast Thursday. He said some of his relatives had already turned off
their TVs and missed the happy ending. Honea, 31, can win $125,000 and a chance to
keep playing if he answers another question correctly. But if he guesses incorrectly, it's
back to $32,000. After hearing the question, he can also choose not to answer, and keep
the $64,000.
The final show will be taped Aug. 28 and broadcast Aug. 29, the last day of the
show's scheduled run, which is 13 shows playing nightly for two weeks with a day off for
``Monday Night Football.'' ``I don't think I'll take too many risks with that amount of
money,'' Honea said. ``After that, I might be scared to answer even if they were asking
your mother's name.''
The show, with its marathon of nightly episodes and big payoffs, is intended to
evoke the old quiz shows that enthralled the nation in the '50s, until some were found to
be rigged. And it's off to a promising start.
In its first three airings, Monday through Wednesday, the show won the time
period and built on the audience of its ABC lead-in, according to Nielsen overnight
figures measuring roughly half the nation. More significantly, its Tuesday and Wednesday
broadcasts drew roughly 7 percent more viewers than the previous night's installment.
