Transcript 05/15/12 Michael Empric (carryover)

[BBTranscriptTeam]

Michael Empric
Brooklyn, NY
holds Guiness world record for building the world's largest ice maze
founder of the Powderkeg Winter Festival in Buffalo

Topic Tree (pre-randomized):

Topic Tree: (Randomized)
Geography of Fiction
So Many Presidents
Mixing Things Up
Name Game
Family Fashion
Art School
Game Decision
($100) Foreign Cheeses
(JTQ, $5,000) Naked Meaning
($15,000) Ad Mascots

Question 4 - Game Decision

In the classic board game Life, player must choose in their first turn between starting a career and what?

A: Practicing religion
B: Living with family
C: Going to college
D: Hanging out with friends

Michael and Charles (in the audience with him) have played this game at home.

Answer and value

C: Going to college
Value: $3,000
Bank: $18,100

Question 5 - Art School

Part of a group of landscape artists known as the Hudson River School, Frederic Edwin Church painted an 1857 work titled what?

A: Death Valley
B: Everglades
C: Niagara
D: Mount McKinley

Spoiler

He notes that Death Valley is in California, the Everglades are in Florida, Mount McKinley is in Alaska, he thinks. But Niagara Falls is in New York, which jumps out at him, but...

He jumps the question.

Answer and value

C: Niagara
Value: $2,000
Bank: $18,100

Question 6 - Family Fashion

Inspired by his mother's initials, what name did rapper Kanye West choose for his debut fashion line in 2011?

A: Lw
B: Mw
C: Ew
D: Dw

He remembers hearing about this, but he's not positive. He asks the audience.

Spoiler

A: 23%
B: 23%
C: 13%
D: 41%

He thinks he might go with the audience.

They applaud.

He then says, "They're very confident."

"

Spoiler

D

, Final answer"

Answer and value

D: Dw (Meredith tries a very weak fake-out. Kanye's mom was Donda West.)
Value: $10,000
Bank: $28,100

Commercial break.

Question 7 - Name Game

Not to be confused with a "Jersey Shore" cast member, which of the following is a billiards game?

A: Pauldron
B: Snooker
C: Ronnel
D: Samlet

Answer and value

B: Snooker
Value: $1,000
Bank: $29,100

Question 8 - Mixing Things Up

With cloven hooves and a long tail, the hybrid species known as a cama is the product of what two animals?

A: Camel and llama
B: Caribou and marmoset
C: Canary and macaw
D: Catfish and manatee

Answer and value

A: Camel and llama
Value: $7,000
Bank: $36,100

Question 9 - So Many Presidents

What two years are the only ones in American history in which three presidents served in office?

A: 1817 and 1865
B: 1841 and 1881
C: 1869 and 1901
D: 1923 and 1963

Spoiler

C: is out, because McKinley and Roosevelt were president in 1901. D is out, because 1963 was Kennedy and Johnson. 1865 is a possibility, because that was around the Civil War, and he remembers a president was impeached around then. B he's not positive on.

He's going to take a risk.

More early audience applause. It looks like Meredith waves to shush them.

He says he's going with

Spoiler

A

, then hesitates. Meredith says, "You have to listen to yourself."

He then confidently says,

Spoiler

A

, Final Answer. The audience applauds again.

Michael goes home with $1,000.

Answer and value

B: 1841 and 1881
Value: $not revealed

Commercial break.

[themanwho]

If Michael hadn't talked himself out of the right answer for the Hudson River School question, he wouldn't have been so quick to trust his instinct on the President question. The audience were very clap-happy this episode. (At least for the first half. I'm off to transcribe part 2.)

-3M

[MarleysGh0st]

Question 5 - Art School

Part of a group of landscape artists known as the Hudson River School, Frederic Edwin Church painted an 1857 work titled what?

A: Death Valley
B: Everglades
C: Niagara
D: Mount McKinley

Spoiler

He notes that Death Valley is in California, the Everglades are in Florida, Mount McKinley is in Alaska, he thinks. But Niagara Falls is in New York, which jumps out at him, but...

He jumps the question.

Answer and value

C: Niagara
Value: $2,000
Bank: $18,100

Nicely reasoned out, Michael. You're going to need that JTQ you're throwing away here.

Like on this question:

Question 6 - Family Fashion

Inspired by his mother's initials, what name did rapper Kanye West choose for his debut fashion line in 2011?

A: Lw
B: Mw
C: Ew
D: Dw

He remembers hearing about this, but he's not positive. He asks the audience.

Spoiler

A: 23%
B: 23%
C: 13%
D: 41%

He thinks he might go with the audience.

They applaud.

He then says, "They're very confident."

"

Spoiler

D

, Final answer"

Answer and value

D: Dw (Meredith tries a very weak fake-out. Kanye's mom was Donda West.)
Value: $10,000
Bank: $28,100

Michael's first reaction was that this wasn't a good ATA result. I think he changed his mind after some considerable applause feedback from the audience. And what was that about? Was the 59% that voted for a different answer suddenly convinced that they were wrong? Or were they just trying to follow the standing instructions to be encouraging to the contestant whenever they can? (Hint to audience: this was a time to follow another standing instruction and stay quiet until he says final answer!) Or maybe the 59% were staying quiet and Michael was being swayed by 41% applause? (So if the audience wranglers are being sloppy and allowing that feedback, should the others started yelling "No!"?)

BTW, I thought this was a pretty fair result for an obscure question, with an average "not a clue" random guess for A and B, and with about 10% of the random vote for C being scared off by the thought that nobody in their right mind would name a business "Ewwww". But the way I see it, about 15-20% of the audience really knew the right answer.

Question 8 - Mixing Things Up

With cloven hooves and a long tail, the hybrid species known as a cama is the product of what two animals?

A: Camel and llama
B: Caribou and marmoset
C: Canary and macaw
D: Catfish and manatee

Answer and value

A: Camel and llama
Value: $7,000
Bank: $36,100

Hurray for llama being a right answer!

Question 9 - So Many Presidents

What two years are the only ones in American history in which three presidents served in office?

A: 1817 and 1865
B: 1841 and 1881
C: 1869 and 1901
D: 1923 and 1963

Spoiler

C: is out, because McKinley and Roosevelt were president in 1901. D is out, because 1963 was Kennedy and Johnson. 1865 is a possibility, because that was around the Civil War, and he remembers a president was impeached around then. B he's not positive on.

He's going to take a risk.

More early audience applause. It looks like Meredith waves to shush them.

He says he's going with

Spoiler

A

, then hesitates. Meredith says, "You have to listen to yourself."

He then confidently says,

Spoiler

A

, Final Answer. The audience applauds again.

Michael goes home with $1,000.

Answer and value

B: 1841 and 1881
Value: $not revealed

An excellent history question with some clear reasoning behind the (right) answer, which Michael failed to notice. Yes, AJ was impeached, but not convicted. There are two presidents in every year when a new one is inaugurated. So when would a third one have taken office? When his predecessor died!

I have no idea what Michael thought happened in 1817.

[SportsFan68]

Down one JTQ...

Question 6 - Family Fashion

Inspired by his mother's initials, what name did rapper Kanye West choose for his debut fashion line in 2011?

A: Lw
B: Mw
C: Ew
D: Dw

He remembers hearing about this, but he's not positive. He asks the audience.

Spoiler

A: 23%
B: 23%
C: 13%
D: 41%

He thinks he might go with the audience.

They applaud.

He then says, "They're very confident."

"

Spoiler

D

, Final answer"

Answer and value

D: Dw (Meredith tries a very weak fake-out. Kanye's mom was Donda West.)
Value: $10,000
Bank: $28,100

ATA

Question 8 - Mixing Things Up

With cloven hooves and a long tail, the hybrid species known as a cama is the product of what two animals?

A: Camel and llama
B: Caribou and marmoset
C: Canary and macaw
D: Catfish and manatee

Answer and value

A: Camel and llama
Value: $7,000
Bank: $36,100

I didn't know there was such as thing as a cama, but it wasn't hard to figure out.

Question 9 - So Many Presidents

What two years are the only ones in American history in which three presidents served in office?

A: 1817 and 1865
B: 1841 and 1881
C: 1869 and 1901
D: 1923 and 1963

Spoiler

C: is out, because McKinley and Roosevelt were president in 1901. D is out, because 1963 was Kennedy and Johnson. 1865 is a possibility, because that was around the Civil War, and he remembers a president was impeached around then. B he's not positive on.

He's going to take a risk.

More early audience applause. It looks like Meredith waves to shush them.

He says he's going with

Spoiler

A

, then hesitates. Meredith says, "You have to listen to yourself."

He then confidently says,

Spoiler

A

, Final Answer. The audience applauds again.

Michael goes home with $1,000.

Answer and value

B: 1841 and 1881
Value: $not revealed

This was a toughie, too much to remember and too easy to forget a salient detail. JTQ 2.

[Bob78164]

Question 9 - So Many Presidents

What two years are the only ones in American history in which three presidents served in office?

A: 1817 and 1865
B: 1841 and 1881
C: 1869 and 1901
D: 1923 and 1963

Spoiler

C: is out, because McKinley and Roosevelt were president in 1901. D is out, because 1963 was Kennedy and Johnson. 1865 is a possibility, because that was around the Civil War, and he remembers a president was impeached around then. B he's not positive on.

He's going to take a risk.

More early audience applause. It looks like Meredith waves to shush them.

He says he's going with

Spoiler

A

, then hesitates. Meredith says, "You have to listen to yourself."

He then confidently says,

Spoiler

A

, Final Answer. The audience applauds again.

Michael goes home with $1,000.

Answer and value

B: 1841 and 1881
Value: $not revealed

This was a toughie, too much to remember and too easy to forget a salient detail. JTQ 2.

All you have to remember is which presidents spent less than a year in office (because they died). And in fact, since none of the answers had any overlap, all you really need to know is one correct answer. So if you know when William Henry Harrison's term began and ended, then you know the correct answer has to include that year and there's only one potential response that does. --Bob

[earendel]

Michael Empric
Brooklyn, NY
holds Guiness world record for building the world's largest ice maze
founder of the Powderkeg Winter Festival in Buffalo

Question 5 - Art School

Part of a group of landscape artists known as the Hudson River School, Frederic Edwin Church painted an 1857 work titled what?

A: Death Valley
B: Everglades
C: Niagara
D: Mount McKinley

Spoiler

He notes that Death Valley is in California, the Everglades are in Florida, Mount McKinley is in Alaska, he thinks. But Niagara Falls is in New York, which jumps out at him, but...

He jumps the question.

Answer and value

C: Niagara
Value: $2,000
Bank: $18,100

He should have gone with his instincts on this one.

Question 6 - Family Fashion

Inspired by his mother's initials, what name did rapper Kanye West choose for his debut fashion line in 2011?

A: Lw
B: Mw
C: Ew
D: Dw

He remembers hearing about this, but he's not positive. He asks the audience.

Spoiler

A: 23%
B: 23%
C: 13%
D: 41%

He thinks he might go with the audience.

They applaud.

He then says, "They're very confident."

"

Spoiler

D

, Final answer"

Answer and value

D: Dw (Meredith tries a very weak fake-out. Kanye's mom was Donda West.)
Value: $10,000
Bank: $28,100

I'd have to use a lifeline here. I'd probably ATA but the results aren't strong enough so I would JTQ also.

Question 9 - So Many Presidents

What two years are the only ones in American history in which three presidents served in office?

A: 1817 and 1865
B: 1841 and 1881
C: 1869 and 1901
D: 1923 and 1963

Spoiler

C: is out, because McKinley and Roosevelt were president in 1901. D is out, because 1963 was Kennedy and Johnson. 1865 is a possibility, because that was around the Civil War, and he remembers a president was impeached around then. B he's not positive on.

He's going to take a risk.

More early audience applause. It looks like Meredith waves to shush them.

He says he's going with

Spoiler

A

, then hesitates. Meredith says, "You have to listen to yourself."

He then confidently says,

Spoiler

A

, Final Answer. The audience applauds again.

Michael goes home with $1,000.

Answer and value

B: 1841 and 1881
Value: $not revealed

Should Meredith get blamed for tempting him? As for me, 1841 was the year Harrison died, so there would have been Van Buren, then his short time in office and then Tyler. That's 3 in one year, so I'll go with B even without worrying about the other year (Hayes, Garfield, Arthur).[/quote]