Harvard Student Appears on "Millionaire"

Becoming the first Harvard student to appear on television's most popular game show, Quincy House resident Richard Cooper '01 won prize money on ABC's "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" last week.

Cooper said he could not give details about his performance, which will air Sunday and Tuesday nights, because doing so would jeopardize his collection of his prize.

A social studies concentrator who watches the show regularly, Cooper said he decided to try out for the show, figuring "Why not me?"

After several unsuccessful attempts to qualify for the show, his most recent attempt paid off when he received a call during spring break inviting him to be a contestant.

Cooper said although he focused mainly on getting rest and relaxation in preparation for the show, he did brush up on his knowledge of trivia.

"I basically asked everyone to ask me some trivia questions whenever they saw me," he said. "I also looked over some lists like Heisman [trophy] winners and World Series winners."

ABC flew Cooper and his grandmother to New York on Monday to prepare for the two-day taping. Cooper said he was impressed by the show's professionalism.

"I have a great amount of respect for the integrity of the show because they go to great lengths to make sure that there's no tampering with the contestants," he said.

Cooper was one of 10 contestants who made it through a rigorous qualification procedure based on a mixture of luck and trivia knowledge.

The show's publicist, Pat K. Preblick, said since the show's debut in November, when there was a preponderance of white male contestants, the show has attempted to increase diversity.

"[We want] contestants who are more representative of what's out there in the U.S.," Preblick said.

"Besides making questions that appeal to women and people of color, we altered the qualifications process in November to include a random drawing," she added.

In the first round, potential contestants who call a toll-free number and answer the three questions correctly are entered into a computerized random drawing. Those chosen to advance to round two, again conducted over the telephone, face a series of five questions.

Cooper, who answered all five questions correctly, said the questions in both rounds ranged in difficulty level from "easy to quite hard." Recalling the difficulty level of some questions, Cooper said one question asked him to order the birth dates of four female athletes.

Each high scorer in round two then becomes one of 10 finalists who appear on the show.

Once on the show, contestants vie to be the first to correctly answer a question to proceed to the "hot seat," where host Regis Philbin asks a series of questions starting at the $100 level.

If the contestant correctly answers all 15 questions, the contestant becomes a millionaire.

Cooper said he was more nervous while trying to get to the hot seat than when he was in it.

"When you're in the hot seat you get as much time as you need, but you have to be the fastest during the 'Fastest Fingers' round," he said.

"[Philbin] was very friendly and you really got a sense that everyone's really pulling for you," he added.

As vice chair of the Institute of Politics' (IOP) Student Advisory Committee, Cooper asked IOP members to stand by in case he needed to "Phone a Friend"--one of three "lifelines" that each contestant can use for help in answering questions.

Cooper is just one of many Harvard students who are interested in the game show fever sweeping the nation.

Roommates Chris S. Antunes '03 and Steve Kim '03, who said they enjoy the drama of the show, have never missed an episode. They have repeatedly attempted to get on the show, rearranging their schedules if necessary.

"When it's up we call [ABC's toll-free] number every day and we try to answer the questions," Kim said. "They call between 12 and 3 to tell you if you've made it to the second round, so Chris stays in the room then."

The network asks callers to identify themselves by entering their birth dates and the last four digits of their Social Security numbers, and allows them to call only once a day.

Cooper, meanwhile, said although he had not considered trying out for other game shows, he was not shutting the door on that possibility.

"Why not take some of the random trivia and try to put it to use?" he said.