Four Students To Compete on Trivia Show

Three Harvard students will get their shot to "Win Ben Stein's Money" when they go up against Comedy Central's deadpan game show star in a taping later this month.

Stein, the show's perpetual contestant, may take on Shaun T. Takao '04, Andrew P. Nikonchuk '02 and M. Douglas O'Malley '01 simultaneously.

Stein, a graduate of Yale Law School, will most likely turn the show into a contest between Harvard and Yale.

"At the end, it will probably be Ben Stein, sitting and looking smug," Takao said.

Takao, Nikonchuk and O'Malley had all auditioned for the college edition of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" in September. Though the three did not make the cut for that show, the two programs share a production company, Valley Creek Production.

"I guess they kept me on file," O'Malley said.

Takao thinks he was chosen to facilitate the Harvard-Yale rivalry. " They were not interested in how much I know. They just want the Harvard name," he said.

The show's call surprised Nikonchuk.

"At first I thought it was my roommates playing a joke, but then I saw the caller ID, and it was from L.A.," Nikonchuk said.

Harv Selsby, talent executive at the production company said

that Comedy Central was looking to do a theme show and thought a college

tournament would be interesting.

The show will also feature Greek life and faculty editions. The University of California at Los Angeles, the University of Southern California, Northwestern, Ohio State, Georgia Tech and Boston University are among some of the other colleges with students appearing on "Win Ben Stein's Money."

"Win Ben Stein's Money" has a different objective than most shows, as Stein is given all the money budgeted for prizes. What he loses of that money

becomes his personal loss.

The show's three rounds require that competitors answer esoteric questions under bizzare categories. A contestant is eliminated with each round, until one person is left to compete against Stein in a best-of-10 questions format.

The three contestants have varying degrees of familiarity with the show.

"I haven't really seen a whole show, just when I'm flipping through

the channels," O'Malley said. "I'll have to go to my House grill and learn the rules."

Takao, on the other hand, considers himself a fan.

"It's sort of a low-budget game show, but I'm a big fan," he said. His strategy will consist of "ringing in as fast as I can [because] you don't get money taken away when you're wrong."

Nikonchuk will most likely gloss over a few reference materials to

prepare.

"I'm really bad with geography, but I don't want to prepare too much because it will take away the fun," he said.

Valley Creek Productions will fly all three students to Los Angeles at the end of February and will provide them with food and board, as well as a $35 per day stipend.

"I will have a draft of my thesis done. I was here during intersession,

and it will be nice to get paid to go away for a few days," O'Malley says.

--Staff writer Nicole B. Usher can be reached at usher@fas.harvard.edu.