PTC resident gets her chance to be a ‘Millionaire’

By MICHAEL BOYLAN
mboylan@TheCitizenNews.com

“Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” is a silly question, after all, who doesn’t want to be a millionaire. The question should be “Who Has A Chance To Be A Millionaire” and the answer on May 20 would’ve been Peachtree City resident Melanie Leon.

Leon, a fan of trivia, appeared on the show and won $50,000. She had been trying to make it on the show for years, dating back to the Regis era of the program. In fact, she was chosen to be on the show when Regis was the host but she never won the “Fastest Fingers” segment and therefore never made the hot seat.

Leon never gave up on her dream though. She continued to play a lot of trivia, study and audition to make both “Millionaire” and “Jeopardy.” Last year, she traveled to New York City and took the test for “Millionaire.” She passed the test and was in the pool to be selected. Leon had also tried out for “Jeopardy” at a local audition and was called in September to appear on that program. A week later “Millionaire” called but it was too late.

“I regretted not going on “Millionaire,” said Leon, who recalled not doing very well on “Jeopardy.” When you appear on a game show, it is often part of your contract that you are not eligible to appear on another game show for up to a year. Leon was eligible to be on a game show again by a week when she traveled down to Orlando, Fla. to attempt to enter the “Walk On and Win” version of “Millionaire.”

Leon flew down to Florida on a Friday with her husband, Bob, and did not get any sleep before going to MGM at 4 a.m. to get into line. Though the line was huge, Leon and her husband got in and advanced through the wristband lottery. They were among the 325 people who made the studio and participated in the interview process. Leon advanced and she stated that she has Peachtree City to thank for it.

“One of the producers asked me where I was from and I answered ‘Peachtree City, Georgia.’ She said that sounded like a nice place to live and I told her it was and described it. She sent me on to the head producer and then it was a waiting game while the taping of the shows began.”

They were taping five episodes of “Millionaire” that day and Leon did not make the first three. Meredith Viera, the host, had envelopes with the wrist band numbers of those who would be contestants. Leon’s number, 132, was the last one called.

“I ran down to the hot seat and was nervous and exhausted, but my adrenaline kicked in,” Leon said. She advanced quickly to the $25,000 question and reluctantly used a life line. She then answered the $50,000 question with no problem but was stuck on the $100,000 question. Having already used her 50-50 lifeline, Leon elected to use her new life line, “Switch the Question.”

Her new $100,000 question was: "In 1990, what became the first republic to declare its independence from the Soviet Union?” She then used her “Phone-A-Friend” lifeline and her “Ask The Audience” lifeline on the question. Still unsure of the answer, Leon decided to not take a guess and walk away with the guaranteed $50,000 that she had already won.

The correct answer was Lithuania.

“It was really exciting and just a dream come true,” said Leon, who used some of her winnings to send her parents and children on a cruise.

Her advice for others who would like to be on their favorite game shows is to set your mind to it and study a lot.

“You need a lot of general knowledge to do well on these shows. I read a lot of newspapers and magazines to get as much information as possible.”

She plans to do some traveling herself and is looking forward to continuing to play trivia at Mellow Mushroom and W.K. Cafe. She will also be interested in Ken Jennings’ game show that is being developed for Comedy Central, so perhaps her days of being on televised game shows aren’t over quite yet.