1 Vs. 100, Post-Game Report: Episode Two

If you watched last night's episode of 1 Vs. 100, you saw me answer another nine questions correctly (bringing my total to 22 in a row), taking me to the end of the show. Which means yes, I will be back for a third episode! And according to TiVo, that episode will be airing THIS SUNDAY NIGHT, with special guests from the original movie version of Grease (and yes, Jeff Conaway is one of them!), as a promotion for NBC's Grease: You're the One That I Want. And it's at an earlier time, too. So to catch my third appearance, watch NBC at 7 PM (PST) tomorrow night.

You got to see a lot more of me in this episode. Which isn't necessarily a good thing. There's one full-screen shot of just me at about the 36 minute mark where I just look awful. My eyes are all squinty, there's some weird look on my face... yikes. I think it was because I was trying so hard to make Barry lose with my mind. Didn't work.

So, some notes on Barry and his big win in last night's episode. He won $343,000, more than any other contestant on the show so far. First of all: that coulda been ME!! Damn it. If I had only done better on that final camera test at the audition. Oh well. He was a good player, and he deserved the money, even if I did think his questions were mostly pretty easy.

And then there was the second player, Kwame. I wrote about him when talking about my contestant audition in Culver City. Still quite an outgoing, charismatic guy.

Before the show begins, the Mob is introduced to the contestants that will be playing that day, to make sure that nobody knows who they are, so that there's no cheating, no conflicts of interest, whatever. This takes place in the side studio, the gathering area, before entering the main studio, where the game show set is. When Kwame was introduced, he recognized me, and just shouted out, "Tom Collins!" He came up and gave me a hug and chatted with me a while. (And no, the show doesn't care if you know somebody only from the audition process, so there was no conflict there.) Very, very cool dude. Gee, I hope he does well on the show! Guess we'll have to find out in the next episode.

The editing this time around was a lot more jarring to me than in the last episode. Is it noticeable to you folks, too? Whenever Bob Saget talks to someone in the Mob, or to Barry's wife and sister in the audience, it seems like there are a lot of jerky cuts, where it's obvious extra material has been cut out. Maybe that's just because I was there, and I'm expecting a lot more chitchat.

In the comments to a previous post, Noel Murray asked me if a Mob member gets to stay on the show as long as they keep answering questions correctly. Yes, they do, up to a point. The show is filmed in blocks of episodes. For instance, when I was there, they had an order of, I believe, ten episodes to film. I got into the Mob during the 6th or 7th episode of that set. Once those ten episodes are filmed, the Mob is dismissed, even if they were still getting questions correct, and a new Mob is brought in for whenever the next episodes are ordered.

That said, I see from his blog that Ken Jennings is being brought back to the show, in episodes filmed just this last week. And, as he notes, so is Annie Duke. That doesn't bother me too much -- they're "special guests," after all. They get special treatment by the show. So what if they were eliminated -- they still get to come back. What really hurts is that in that blog post, Ken mentions a 6'4" drag queen also being in the Mob. I'm almost positive he's referring to the one who was standing directly in front of me all throughout yesterday's episode. If she got asked back to the show, and not me -- that sucks. I know, the drag queens were technically special guests, too; they got the same special treatment as, say, Fabio. Not like us regular peon Mob members. But still, that really sucks. I may have more to say on this at some future date, but it's painful to think I might be missing out on getting to come back just because I wasn't, I don't know, flashy. I mean, I answered a ton of questions correctly. I was a great player, if I do say so myself.

Okay, here's some miscellaneous notes as I watch the rest of the show.

--Every single time I see Barry, I want to call him "Dennis." I don't know what that's all about. Maybe he reminds me of Dennis Weaver.

--I thought it was funny when Bob talked to the 40-year-old virgin at the top of the show, and asked him, "A whole week has gone by, and nothin'?" You know how TV works: of course it hadn't been a week; it had been about an hour, while Barry changed his clothes, Bob changed his suit, and the Mob took a break. If the 40-year-old virgin had scored in that hour, well, he'd be my new hero.

--Ned Andrews, the reigning Mob champion: that son of a biscuit. If he'd missed a question during this episode, I'm almost positive that would've made me the reigning Mob champion. I would've liked to have gotten a little bit of his elite treatment -- he was treated like a special guest, and led away to a separate area from the rest of the Mob during break times. But alas, it was not to be: by the end of the show, he'd given 41 correct answers in a row, compared to my 22. But hey, my 22 is more than he had when he first became the reigning Mob champion, at the beginning of my first episode (he had 19 correct at that point). And if I find out that Ned Andrews got to come back for a new set of episodes, like Ken Jennings or Annie Duke, I'm going to flip out. If there's anyone who's the opposite of flashy, it's Ned.

--1st tricky question:

FLAVOR FLAV BUYS A ROLL OF LIFESAVERS "5 FLAVOR" CANDY AND GOBBLES ALL OF THE FLAVORS. WHICH FLAVOR WILL HE NOT HAVE EATEN?
A. ORANGE
B. CHERRY
C. GRAPE
First, notice that Bob calls Flavor Flav "Favor Flav" every single time. I noticed that during taping, and assumed someone would correct him, and when nobody did, I assumed they would correct it in post. Guess not! As for the actual question: that's fairly tough! Dennis Barry needed to use one of his helps on it. I mean, when's the last time you bought some Lifesavers? It's probably been more than ten years since I've held a pack of Lifesavers. But fortunately, I was still able to remember there was no grape in the mix.

--Bob to the 40-year-old virgin, who was eliminated on the Lifesavers question: "Cherry would've been your favorite, if I'm not mistaken." Bob made a lot of risque quips that were cut out of the final show. I thought for sure that one wouldn't make it in! Wow.

--Here's a stumper:

IF ANNE HECHE WAS BIRD-WATCHING ON THE ISLE OF LESBOS, WHERE WOULD SHE BE?
A. EGYPT
B. SPAIN
C. GREECE
This was the $6,000 question. Barry's ninth question overall. You see what I mean about easy questions? I'm assuming I don't have to tell you the answer for that one. It would make me sad if I did. At least only one Mob member missed that one, which balances the question's simplicity by depriving Barry of much extra money.

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I'm gonna have to take a time out now, and finish this up later, probably tomorrow. Don't forget: my third appearance, NBC, 7PM this Sunday night!