For those of you who don’t know – I recently auditioned to be on Who Wants to Be A Millionaire? and this is my story of that adventure in my life.  This is the third part. (Part 1 and Part 2) I was going to do it all as one post, but it got quite long!

Promotions

The next person I talked to (and Chad did as well) was working with people doing some videos for promotional use for the show.  She had us sign another release form and then we did another interview asking us again about what we would do with the money, why we auditioned, and recording lines like “Who wants to be a millionaire? I do!”, etc.  We were asked to wait a bit more to record some more shots on the balcony overlooking the racetrack, so we gladly wait.  We take this time to update Facebook and Twitter some more and I email people at work, etc.  They told us a few times that this wasn’t part of the audition process at all and we could leave if we wanted to, but we had nothing better to do and thought it looks good for us if we are so excited about the show we will do anything for them, so we stay (along with about 5-6 others who were also helping with the promotion videos).  After a bit more waiting we do a few more promo shots on the balcony and then we head out.

The Trip Home

We get to the car and get ready for the trip home back to Michigan.  The first stop we did was at Subway for some food since we were starving by that point since we didn’t have much breakfast and it was getting close to 11 or 12. We had a nice relaxed lunch and then head home to Michigan.

The trip back was a bit slower with heavier traffic in Chicago, but once we got out of the traffic it was smooth sailing.  We passed the time with more Trivial Pursuit cards, general chat, and annoying Chad with my unique sense of humor!  We stop at the same Speedway in limbo land to fill up with gas again and get some drinks for us.

Mini Game Show Fan Club Meeting

Instead of taking Chad directly home, we stopped in Haslett to visit with Matt Ottinger and talk about game shows and look at his collection of home games, etc.  We take a trip to Panera and have dinner and visit and laugh some more. It is great being with other people who love game shows as much as I do and Matt has such a wealth of knowledge about them.

The Final Leg

After departing Matt’s, I took Chad to his house back in the Flint area, promising to see him Monday (for his Game Shows in the Park series he does), and I head home.  I get home around 10:30 p.m. and get my car unpacked and settle back into my “normal” life.  I sit back and marvel at all that has happened in the last 31 hours hardly believing it is real (still hard to believe).  I am thankful for the magnet and shirt as they prove that it really happened.

What’s Next?

For those who don’t know the whole process of getting onto a game show are probably wondering what happens next.  The producers of the show will go back and review the people who got interviewed, watching the interviews again from the video they took and then decide who they think will be ideal contestants for a televised game show.  Then they will mail out postcards to everyone who got interviewed, which Chad calls the Happy Face or Sad Face postcard.  The postcard will let us know if we are in the contestant pool or not.  If we get into the contestant pool, it is then another waiting game.  Just because we are in the pool doesn’t mean we’ll necessarily be on the show, they’ll pick people from the pool as they need for the taping dates.  We’d then hope to receive a call from the show to schedule a tape date to be on the show. Stay tuned to my Facebook and Twitter to follow any updates about the postcard and any potential appearance on the show.

Many Thanks

Again, this was a truly amazing 31 hours in my life. One experience I will remember forever and wanted to document it so I really couldn’t forget it (thus the length of my story!).  This is by far one of the best times in my life and I have so many thanks to share, so I give a huge Thank You to…

• Chad Mosher for being a wonderful friend, road trip buddy, car companion, game show audition mentor, etc.  You can find out more about Chad at his website http://www.chadmosher.com/, follow him on Twitter @ChadMosher, or on Facebook. (He also posted some thoughts of the day there.)  And here is a pic of Chad and I waiting in line (front of the line that is!).
• Everyone at work and MESSA themselves for the support they gave me leading up to the trip and for making it easy to get time away from work so I could have this adventure.
• Matt Ottinger for being a great friend and providing some more game show entertainment to end our trip.
• Everyone at the audition from Who Wants to be a Millionaire for making it such a great experience – even if I had not passed the test, it would have been a great day because of their attitude.  Follow them on Twitter at @MillionaireTV, like them on Facebook, or visit their website for audition information if you want a chance as well!
• All my friends and family on Facebook and in person for their support and excitement for me as I go through this.
• God for making this all possible – He has brought so many blessings into my life and to have so many of them clustered into 31 hours was simply amazing!

If you have any questions about this whole process, just let me know and I can provide more info (as if what I already posted wasn’t enough!)