Entertainment

When you call your team "the Geniuses," you'd better outsmart the competition.

In the end, a trio of pre-med students from Southern Methodist University did just that to win the NBC reality series Treasure Hunters and its $3 million prize. But they were as surprised as anybody after almost being eliminated during several challenges.

"I'm the king of low expectations," Francis Goldshmid said Tuesday after returning to campus from the show's live finale in Washington, D.C., which aired Monday night. "We never thought we were going to win."

Nathan Hunsinger / DMN

Team Genius members Charles Taylor, Francis Goldshmid and Sam Khurana met in this SMU organic chemistry lab.

A cross between The Amazing Race and The Da Vinci Code, with a plot similar to National Treasure, the series used American history as clues and historical buildings as settings while 10 teams racked their brains to break codes and solve puzzles.

"We made mistakes like everybody else," said Charles Taylor, a 22-year-old fifth-year senior majoring in electrical engineering, biology, math and physics whose dream is to open a stem-cell research lab. "The point was to enjoy it."

It turned out the Eagle Scout couldn't read a map. And Mr. Goldshmid, a 20-year-old President's Scholar in his junior year, got lost in Philadelphia, his hometown.

Along with senior Sam Khurana, 21, the Geniuses kept their victory a secret for almost a year under penalty of a $2 million nondisclosure agreement. Treasure Hunters was shot last fall but didn't begin airing until this summer.

"We had to put on a pretty good poker face," Mr. Khurana said.

The friends met two years ago in organic chemistry. Mr. Taylor was debuting as a teaching assistant, and his future teammates were in the class. "I broke everything," Mr. Goldshmid said of that first semester. "Everything foamed over. Second semester, I got a grip."

"They were a great bunch," Mr. Taylor said.

Getting cast on the series was pure serendipity. Mr. Goldshmid, co-chair of Students for a Better Society, was holding a campus protest. It seems Victoria's Secret uses paper made from Canadian old-growth trees for its slick catalogs, a no-no in environmentalist circles. He, Mr. Khurana and another friend, Ben Wells, were approached by a casting director in town looking for contestants.

After an unusually long 90-minute interview at Hotel ZaZa, the guys were pretty sure they were in. When Mr. Wells couldn't participate because of another commitment, they turned to their T.A., Mr. Taylor.

"You were ecstatic," Mr. Goldshmid reminded Mr. Taylor as they clowned around at SMU on Tuesday.

Along with the Geniuses, the list they submitted to NBC included sillier names such as Team Angry Pirate and Team Angry Ninja Ubersquad. They were in it for the fun, despite the cocky moniker they wound up with.

In the Treasure Hunter finale, though, it was all business. The Geniuses raced by boat to a crypt inside a Baltimore warehouse. They beat the two other finalists to the site, then spent 10 frustrating hours trying to figure out how to get to the money. The clues revolved around "The Star-Spangled Banner" and its author, Francis Scott Key.

Lying on the floor half asleep, Mr. Goldshmid suddenly shot up and asked Mr. Taylor for the tube-shaped cryptex that held the final piece of the puzzle. After dialing in "fskey," the container opened to reveal a compass needle. Placing the needle on a tablet and spinning it led them to a star on the wall, which Mr. Goldshmid punched out to open the last door of their quest.

On the other side: a room holding gold coins representing their $3 million prize.

E-mail mmendoza@dallasnews.com

The Geniuses have no lavish plans for the $3 million prize, and they all intend to stay in school. So what's next?

"Tomorrow, 11 a.m., I have topics of economic history," Sam Khurana said Tuesday.

"Quantum mechanics," Charles Taylor said.

Francis Goldshmid, the son and grandson of Ukrainian immigrants, will help his father open a Russian-style spa and cafe in Carrollton and make it easier for his grandparents to travel. After graduating from SMU, he hopes to attend UT Southwestern's Medical Center.

"My big thing is family, and I have this compulsion to save for my kids and their kids," he said. "My parents did a lot of sacrificing. ... We never saw this as money to live off of."

Mr. Khurana plans to put the newborn son of his best friend and his cousin's child through college. His dream is to become a doctor and open a free geriatric clinic.

After he completes coursework for his four bachelor's degrees, Mr. Taylor will go on to a program combining medical school and a doctorate. Later, he hopes to open a stem-cell research lab.

Mr. Taylor has a girlfriend, and Mr. Goldshmid a fiancee. But Mr. Khurana, a self-described "ladies' man," is available.

Manuel Mendoza