Entertainment

TV: Thousands line up to be 'Millionaires,' few advance

11:00 AM CDT on Thursday, July 13, 2006

By MANUEL MENDOZA / The Dallas Morning News

FORT WORTH – If he snared a million dollars, Mark Kalin would take his children on an African safari. When two women standing next to him outside Bass Performance Hall hear this, they want the Arlington software engineer to adopt them.

MICHAEL AINSWORTH/DMN

Annette Flores (left) and Doris Pearce (center) reach for T-shirts at the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire audition Wednesday in Fort Worth.

Mr. Kalin and his new friends were among 2,000 people who lined up Wednesday morning to audition for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, once the most popular show in prime time.

Now in syndication, the program is on its summer tour of the country, searching for telegenic brainiacs.

By 9 a.m. – as the first potential contestants prepared to take written tests, some of them having queued up six hours earlier – the line surrounded the hall.

"I can't believe how many people have tried to sneak in," says Brandon Torres, working security at the west door.

An hour later, stragglers were being sent across Calhoun Street, where they began encircling another building.

Bringing up the rear – Bob Kapitan of Terrell, dressed in patriotic cowboy garb – didn't seem to mind. "Who wants to be a millionaire?" he asks. "I do. I'll be here until 10 o'clock tonight if I can be on the show."

Inside, an Escher-like maze of humanity snaked through the hall's nooks and crannies as producers tried to get folks out of the rising heat. Two hundred at a time walked up the stairs, filled out applications on the mezzanine and took an elevator to the performance auditorium, where associate producer Kevin McKeever administered the tests.

Only a handful at each session passed, and grumbling could be heard as people filed out. "Back to the day job." "We'll get drunk when we get home."

Mr. McKeever will visit three other cities this month, followed by another round in August. He sums up the show's illusory draw: "There's so much money they can win, and all they have to really do is answer 15 multiple-choice questions."

Yet in the history of the show, only 11 people have made it to the top.

What's his strangest audition encounter? "We had a contestant last year who was so excited to pass the test, he picked me up and was jumping around," Mr. McKeever recalls.

In the auditorium Wednesday, the biggest reaction came when he flung T-shirts into the crowd. People shrieked. "Remember, they're just T-shirts," he warns. "Don't hurt each other."

James Wiley, 39, an Irving clinic-relations manager, won a shot at the big money. Or at least he made it through to the next round: an interview with a producer. If he took home the million, he says he'd open a smoking-cessation clinic.

He wasn't the only do-gooder in attendance.

Ronny Sanders, 56, an assistant principal in Lewisville, says he came to be a role model for his students. "In school, it's not cool to be smart. What this game show does, it shows kids that it is cool to be smart. We use the Millionaire format now as a review for all subjects. It's important that kids know that knowledge is wonderful."

Others had more exotic goals.

Elizabeth Stokes, a 55-year-old homemaker from Palestine, Texas, would pay off her mortgage, remodel her kitchen and take a trip. "I'd like to go to India and rent a four-wheel drive and a guide, and travel around the country," she says. "That would be the extreme. It's something I've always wanted to do."

But she wasn't counting on it. "My chances are about as good as winning the Mega Millions."

The key to the show's popularity, Ms. Stokes says, is that almost anyone can answer the lower-level questions. "We can all feel smart for a little while."

E-mail mmendoza@dallsnews.com

Patrick Fletcher

60, Grand Prairie writer and semipro poker player

Why he auditioned: "My wife told me I ought to give it a shot because I've got so much useless knowledge in my head."

What he would do with the money: "Travel and do nice things for my kids and people I'd like to help out."

Sarina Bekerman

22, University of Texas at Arlington student, accompanied by her mother, Rochelle

What Sarina did to prepare: "I played the online game for two hours last night and got to the $25,000 level with all my lifelines."

Rochelle's past game-show experience: "I was on Let's Make a Deal three times." She won $100 each time when host Monty Hall asked audience members if they were carrying certain items, in her case an early ATM card and a golf ball.

Yolanda and Jose Ylanan

both 65, Arlington

Why they auditioned: "We have nothing to do," Yolanda said. "I'm retired from doing housework. He does it now."

What she would do with the money if her husband won: "Spend it." She has an education project she'd like to fund in the Philippines, their native country.

Manuel Mendoza