“It happened.” An African man once traveled to America to be a contestant on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. This was an extremely well-educated man. He studied and eventually became a professor at the University of Cape Town. They do have a Nigerian version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, but obviously, the American version was more lucrative. Plus, he wanted to meet Regis.
Remember the first man to win the million dollars? He did not even have to use a lifeline. Well, the same thing happens with this man. He flies through the questions with ease, all the way up until the second-to-last question. Regis asks the African contestant the $500,000 question, and he does not know. While he has an idea that the answer is C, he chooses to use the three lifelines at his disposal.
First, he uses 50/50, narrowing the answers down to either B or C. Then, he asks the audience what they think the answer is. Their results come in with a fifty-percent split. No help, there. The man tells Regis that he believes the answer is C, but he better phone his childhood friend anyway. This friend is not educated as the contestant is. Regis dials the friend, and the contestant reads the question to him as fast as possible. You can hear the friend typing frantically, searching the internet for the answer. Finally, right before the timer runs out, the friend says to the contestant, “Yes! I can confirm dat de ansah iss SEE!” You’ll have to read that in your best African accent.
The man then turns to Regis and says, “Reejis! I got it! BEE! Dat is my final ansah!”
Regis replies, “But, Sir! You said you thought the answer was C, and your friend confirmed it!”
The contestant replies, “Reejis, I called him because he iss the most stupid man dat I know!”
Regis informs the man that B was indeed the correct answer. If he answers the next question correctly, he will win $1,000,000 United States Dollars. The question is posed. Once again, the man does not know the answer, but if he was to guess, he would say the answer is A. Every single question prior to these last two was answered in short order. That is how smart this man is. However, these last two have stopped him dead in his tracks. You know, these shows are heavily edited. People spend hours contemplating even just one question. An hour goes by, and the African man is still contemplating. Another hour. After two hours of contemplation with no lifelines, Regis has started to doze off. Finally, he decides to guess. He figures that he came to America to be on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, not Who Wants To Walk Away.
Suddenly, out of excitement over his guess, he shouts. “REEJIS! DEE FINAL ANSAH-,” but before he could finish, Regis abruptly awakes from his slumber. A discombobulated Regis says to the man, “D, final answer!?” The man says, “YEAS, Reejis! DEE FINAL ANSAH-,” but before he could finish, Regis cut him off. Regis tells him that the correct answer is D and that he just won one million dollars! The audience is going crazy. The man is excited yet confused.
Regis asks him, “After all that time, how did you come to the realization that the answer was D!?”
The man replied, “Reejis, I was going to tell you dat dee final ansah iss ayy!”
Too late now. He had already won.
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