USF grad student gets spot on 'Millionaire'

[USFishin]

USF grad student gets spot on 'Millionaire'

By WALT BELCHER | The Tampa Tribune

A contestant from Tampa will help kick off a new season of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" at 4 p.m. today on WTSP, Channel 10.

Will Capp, a 41-year-old graduate student at the University of South Florida, will be getting a second chance to play the game.

Capp, who is pursuing a master's degree in public health, appeared as a contestant in the "fastest finger" round of the finale episode (Aug. 23) of the 10th Anniversary Edition of "Millionaire" with Regis Philbin.

However, he did not make it into the hot seat. During that show, surprise celebrity guest Meredith Vieira invited all nine contestants who failed to make it out of the fastest finger round, to appear as contestants on the weekday version of the show (where there is no fastest finger round).

Capp says the daytime version with Vieira is just as intense as the primetime version was. "There was only a day between the taping of the shows so I was still nervous," he says. "Meredith makes you feel comfortable but there are lights, cameras, music and people watching you. It's a lot different than watching it at home."

Capp was one of more than 1,000 people who auditioned for the show during a special casting call this summer at the St. Pete Times Forum.

"I used to watch the original all the time and felt I was pretty good at it," says Capp who grew up in the Tampa area and is a graduate of Gaither High School.

He says that during his visit to New York, he met Nancy Cristy, a teacher from Tulsa and the last person to win $1 million on the show. He went to dinner with her and her family and she gave him tips such as "try to stay calm."

Capp, who says he is good a Trivial Pursuit and bar trivia games, says his lifetime of experiences has left with a lot of general knowledge.

He is the son of Trisha and William Capp of Odessa. Will has two sons (Robby, age 22 and Chris, age 20). Will's mother served as one of his three potential Phone A Friends for his "Millionaire" episode.

He served in the U.S. Navy for 12 years as a Master at Arms in the Navy Police Force and is a veteran of the Persian Gulf War.

Will, who has a bachelor's degree in criminology, would ultimately like to work for the government fighting bioterrorism.

He can't reveal the outcome but he says that if he won big on "Millionaire," he would pay off his student loans, go to school full-time, get a Ph.D. and donate to soldiers' children's charities.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2009/sep/07/usf-grad-student-gets-spot-millionaire/news-breaking/

[USFishin]

USF student misses $100,000 question on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, earns $25,000

University of South Florida graduate student Will Capp was shown flubbing a $100,000 question on tonight's episode of the daytime syndicated game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, walking away with just $25,000 after incorrectly answering a question about a popular women's magazine from the 1930s.

The 41-year-old used all his "lifeline" aids during the questions leading up to the $100,000 query, consulting the primetime game's first $1-million winner John Carpenter to earn $16,000 on a question about the reason for British Prince Harry's first visit to the United States (answer: a polo match).

But it was a question about which popular women's magazine began in the 1930s as a menu leaflet handed out in A&P supermarkets which proved Capp's undoing. Though he answered Good Housekeeping, the correct answer was Women's Day, knocking him back down to the $25,000 level.

Capp also was seated in the Tournament of Ten, a November showdown among the ten most successful players to that point, judged by their amount of winnings and speed of their answers. In the tournament, each player gets a chance to compete for $1-million.

Capp actually competed in the fastest finger round of the primetime revival of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in August, but didn't get to play the game. Meredith Vieira, host of the daytime edition, invited all the people who didn't make the primetime edition to compete on her version of the show.

The episode, filmed in New York last month, aired today on WTSP-Ch. 10.

http://blogs.tampabay.com/media/2009/09/usf-student-misses-100000-question-on-who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire-earns-25000.html