John Carpenter (game show contestant)

John Carpenter (born c. 1968)^[1] became the first millionaire on the United States version of the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire on November 19, 1999. He held the record for the largest single win in United States game show history,^[2] until it was broken by Rahim Oberholtzer who won $1.12 million on another U.S. quiz show, Twenty One.^[3] Carpenter was also the first top prize winner among all international versions of the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? series.^[4]

Life

Carpenter is from Hamden, Connecticut. In 1986, he enrolled at Rutgers University and graduated in 1990 with a degree in economics.^[5] His first job was working with Domino's Pizza. During his job, he was robbed at knife point while delivering an order. In January 1991, he joined the U.S. Internal Revenue Service after completing government exams and tests. In November 1996, Carpenter met his future wife, Debbie Wong, who was studying for a Master's degree at Southern Connecticut State University and worked as a manager of a Fleet Bank branch in New Haven. They married in August 1998.^[6] At the time of his appearance on Millionaire, he was 31 years old.^[2] When he revealed his profession as an IRS officer on Millionaire, Carpenter was playfully booed by the audience.^[7]

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire

Carpenter proceeded to reach the final question without using any of his lifelines. The $1 million question was, "Which of these U.S. Presidents appeared on the television series 'Laugh-In'?", with the choices being A) Lyndon Johnson, B) Richard Nixon, C) Jimmy Carter, and D) Gerald Ford.^[8]

Carpenter used his Phone-A-Friend lifeline to call his father not for help, but rather to inform him that he knew the answer. Carpenter later explained, "I thought I'd look so cocky if I didn't use any lifelines, so I faked it."^[8] He said that the only question that had flustered him was one which asked for the location of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Carpenter eventually remembered that the film Tombstone included the gunfight, and he replied correctly with the answer 'Tombstone, Arizona'.^[5]

While taking a vacation after his win, Carpenter considered quitting his job with the IRS, but eventually decided against it. He explained to Kiplinger's Personal Finance that "after the taxes, it's not change-your-life kind of money if you want to eat every day".^[9]

Later work

Shortly after winning on Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Carpenter played himself in a Saturday Night Live skit. Donald Trump, played by Darrell Hammond, announced that Carpenter would be his running-mate in the presidential election. Afterward, Carpenter pretended to call his father, then shouted, "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!" Carpenter also appeared on Good Morning America, Live with Regis and Kathie Lee, and Late Show with David Letterman.^[10]

In 2000, Carpenter appeared in the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Champions Edition, in which previous contestants who won $250,000–$1,000,000 played again, with half of their additional winnings from the Champions Edition going to a charity of their choice.^[11] Carpenter played for the SARA Foundation and won $250,000. $125,000 went to him, making his total Millionaire winnings $1,125,000.

Carpenter appeared as himself in all eight episodes of the second half of the fourth season of Oz. He plays a contestant in a fictional TV game show called Up Your Ante that the prisoners in Em City are watching. The show within the show is hosted by Gordon Elliott, with Eartha Kitt and Didi Conn appearing as celebrity participants.^[12]

With Rod L. Evans, Carpenter co-authored a trivia book titled Matching Wits With the Million-Dollar Mind: The World's Hardest Trivia Quizzes From America's First Quiz Show Millionaire. The book was published by Berkley Books in 2002.^[13][14]

In 2004, he participated in Super Millionaire, as one of the "Three Wise Men". He was with Dr. Drew on the episode during which Robert "Bob-O" Essig won $1,000,000.

He appeared as part of the Mob (seat #16) on NBC's 1 vs. 100 on October 27, 2006. He was singled out by the first contestant for help with $51,800 at stake on the question "Which of the following is not a real person to have a salad named after him: Bob Cobb, Caesar Cardini, or François Niçoise?" Carpenter answered "Bob Cobb", which Carpenter correctly recognized as The Maestro of Seinfeld fame; the contestant agreed but the Cobb salad was indeed named after a Robert Cobb. (The correct answer was François Niçoise – Niçoise is the adjective meaning "from the city of Nice in France".)

Carpenter was a contestant on the GSN game show Grand Slam.^[15] He faced Tic-Tac-Dough champion Thom McKee in the first round match and won his match but lost in the quarterfinals to The Weakest Link champion Michelle Kitt.

Carpenter appeared on the August 16, 2009 episode of Millionaire in prime time for its tenth anniversary. In the audience with him was his dad, his wife, and their son.^[16] Additionally, he was also the first expert in the 'Ask the Expert' lifeline for the eigth season of the syndicated series.

See also

• Regis Philbin
• List of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? top prize winners

References

External links

• News report of Carpenter's win on the BBC
• John Carpenter at the Internet Movie Database