Barrington Teacher to Compete on Who Wants to be a Millionaire

middle school math teacher Jeff Price hopes the second time will be the charm.

A teacher at both the Barrington Middle School and campuses, Price is now the second teacher in the district to be chosen as a contestant for the television game show, Who Wants to be a Millionaire. 

The first was library media specialist Kathleen Hempel, who brought home a $250,000 prize.

This isn’t the first time Price has attempted to put his trivia skills to the test.

“Several years ago I auditioned at Medieval Times in Schaumburg; there was a pretty large crowd and after passing a 30-question multiple choice test, I went through a 90-second interview, which was over in a flash,” Price said.

Price said he was notified three weeks later he had not been entered into the contestant pool.

After that, he said he didn’t think about it much as he went out about his life. 

That was until auditions for the show came to Arlington Race Track
in July.

“I passed the test again, and this time the interview was a little longer then before; after that I was asked to do a video interview,” Price said. “Ten days later, I got a call stating I had been added to the contestant pool.”

Being a part of the pool is not necessarily a guarantee that people make it onto the show, according to Price.

“I’ve heard two-thirds to three-fourths of people in the contestant pool actually get to compete on the show,” Price said.

When Price got the call on Aug. 11, he was asked some qualifying and legal questions to ensure he was in no way connected to the trivia program. He then was booked to tape the show on Aug. 31, and possibly Sept. 1.

According to Price, the format of the show has changed considerably since it first began in the late 1990s.

Instead of incrementally growing cash prizes, the dollar amounts now are scrambled, as is the level of difficulty from one question to the next.

“Rather than climbing the difficulty ladder, it can be a bit of a curve; the first question could be the toughest and the last the most simple,” Price said.

To prepare himself for his Millionaire debut, Price said he has been playing the online practice game on Facebook to fine-tune his trivia knowledge, though he adds that preparing for the unknown questions is a difficult task.  

“The questions really can come from anywhere, and there are no study materials provided,” Price said.  

As far as expectations, Price said he is not going into the experience with any at all.

“I’m trying to look at it as it’s not going to be any worse than winning a thousand dollars.”

If a contestant walks away before he or she successfully gets through the first 10 questions, the individual gets half of what is in the price bank, Price said.

After the first 10 questions are answered correctly, the bank adds up to almost $70,000.

“At the 11th question, if you get a $100,000 question, the prize bank can go up to $100,000, but if you miss it you can go back to $20,000,” Price said.

Price is starting his 11th year teaching in the . He teaches honors and extended math in grades six through eight.  He is also the Scholastic Bowl coach for the middle schools.

He and his wife have two children. He plans to bring his wife with him to the taping.

“You have to be a little bit lucky, but you can also infer what the correct answer would be based on other answers which are less probable,” Price said.

The episode date for Price’s television debut has not been announced yet. 

To watch video of Hempel when she was on Who Wants to be a Millionaire, click on the following link.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWJ8fxUmfd4&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active