Florence Woman Tries Big-time Mind Game

October 15, 2009

Posted: October 15, 2009

This article ran in the Daily Hampshire Gazette on Wednesday, October 14, 2009.

By Kristin Palpini

Approaching the stage on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," contestant Kate Crowther had just one thought running through her mind: Don't fall out of the chair.

Crowther, a 30-year-old Florence woman, will appear on Thursday's episode of the ABC quiz show. A viewing party for Crowther and the Northampton community will be held at Paradise City Tavern at 7:30 p.m.

On Tuesday, she recalled taping the show in September.

"All you think about is `Don't fall out of the chair,'" she said with a laugh. "It's really tall and if you lean the wrong way, you could fall forward into the monitor or onto Meredith."

"Meredith," of course, is the show's host, Meredith Vieira.

After years of watching and playing along with her husband, Adam, at home, Crowther, a mother of three young boys and a student at Mount Holyoke College, decided to take a shot at being on the show. In July she filled out a sample trivia test in New York City, did a telephone and in-person interview with the show's personnel and was selected as a contestant.

"The beauty of being at home is you're smart when you're at home," Crowther said of the difference between answering multiple choice questions from the comfort of her couch, compared to being perched on the show's hot seat.

"There's no way to prepare yourself for it--it's more like you should start doing yoga and intensive meditative therapy, because it's a total mind game," she said.
Although Crowther knows the outcome of the show, she is sworn to secrecy by producers until her episode is aired tonight.

Crowther, who would like to pursue a career in politics, attributes her passion for politics and getting on the game show to the late Sen. Edward "Ted" Kennedy. She said they shared a commitment to providing health care for all Americans.

"Ted Kennedy was the whole reason for me wanting to go on `Millionaire,' " Crowther said. "The bottom line is that in terms of my life's work, there is more I can do with health care and making sure people who are elected have the same commitment to health care and human rights that I have."

Behind TV Scenes

Preparations for going on the 10-year-old game show begin a few weeks before a contestant actually plays the game, Crowther said. Contestants are notified by postcard about three weeks before taping and have to make arrangements to travel and stay in New York City, where the show's studio is.

Crowther said she felt pretty well prepared to compete, based on her studies at Mount Holyoke College and her own general knowledge. She was hoping for plenty of questions in her preferred fields, history and politics, and nothing too difficult from the sports and science arenas.

"Unless you're some kind of trivia genius, there's no way for you to be confident going in," she said. "And I'm not a trivia genius."

Crowther left for New York City a day before the taping with her husband. She said her 7-year-old son, Noah, talked to his mother about not getting "snobby" if she were to win the $1 million grand prize.

"He was worried we'd start eating fancy foods," Crowther joked.

On the day of the show, Crowther and at least 10 other contestants arrived at the studio at 7 a.m. for on-air preparations. They were then quarantined in a room with no cell phones, MP3 players or computers, until each person was called for their turn to play the game.

To pass the time, contestants talked about their lives and what they would do with the money if they won. Crowther said if she won big, she would use the money to "take the edge off" family finances, buy a new washer and dryer and apply for a summer internship in Washington, D.C.

They also privately rehearsed their strategies. But as Crowther noted, there's little a person can do to prepare. Crowther said her strategy was not to make silly guesses.

The tension she felt sitting on stage did not dissipate the longer she played, Crowther said - it increased.

"It just gets worse and worse," she said. "There's definitely a relief when your final answer is right and you're ready for the next, but then it starts all over again. It's kind of like contractions in labor."

Crowther loved meeting Vieira because she admires the host's political and journalistic career path. She described Vieira as a genuinely nice person who is pulling for each contestant.
"She's a hugger," Crowther said of Vieira, "and not just like a cheek kisser, but a bear hugger, a real nice person."

When Crowther watches the show tonight at Paradise City Tavern with her family and friends, she plans to take up a collection in honor of people who helped her play the game. She said she will be collecting donations for the local Food Bank to make a gift in the names of her "lifeline" friends, a sports, science and trivia expert, who were waiting by their phones in case she had to call them for an answer.

And, at the suggestion of her son Noah, Crowther will also take donations for the Dakin Pioneer Valley Humane Society. Besides any money Crowther may have won on the show, she returned to the Valley richer by one stray cat, which she found on the streets of New York.

"I couldn't leave him," she said. "I picked him up and he was so desperate for any kind of attention, food and water, he was so excited he just relaxed and purred the whole way home."

Kristin Palpini can be reached at kpalpini@gazettenet.com.

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