Thursday, March 28, 2024

Face time with Dave Ellis

MSU alumnus and ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?’ contestant

February 17, 2013
	<p>Ellis<br />
Courtesy of <br />
Disney-<span class="caps">ABC</span> Domestic TV, <br />
<span class="caps">MEREDITH</span> <span class="caps">VIEIRA</span></p>

Ellis
Courtesy of
Disney-ABC Domestic TV,
MEREDITH VIEIRA

Photo by Heidi Gutman | The State News

Dave Ellis probably wishes he’d read Mark Twain’s “Tom Sawyer” a little more carefully.

After all, a detail from the novel derailed his quest for $1 million. Ellis, a video producer for the MSU athletics department, won $68,600 on the TV show “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” in September, but had to walk away from the $500,000 question when he couldn’t remember what exactly Sawyer had received for allowing others to whitewash his fence. The episode aired Feb. 13, which Ellis and his wife celebrated with a viewing party attended by about 80 friends.

The State News caught up with Ellis to talk about his experiences on the show.

The State News: How did you get on “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?”
Dave Ellis: I’ve actually, in this form of the show, auditioned (nine times). So, I had been in six different cities, both in the road auditions and in the New York City ones. I’ve been in New York, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Chicago, Detroit and this one was in Toledo, that they finally picked me out of the audition process.

Could you give us an overview of what the taping was like for you?
Well, we only had four days notice when I got the phone call to come out and be a contestant. My wife and I did not have time to buy plane tickets. We actually drove out from Lansing to New York City on a Tuesday night. I was supposed to go on a Wednesday and be in the contestant pool for that day’s shows. It turned out … they did not make it through everybody in the room and it’s completely random once you get in. So I was a holdover and had to come back on Thursday, so if we would have flown, I probably would have been out of luck, because we’d have to come back right away. … We spent the night then in Times Square, did some tourist-y stuff, and then came back in the next morning and got on, I think, the third show of the day.

What was your favorite part of the experience?
Right at the end of the first round, when I had cleared all 10 questions and had the full amount possible at that point, and they flashed the score up on the board: $68,600. I got just a moment to kind of put my hands on my hips and take a deep breath and look up and say, “Wow.” It had taken all this time to finally get there, and I had swept through all 10 of the ones that they had given me. Meredith was getting ready to throw to a commercial break and came over and kind of gave me a little half-hug and I almost wasn’t even paying attention because I was enjoying the moment so much.

Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.

Discussion

Share and discuss “Face time with Dave Ellis” on social media.