January 12, 2000 Recap (Big Money Week)

I'm back with the second of four Big Money Week episodes from January 2000! This is one of the more memorable episodes in my collection. You'll see why if you keep reading.

Preview Puzzle
Category: Things
E _ E _ _ S _ E S

Pat once again fails at correctly guessing EYELASHES, then asks if any of the contestants got it. They all say they didn’t.

Sohail Doha is from Springfield, Missouri, but is originally from Bangladesh. When there, he participated in a college national TV debate and was the national television best debater. He currently owns a children’s clothing company and is married with two kids and a third on the way.

Michael Stanton is from West Stockbridge, Massachusetts. He is a police officer and serves on the night shift on the Stockbridge Police Department. During the day, when he’s not working, he and his wife Denise home-school their five children.

Gina Catalano is from Santa Monica, California. She works as a sales assistant for a brokerage firm and in her spare time goes hiking, mountain biking, skiing and just took up yoga. She’s originally from Pittsburgh and reveals herself to be a huge Steelers fan. Pat gives a preview of NFL Players Week by telling her Franco Harris will be appearing on the show during that week, which makes Gina very happy.

Round #1
Category: Same Name
_ _ _ / _ _ _ _ / &
_ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _

Sohail is in position one, so he gets to spin first, and gets $300 right off the bat thanks to a solitary S. He does a little better on his next spin by doubling $400 thanks to two T’s. But he gets no help from any R’s and can’t cash in on $600.

T _ _ / _ _ _ _ / &
_ _ S T
_ _ _ _ _ _

Michael gets his first crack at the wheel and picks up $600 with the help of an H. He keeps it going by doubling $450 with two F’s. Michael buys two E’s before continuing on and getting $800 from a single C. But he can’t repeat his luck on the same $800 space with a dud M.

T H E / _ _ _ _ / &
_ _ S T
_ F F _ C E

Now it’s Gina’s first spin, and she gets $300 from a solitary L. But her turn is short-lived, as a dud B prevents her from getting $500.

T H E / _ _ _ L / &
_ _ S T
_ F F _ C E

Sohail gets some bad luck too when he hits BANKRUPT and loses his $1,100.

T H E / _ _ _ L / &
_ _ S T
_ F F _ C E

And then Michael continues the bad luck streak by hitting LOSE A TURN.

T H E / _ _ _ L / &
_ _ S T
_ F F _ C E

Back to Gina we go, who picks up $300 with the help of a P. She buys three O’s before picking up a FREE SPIN with a V, with proves to be the final consonant in the puzzle.

T H E / O V _ L / &
P O S T
O F F _ C E

Gina solves THE OVAL & POST OFFICE. Pat says, “There is a mystery joke hidden in that puzzle. See if you can find it!” Gina won $350 that round, but it gets bumped up to $500, which is the show’s house minimum.

Sohail - $0
Michael - $0
Gina - $500

The host almost sends the show to commercial before quickly correcting himself and sending it to Charlie for the first prize of the game. Today’s first prize is a Yahoo! shopping spree, where the lucky winner will be able to spend their money on thousands of stores online. It’s worth $2,500.

Pat asks Charlie if that was actually him doing the famous Yahoo! jingle, which was heard in the prize plug. Charlie jokingly says it was, then does an impression of the voice. “Don’t ever do it again,” Pat tells him.

Round two is the Puzzler Round tonight, which means the winner will win $3,000 if they can solve a bonus puzzle.

Round #2
Category: Quotation
_ _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ ’ _ / _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ / _ _ ?

Michael begins the round by hitting $400 and doubling his haul with two S’s. He then gets $600 from a solitary T, but can’t cash in on $500 thanks to a dud R.

_ _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ _
_ _ S _ ’ T / _ _ _ _ _
_ _ S / _ _ ?

Gina also experiences a dud letter when she can’t find an M on $300. Pat asks about the FREE SPIN, but Gina says she’s not ready to use it.

_ _ _ _ _ / _ _ _ _ _
_ _ S _ ’ T / _ _ _ _ _
_ _ S / _ _ ?

Sohail is able to cash in on the big bucks after he finds a single N for $2,500. He uses that money to buy two A’s. He then nets $900 thanks to finding three W’s on $300. But he joins the dud letter club by calling a bad L on $800.

_ _ _ _ _ / W _ _ _ _
W A S N ’ T / _ _ _ _ _
W A S / _ _ ?

Michael’s bad luck continues after he hits LOSE A TURN for the second time this game.

_ _ _ _ _ / W _ _ _ _
W A S N ’ T / _ _ _ _ _
W A S / _ _ ?

Gina fares a little better after getting $800 with a single H. But she calls another dud letter, this time a D on $900. Pat again asks about the FREE SPIN, and Gina says she’s still not ready to use it.

_ _ _ _ _ / W _ _ _ _
W A S N ’ T / _ _ _ _ _
W A S / H _ ?

Sohail decides to take advantage of his large bank and buy a single E. He’s able to double up on $800 thanks to two F’s, but then he buys a bad I and can’t go any further.

F _ _ _ _ / W _ _ _ _
W A S N ’ T / F _ _ _ _
W A S / H E ?

Michael once again hits bad luck after he lands on a BANKRUPT attached to the $10,000 space, but he seems strangely excited about losing $1,400. Pat then realizes he was looking at Sohail’s arrow, which landed on $2,500, instead of his own.

F _ _ _ _ / W _ _ _ _
W A S N ’ T / F _ _ _ _
W A S / H E ?

Instead it’s Gina whose able to take advantage of $900 by calling what may be a record of six Z’s.

F _ Z Z _ / W _ Z Z _
W A S N ’ T / F _ Z Z _
W A S / H E ?

Pat bets that Gina is going to solve, and sure enough, that’s exactly what she does with FUZZY WUZZY WASN’T FUZZY WAS HE? She’s already got an impressive $6,200, but she can make that $9,200 if she can solve the Puzzler.

Puzzler Round
Category: Thing
T O _ / B _ A _

Gina guesses TOM BEAR and TONY BEAR before the buzzer sounds, revealing the answer to be TOY BEAR. Gina says she wouldn’t have gotten that since she doesn’t have children, but then Pat asks why she knew about Fuzzy Wuzzy. “I was one at one time. I guess I just remembered!”

Sohail - $0
Michael - $0
Gina - $6,700

Pat then introduces Fuzzy Charlie, who says tonight’s Jackpot round is sponsored by Hot Pockets. And there’s also a new prize being added to the wheel; diamond jewelry, which includes 74-point diamond earrings and 18-carat white gold. The total value is $7,100.

Round #3
Category: Phrase
_ _ _ _ _ - _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _

“Come on, diamonds!” Gina says as she spins the wheel. She first hits $900 and gets two S’s for it. But then her next spin proves to be the one she actually wanted; the DIAMONDS. She calls two T’s, and Pat remarks that “Funny. She looks happy.” “I’m very happy,” Gina says as she spins again and finds $600. She can’t cash in because of a dud H, but then she pulls out her secret weapon; her FREE SPIN. Gina uses her new turn to buy an E, then gets $400 off of an M. But her second vowel, an A, proves fruitless.

S _ _ _ T - S E _ _ _ _
T _ _ _ _ _

Sohail’s bad luck continues when he can’t find an R on $300.

S _ _ _ T - S E _ _ _ _
T _ _ _ _ _

Michael gives it a go and for once, he hits an actual dollar amount; $500, which he gets thanks to a D. But then his luck fails yet again when he calls a dud J on $400.

S _ _ _ T - S E _ _ _ D
T _ _ _ _ _

Back to Gina, who gets two N’s for $800 each. She then decides to buy an O, followed by three I’s.

S _ _ I T - S E _ O N D
T I _ I N _

Not wanting to risk losing her DIAMONDS, Gina solves SPLIT-SECOND TIMING, giving her a 3/3 record when it comes to puzzles tonight. Her $7,100 diamonds combined with her $2,800 in cash gives her $9,900 for round three alone. Pat remarks that they’re going to try and get a male on the board, to which Gina laughs and says, “Good idea!”

Sohail - $0
Michael - $0
Gina - $16,600

Gina is on her way to a shutout, with both Sohail and Michael having really bad luck tonight. But anything can happen with the addition of the $5,000 space in round four.

Round #4
Category: Proper Name
_ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _

Unfortunately, one of the men will be going home with parting gifts, because the show’s running low on time and Pat has to give the final spin. The wheel lands on $300, which means, combined with $1,000, each consonant is worth $1,300 apiece.

Sohail – No T
Michael – 2 R’s (guesses an S too, but Pat tells him he can’t guess more than one letter and has to solve)
Gina – No S
Sohail – No N
Michael – No K
Gina – 1 M
Sohail – No P
Michael – 1 J
Gina – 1 I
Sohail – No L
Michael – No D
Gina – 1 C

Finally, Gina realizes it’s JIM CARREY and solves the puzzle. And she caps off the main game by adding $2,600 to her total.

Pat calls Sohail and Michael gracious gentlemen and tells them they’ll both receiving parting gifts tonight.

Sohail - $0
Michael - $0
Gina - $19,200

Gina has swept the game and has won nearly $20,000. Can she continue that success in the Bonus Round too?

W – H – E – E – L

Gina picks the W and Pat tells her all the prizes – the coins, the shopping spree, the bars, the annuity and the cash – are available.

Bonus Round
Category: Things
_ _ _ _ _

And with the R, S, T, L, N and E added…

_ _ _ _ S

Gina will need some help, hopefully from M, P, H and A.

_ _ _ _ S

But unfortunately she doesn’t. Pat actually chuckles when he sarcastically states that an S is a lot of help with the category Things. Gina says every word she can think of, including BRUSH, COMBS, KITES, FIGS (which causes Pat to chuckle), DATES and DOTS. After the buzzer sounds, Pat lightheartedly says he wishes they could give her a few more minutes just to see what she came up with. When CUFFS finally appears, Gina says that was actually her next thought. Pat then gets serious and says he shouldn’t laugh, especially since Gina lost out on the ANNUITY. But she’s still got $19,200 and, more importantly, her new diamonds.

Additional Notes:
- One of the male contestants can clearly be heard saying, "Oh, no" when Gina says she's going to solve round three. I think it's Michael, but I'm not 100% certain. On a show where nearly all contestants practice good sportsmanship, it's really jarring to hear this.

I've got two more Big Money Week episodes to recap, and I'll have those uploaded tomorrow!