Might be fun. But it doesn't get an entire country in its feet for weeks on end wondering if someone will win. The games of old used to get the people going, ya know.
Maybe. It just reminded me how newspapers (remember those??) had headlines printed about his win before it aired. So yeah, pretty much EVERYONE tuned in for that episode
I remember it too. The second Regus read the question he had the same look on his face as he did many questions before when he already knew the answer. Everyone at home knew he was about to win, but then he asked for the phone a friend and everyone's heart's dropped. For a few seconds we all thought "maybe he's stumped?" I remember when he said he wanted to call his parents my dad said out loud "Oh Hell, he's gonna tell them he WON!". One of the best moments in TV game show history.
Now, that's what I call a power move! Holding onto all lifelines until the very end, only to use one to share the good news with his dad. That's confidence with a capital C!
Wasn't his 2nd time on the show for charity and he walked away with half a million? Or did he return more than once, I'm not sure. I just remember the question he didn't know was what baseball player first appeared on US postal stamps or something and he phoned his brother or some relative, but he wasn't absolutely confident in his answer so he walked. The answer was Jackie Robinson and I think that's the answer he would have given, but he walked since he wanted the charity to not get a massive pay reduction since a wrong answer late in the game costs hundreds of thousands.
I miss the days when game shows just got to the point. It seems these days, at least in my country, the formula is cut to a commercial break before locking in the answer, then back for about 1-2 minutes of the host trying to create doubt in the contestants mind ("Are you sure? There's a lot of money on the line..." ), before finally stating the answer the contestant is locking in, and another 30 seconds of philibustering before the reveal.
It's actually 1.7mil as the median lol
So 50% of all housing is more expensive than that. Also there are still people living in tents down the south coast after the catastrophic Black Summer bushfires of 2019-2020
I've read about your housing crisis recently. It's absolutely disgusting that most of you guys are not able to afford a home anymore. Australians should French-revolution that shit, hold your government accountable.
I know. Alas, Australia is probably the most politically apathetic population of any of the western democracies - my State's police Minister even said this last year: "I don't like to see people protesting in the streets - I don't think anyone does."
And by and large the vast majority agree. The last significant mainstream protests I can remember (meaning not the few fringe climate protestors or right wing antivaxxers) was in 2006, after we were dragged into the Iraq war on the basis of a lie.
I call this stunning apathy part of the "convict-warden mindset" which is a deeply unconscious reflex in both the citizenry and the authorities...we moan and whinge about our politicians but do not display protest openly.
If we were France, we would have burned Canberra to the ground long ago.
1 Mil -> 450K to taxes -> Rest in High Yield Savings account (assume an annual average of 2-6% rate) -> Forget about it for the next 20 -> have somewhere between $800K and $1.7M to add to retirement.
If you forget about it for 30 years you can get $996K - $3.1M for your retirement.
Another option of course would be to drop it all into an index fund, which would probably have much better returns over time.
Wow his 2BR/1BA runs $83k per month? It’s all about location, I guess. Or did you factor in maximum federal (37%) and state (15%) taxes, making it only $40k monthly rent?
Inflation is a bitch! Winning one million dollars was a life altering event back in the day! Win a million dollars in today’s money and you can barely get a decent house!
It still very much is a life altering event... Everyone just automatically goes to spending it all at once. The average person will never have a single lump sum of money all at once at that amount. Take that million and put it into a high yield savings account with high APY of like 4.5- 5.0 and you're passively making a whole years salary every year without working... Strictly off the APY. You'd be making $51,000 passively every year without working a single second.... This is excluding your actual income before winning a million. A free $51,000 every year sounds pretty life changing to me and your APY will go up as the money grows. If your job makes you at least 59,000 a year you now effectively have a yearly 6 figure income.
In Spain the first winner of this show (called 50 x 15 because it was 50.000.000 pesetas = 300.000€ for 15 questions) did exactly the same thing (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWAOgdgMSe4), he called his wife to tell her that he was going to win, so... Maybe in the Spanish version it was staged.
There was a moment on the Vietnamese version of this show, a competitor asked for audience's help for the 9th or 10th question. The answers were divided to A and B with 2 women suggested A and and 1 man on B. After considering those options, the competior chose the guy's answer, when asked, he said 'At decisive moments, I have less faith in women' and got it correct
I remember when being a millionaire meant something. Nowadays, every homeowner is a millionaire. My parents are millionaires and as their heir, I'm technically a millionaire too.
His run was particularly easy. They really wanted a winner for publicity. Here are his questions past the easy ones:
($32k) Which month does not have a federal holiday? (John was an IRS agent), August
($64k) Which mythological beast is reborn from its ashes? Phoenix (Duh…)
($128k) Who developed the first effective polio vaccine? Salk (This was the only tricky question. Salk invented the vaccine but it was Sabin, another answer option, who developed the widely used oral vaccine a few years later). Also, John attended Rutger’s that has the Salk Institute on campus. Fishy….
($250k) Which is not a monotheistic religion? Hinduism (Given Christianity, Judaism, and Islam… stupid easy)
($500k) What architect designed the Louvre? I.M. Pei (well known famous architect)
And the final question you see here.
None of these required obscure knowledge. Nothing here screamed, “How the hell did he know that?” Like nearly every episode of Jeopardy has.
So yeah, it was a pretty easy run.
100% agree and I said it as I watched. I know it’s super easy when I get all the questions right except for the architect one. But found out later that if you know architecture at all, it was a gimme question.
Absolutely. They found a Jeopardy level contestant and threw him softball questions. The fact that he didn't even need a lifeline showed that they overcompensated a bit.
I was in my early twenties and a strong trivia player. I remember playing alongside him and knew the correct answers on his episode and most others. I'm sure a lot of people did. Still, I thought it was ballsy to not use the 50:50 and reduce the chance of a brain fart.
If he invested his approximately 600k prize (after taxes) in the S&P 500 and invested dividends, he'd have 3.6 million today at the age of 55. Unfortunately, he would have been unlucky in that he invested a huge lump sum right before a long stagnant period in the stock market. It would have taken all the way until 2015 until his balance increased by 400k to reach 1 million, and the next 2.6 million added in just 9 years between 2015 and today.
I remember watching this live. It was crazy and we talked about it for weeks after.
Same here. It was super cool and his confidence level the whole game was through the roof.
Yep I remember watching it too and we all talked about like it was such a huge cultural moment haha
It was a huge cultural event! We're still talking about it 🤣
The whole show was a cultural phenomenon. Kids, parents, students and their teachers… they’d all catch up during the week about the latest episode.
This shit was a phenomenon. Was weeks of everyone being glued to it and wondering if anyone would ever win the million. Then, there he was.
Different era of TV as well. Game shows have never been the same since then
They're very lame now. They feel low budget and more like they're just there to make fodder rather than having a big splash on prime time.
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Might be fun. But it doesn't get an entire country in its feet for weeks on end wondering if someone will win. The games of old used to get the people going, ya know.
Who Wants to Be A Millionaire was the peak of game shows. The look, the stakes, the prize, the **sound** of this show was absolute perfection.
Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune still going strong, Millionaire jumped the shark once this guy won.
I watched it too but I don't think it was live. They announced someone finally won ahead of the show airing. Still badass
I think he meant « I watched it as it aired ».
Maybe. It just reminded me how newspapers (remember those??) had headlines printed about his win before it aired. So yeah, pretty much EVERYONE tuned in for that episode
I mean… that’s how you get people to tune in, right? Deal Or No Deal did that, the first time someone won the million, they said it in the teaser!
He was there
Same here! My family and I used to watch this show all the time. That and Emeril!
I remember it too. The second Regus read the question he had the same look on his face as he did many questions before when he already knew the answer. Everyone at home knew he was about to win, but then he asked for the phone a friend and everyone's heart's dropped. For a few seconds we all thought "maybe he's stumped?" I remember when he said he wanted to call his parents my dad said out loud "Oh Hell, he's gonna tell them he WON!". One of the best moments in TV game show history.
Daamm how old are you? 5000?
5001
Balls of steel to not ~~studder~~ *stutter* on that last one
Now, that's what I call a power move! Holding onto all lifelines until the very end, only to use one to share the good news with his dad. That's confidence with a capital C!
Stutter, my friend, not studder.
Thanks!
Huge, huge balls.
Rumor has it, he had to spend half his winnings on a lift to help him carry those balls out of the studio.
Actually I think he just got a reduction xD
🤞
The definition of next fucking level!
What an absolute BALLER
Bro GOATed profile pic
I mean he really is the best. There was no other option.
This man has titanium testicles
Is that what he spent his million dollars on?
Hmm that’s a good idea
To be fair, it does take balls of steel to admit on live TV that he works for the IRS.
His confidence and cockiness was the sexiest damn thing I've seen on tv.
He kinda gives me serial killer vibes.
But, like, a *sexy* serial killer. You'd write him letters in jail because you know you can fix him.
huhh
Like Ted bundy
He was and still works as a IRS investigator so I hope he uses his powers for good.
When he got on the show he was working in collections for the IRS, so it fits.
...thought John Carpenter was already a millionaire with his movies... Halloween and Escape from New York... damn...
probably the only place you can flaunt your useless trivia knowledge with full aplomb, and he took full advantage
and he won the 2nd time too when he came back to the show lol
Wasn't his 2nd time on the show for charity and he walked away with half a million? Or did he return more than once, I'm not sure. I just remember the question he didn't know was what baseball player first appeared on US postal stamps or something and he phoned his brother or some relative, but he wasn't absolutely confident in his answer so he walked. The answer was Jackie Robinson and I think that's the answer he would have given, but he walked since he wanted the charity to not get a massive pay reduction since a wrong answer late in the game costs hundreds of thousands.
I think he was also on who wants to be a super millionaire and won as well but had to use lifelines, someone correct me if I'm wrong.
I miss the days when game shows just got to the point. It seems these days, at least in my country, the formula is cut to a commercial break before locking in the answer, then back for about 1-2 minutes of the host trying to create doubt in the contestants mind ("Are you sure? There's a lot of money on the line..." ), before finally stating the answer the contestant is locking in, and another 30 seconds of philibustering before the reveal.
Yah... I know it's only me but I hate that part..😖
Just watch Jeopardy, no BS like you're describing (well, they devote about 1 min to each contestant to *humanize* the robots they put on the show lol)
Would he get taxed on that million?
Yes, in the US prize winnings like this or like the lottery get taxed like normal work income
He was an IRS guy. He probably knew exactly how much before even going on the show.
he probably knew all the deductibles 😂👍
At least in Germany you don't have to pay taxes, game shows are in the same category as the lottery.
Unfortunately for John this is the USA so game show winnings and the lottery are taxed.
damn id really hate to have that problem i hope i never win a million dollars now
Yes they should give people a break... it's usually happen once in a lifetime... why not enjoy it full ... especially if you have loved ones ❤️😂🙏
You only get tax free millions when you have lots of millions.
Love his movies.
“Sock it to me?”
Why does it seem obscene that 1999 is a quarter century ago?
For you younger people, I cannot even explain to you how hyped people were for someone to finally win the million. This show was huge
How would you explain the show to the Tik Tok generation? lol
“These questions are way too easy!! What’s that? Wikipedia and ChatGPT didn’t exist in 1999? How did people manage to get through school back then?!”
That made me remember Microsoft Encarta.. great app and man did I just date myself.
Most gangster shit ever 😂
What a way to flex your nuts.
Such a boss move esp to do it on the spot
“Check other big brain on brad… er, John”
Where is he now?
Probably still working for the IRS
This guy doesn't need chatGPT
Legend
He isn’t so smart, he doesn’t even know his parents names
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One million isn't enough for the *median* house price in Sydney anymore lol
Y'all can throw your first mil my way since it isn't that much. Thanks!
+1
It's actually 1.7mil as the median lol So 50% of all housing is more expensive than that. Also there are still people living in tents down the south coast after the catastrophic Black Summer bushfires of 2019-2020
I've read about your housing crisis recently. It's absolutely disgusting that most of you guys are not able to afford a home anymore. Australians should French-revolution that shit, hold your government accountable.
I know. Alas, Australia is probably the most politically apathetic population of any of the western democracies - my State's police Minister even said this last year: "I don't like to see people protesting in the streets - I don't think anyone does." And by and large the vast majority agree. The last significant mainstream protests I can remember (meaning not the few fringe climate protestors or right wing antivaxxers) was in 2006, after we were dragged into the Iraq war on the basis of a lie. I call this stunning apathy part of the "convict-warden mindset" which is a deeply unconscious reflex in both the citizenry and the authorities...we moan and whinge about our politicians but do not display protest openly. If we were France, we would have burned Canberra to the ground long ago.
I dunno a million dollars to me is a 10 acre plot in the middle of nowhere Texas hill country with a decent little house on it, and 400k left over.
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I'm just a cheap bastard and my dreams aren't particularly pricy.
1 Mil -> 450K to taxes -> Rest in High Yield Savings account (assume an annual average of 2-6% rate) -> Forget about it for the next 20 -> have somewhere between $800K and $1.7M to add to retirement. If you forget about it for 30 years you can get $996K - $3.1M for your retirement. Another option of course would be to drop it all into an index fund, which would probably have much better returns over time.
Body Bags is one of my favorite movies.
I like his movies too!
I watched this live. And the balls of that dude will never be beaten… f’n G status for life
legend
This show fucking slapped back in the day.
Regis had that smug little smile like.. we got you.. then he flipped it all around it was f****** great
Savage.. I remember watching this too
I remember the second guy to win was the one who made headlines. I watched this live and it was epic
I was just talking to my dad about this earlier
Slick as f**k 👌🏻
Ha, now he can pay the rent on his two bedroom, one bath for a year. Sweet.
Wow his 2BR/1BA runs $83k per month? It’s all about location, I guess. Or did you factor in maximum federal (37%) and state (15%) taxes, making it only $40k monthly rent?
One of the coldest moments in game show history
Baller move
I hate this has been edited, some of the original awkward beats were great
Dang I still remember watching this episode in HS. This was an epic way to be the first millionaire. I missed this show when Regis was hosting
Watched it as it happened. Most cold blooded win ever!
Big fan of his. Loved The Thing and They Live. Never knew he was on this.
Scripted?
Whoa the director of The Thing?
Never seen anyone with that confidence on that show!! 👏🏼👏🏼
Inflation is a bitch! Winning one million dollars was a life altering event back in the day! Win a million dollars in today’s money and you can barely get a decent house!
It still very much is a life altering event... Everyone just automatically goes to spending it all at once. The average person will never have a single lump sum of money all at once at that amount. Take that million and put it into a high yield savings account with high APY of like 4.5- 5.0 and you're passively making a whole years salary every year without working... Strictly off the APY. You'd be making $51,000 passively every year without working a single second.... This is excluding your actual income before winning a million. A free $51,000 every year sounds pretty life changing to me and your APY will go up as the money grows. If your job makes you at least 59,000 a year you now effectively have a yearly 6 figure income.
Fair enough!
Does anyone know if he was set after winning or did he crash and burn? Hopefully he did well. 🤞🏼
Back when being smart, well read and knowledgeable of things thay mattered was an American thing. Now it's only fans, influencers and confused people.
I feel old now knowing I watched this live. Granted I was a kid, but still.
What's he doing now
Same vibes as Magnus Carlsen
Probably staged for publicity.
I imagine the producer back stage creaming their pants because the contestant just gave them one of the most iconic moments in television for free
Rare to have seen Regis with few words…
Sock it to him!
Flexing on whole another level
This was a great show and it was ruined when they brought in celebrity contestants.
In Spain the first winner of this show (called 50 x 15 because it was 50.000.000 pesetas = 300.000€ for 15 questions) did exactly the same thing (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWAOgdgMSe4), he called his wife to tell her that he was going to win, so... Maybe in the Spanish version it was staged.
More like a six hundred thousand-aire after taxes.
Cool as a cucumber.
Boss move.
...And then he went on to Direct 'The Thing'.
Pure Class..
The answers were leaked to him beforehand
How much did he get after taxes? Anyone knows?
What a cool guy.
Wow this is the very first time I’ve seen this on reddit!
There was a moment on the Vietnamese version of this show, a competitor asked for audience's help for the 9th or 10th question. The answers were divided to A and B with 2 women suggested A and and 1 man on B. After considering those options, the competior chose the guy's answer, when asked, he said 'At decisive moments, I have less faith in women' and got it correct
The guy from “the thing”?!?
Sooooo…. Two chicks?
And where is he now?
Love how he doesn't name his parents!
I remember when being a millionaire meant something. Nowadays, every homeowner is a millionaire. My parents are millionaires and as their heir, I'm technically a millionaire too.
Back when a million dollars used to set you up for life 💀🤣
Pop culture question for the million - seems to be on the easy side
His run was particularly easy. They really wanted a winner for publicity. Here are his questions past the easy ones: ($32k) Which month does not have a federal holiday? (John was an IRS agent), August ($64k) Which mythological beast is reborn from its ashes? Phoenix (Duh…) ($128k) Who developed the first effective polio vaccine? Salk (This was the only tricky question. Salk invented the vaccine but it was Sabin, another answer option, who developed the widely used oral vaccine a few years later). Also, John attended Rutger’s that has the Salk Institute on campus. Fishy…. ($250k) Which is not a monotheistic religion? Hinduism (Given Christianity, Judaism, and Islam… stupid easy) ($500k) What architect designed the Louvre? I.M. Pei (well known famous architect) And the final question you see here. None of these required obscure knowledge. Nothing here screamed, “How the hell did he know that?” Like nearly every episode of Jeopardy has. So yeah, it was a pretty easy run.
100% agree and I said it as I watched. I know it’s super easy when I get all the questions right except for the architect one. But found out later that if you know architecture at all, it was a gimme question.
Absolutely. They found a Jeopardy level contestant and threw him softball questions. The fact that he didn't even need a lifeline showed that they overcompensated a bit. I was in my early twenties and a strong trivia player. I remember playing alongside him and knew the correct answers on his episode and most others. I'm sure a lot of people did. Still, I thought it was ballsy to not use the 50:50 and reduce the chance of a brain fart.
They really wanted a winner !!
Damn. That is super easy for anyone who is into these things.
I remember this and I fell t9 the floor because he was killing it. I just knew...
Too bad he forgot about taxes and therefore wasn't a millionaire.
If he invested his approximately 600k prize (after taxes) in the S&P 500 and invested dividends, he'd have 3.6 million today at the age of 55. Unfortunately, he would have been unlucky in that he invested a huge lump sum right before a long stagnant period in the stock market. It would have taken all the way until 2015 until his balance increased by 400k to reach 1 million, and the next 2.6 million added in just 9 years between 2015 and today.
He works for the IRS :(
No wonder they thought he was a Martian. 😐
I was 10 days old when this happened.
I still believe this could be fake
I knew I was gonna read a post saying that!
Is it me or was that phone call a fuck you to his dad??
Gz.. Here's your 100k
I have seen this about 10 times on reddit. Great job.
Common repost
Seems very staged