Eight seconds and four Winter Olympics” sites were all that stood between Jim Robinson, of Columbus, and the Hot Seat opposite Regis Philbin on ABC”s “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” Thursday night.
Robinson, 47, made it out of the Fastest Finger qualifying round at the last possible opportunity by putting Innsbruck, Sarajevo, Lillehammer and Nagano in the correct chronological order faster than any other competitor to advance to the coveted chair.
The assessment coordinator for West Lowndes middle and high schools quickly navigated his way through a ladder of questions to amass $16,000 in winnings before Thursday”s episode ended. When he returns in Sunday”s finale of Millionaire”s two-week 10th anniversary special, he”ll begin with the $25,000 question.
“This is the coolest thing I”ve ever experienced,” Robinson said Thursday from his home after the show aired. His appearance was originally taped in New York City about three weeks ago.
“I wasn”t scared at all in the Hot Seat; the scariest was the Fastest Finger. During a break before that last round, a producer came up to me and said, ”We only have time for one more round; if you don”t win this one, you”re at the end of the road.” Fortunately, I like women”s figure skating and am a big fan of the Olympics!”
Robinson said watching himself on television from home brought memories flooding back.
“You can”t tell watching on TV, but the sound is deafening. You”re in that circle, and everyone is screaming and clapping toward you. Regis was four feet from my face, and I couldn”t hear what he was saying. Of course, the producers are there trying to whip the crowd into a frenzy.”
The trivia fan used one of his lifelines Thursday, asking the audience”s help on a question about the animated sci-fi movie “Bolt.” But he still has three in the arsenal: the double dip, phone-a-friend and ask-the-expert. His phone-a-friends are his father, Bill Robinson, and brother, Christian Heinkel, both of Columbus, and friend Mattie Farrell, of Starkville.
Because of his contract with the show, Robinson remains mum about how far he gets toward the $1 million in Sunday”s finale airing locally at 7 p.m., but does confess, “It was a fun ride.”
Jan Swoope is the Lifestyles Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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