197: Phil won $500,000

What Was That Like - True Stories. Real People.

Scott Johnson & Glassbox Media

True Crime, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.6 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 15 November 2024

⏱️ 74 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1988, Phil had just moved to Los Angeles. And he was in a tough spot. At the time he had no job and very little money. So he was trying to come up with some kind of plan that could save him from being homeless. Since he had pretty vast knowledge in lots of different subject areas, he decided that he would try his hand at going on the TV game show, Jeopardy! He had to pass an initial test, which he did, then he went to the contestant interview, and he passed that as well. And he actually got on the show. It didn’t solve his money problems though – even though he did well, he lost to a 5-time champion – by two dollars. Rather than earning any actual money, his parting gift was a bedroom set which forever became known as the Jeopardy! bed. But twelve years later, he decided to try again, on a different show. In the year 2000, he was able to get on Who Wants to be a Millionaire, which at the time was hosted by Regis Philbin. This game show experience was very different. Phil’s appearances on Who Wants to be a Millionaire: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEPMGv0S9Hc&t=2257s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QLq2Hq8_Dk Phil’s wrote a detailed account of his experience: https://www.ranker.com/list/behind-the-scenes-who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire/philgibbons?ref=profile_pub Full show notes and pictures for this episode are here: https://WhatWasThatLike.com/197 Graphics for this episode by Bob Bretz. Transcription was done by James Lai. Want to discuss this episode and other things with thousands of other WWTL listeners? Join our podcast Facebook group at WhatWasThatLike.com/facebook (many of the podcast guests are there as well) Get every episode ad-free, AND get all the Raw Audio exclusive episodes to binge, by joining the other listeners at What Was That Like PLUS. Try What Was That Like PLUS free: iPhone: at the top of the What Was That Like podcast feed, click on “Try free” Android: on your phone, go to WhatWasThatLike.com/PLUS and click to try it free on any app Sponsor deals: Follow “MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark and Mysterious Stories” on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at BetterHelp.com/WHATWAS and get on your way to being your best self. To get 15% off your next gift, go to UNCOMMONGOODS.com/WHATWAS Sign up today at https://www.butcherbox.com/whatwas and use code whatwas to get chicken breast, salmon or ground beef FREE in every order for a year, plus $20 off your first order. Cut your wireless bill to 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com/WHAT Go to Quince.com/whatwas for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns! Go to cookunity.com/What or enter code What before checkout for 50% off your first week. Go to Seed.com/what and use code 25WHAT to get 25% off your first month. Go to storyworth.com/what to save $10 on your first purchase! Get 15% off OneSkin with the code [WHATWAS] at https://www.oneskin.co/ #oneskinpod Cancel your unwanted subscriptions by going to RocketMoney.com/whatwas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	In 1988, Phil had just moved to Los Angeles, and he was in a tough spot.
0:09.0	At the time, he had no job and very little money, so he was trying to come up with some kind of a plan that could save him from being homeless.
0:20.0	Since he had a pretty vast knowledge in lots of
0:22.9	different subject areas, he decided he would try his hand at going on the TV game
0:28.3	show Jeopardy. He had to pass an initial test which he did, then he went to the
0:36.5	contestant interview and he passed that
0:38.8	as well and he actually got on the show. It didn't solve his money problems though.
0:48.4	Even though he did well, he lost to a five-time champion by $2.
0:55.0	Rather than earning any actual money, his parting gift was a bedroom set, which forever became known as the Jeopardy Bed.
1:07.0	But 12 years later, he decided to try again on a different show.
1:13.6	In the year 2000, he was able to get on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, which at the time was hosted by Regis Philbin.
1:23.6	This game show experience was very different.
1:34.0	Real people in unreal situations.
1:40.2	The eerie silence when I walked in, and he's just staring at me.
1:42.6	I was like, hello, like, are you okay?
1:47.8	And then I had to tell him, it was me. There was just blood everywhere. They're shouting, they're screaming, they're being hit by bullets, they're
1:52.3	hitting the ground. And in that moment, I literally thought, this is how I die. Everything changed
1:58.5	then. And I just thought to myself, this isn't happening.
2:03.1	Every single story deserves to be heard.
2:07.0	I'm Scott Johnson, and this is what was that like?
2:17.3	Hey, it's Scott, and guess what?
2:19.8	You're about to hear an ad.
	...

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