Over the summer, Sam Means '03 and a friend traveled to New York City for an open audition for the popular television game show, "Weakest Link." After a mock game with other hopefuls, designed for the producers to pick actual contestants, Means took a dim view of his chances.
"I thought they would want someone more interesting," he said.
But last week, Means competed for real. "I guess they were looking for bland and taciturn," Means said, displaying a vocabulary that would help any quiz contestant.
Means was at a family reunion in the middle of September when his mother informed him, "There's something about a game show on the message machine, should I erase it?" He quickly called back and learned that he would soon be matching wits with five other contestants and the acid-tongued host, George Gray.
On Oct. 9, Means skipped classes -- "one professor didn't care, one wished me luck" -- and flew out to Los Angeles to meet his competition. At first, he entertained a plot to create strategic alliances with the other contestants, but his scheming dissolved into games of Yahtzee (which he lost) and gin rummy (which he won) with the people who he would soon battle for thousands of dollars.
Means, a member of The Dartmouth staff, did not carry too many strategies into the show.
"I thought I'd do pretty much as they tell me and I'd do fine." He admitted to feeling some nervousness, but was helped by the five minute breaks between rounds where "they gave us water, calmed us down." He explained, "We're all rubes just happy to be on TV."
On "Weakest Link," six contestants work as a team to grow a pot of money by answering rapid-fire trivia questions. Means was on guard against flubbing an easy question that suddenly turns difficult under the pressure of game show lights, television cameras and the coliseum of a studio audience. When he was asked "How many Es are in imbecile, he calmly replied "two."
At the end of each round, a contestant is voted the "weakest link" by the other competitors and leaves the show empty handed, taunted with a curt, "Good-bye." The last one standing, the "strongest link," goes home with all the money accumulated by the group.
Means is bound by a confidentiality agreement and so cannot reveal the show's outcome but did say, "I didn't embarrass myself, I made Dartmouth proud."
The real fun of the show is the verbal jousting with the host. Both Gray and his predecessor Anne Robinson made firing insults at the contestants a trademark of the show. Means didn't fire back. "I wouldn't dare. The point of the show is to make him look good."
He did offer comic fodder to the host by saying that his parents are paying his way through college, but he would not reveal if he had recently come into a large sum of money that would help with tuition.
Before the initial round of questioning, the crew filmed shots of different contestant reactions such as listening attentively, voting, smiling and pretending they have just answered a question correctly. Later they edit these shots together into a show. "There are very few genuine reaction shots," Means said.
Since his visit to Los Angeles, Means has not seen an episode but said that taking a glimpse behind television's curtain of illusion will not ruin his enjoyment of the show.
"I suspected as much all along, I feel like I know what it's really like now."
Dartmouth will learn just how strong of a link Means really is when the show airs in late November or early December.
