"The popular 'Sudoku' puzzles take their name from a Japanese phrase that loosely translates to 'the digits must' do what?"
That was the $25,000 question faced by Jeffrey Briggs on "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire." Briggs, a Ph.D. Physics graduate student from Strongsville, Ohio, appeared on two episodes of the show, which aired on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Briggs won $16,000 on "Millionaire," hosted by Meredith Vieira.
He walked away on the Soduko question, but claims that if he was presented with a clearer answer choice he would have surely answered correctly.
He said that because he had only passed one "milestone," he did not want to risk walking away with only $1,000.
"When you are a college student that doesn't have any money, any money helps," he said.
Briggs is using a few hundred dollars of his winnings to spend spring break in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and will invest the rest in the stock market.
This summer, Briggs worked for NASA, researching systems propulsion. Prior to his NASA work, Briggs was a garbage man for seven summers. When he graduates from Dartmouth, Briggs plans to return to NASA and hopes someday to become a professor.
Briggs chose his dad and his girlfriend, who flew in from Denver, as his on-air companions for the show.
He answered questions cautiously.
To confirm the answer to an $8,000 question Briggs was partially sure of, he chose to use the "phone-a-friend" lifeline.
Despite the dimming of the lights and the sweat-inducing music aimed at creating a pressurized atmosphere, Briggs said he remained calm throughout the process.
Briggs noticed the advertisement for tryouts to be on the show when he was at home recuperating a wisdom tooth removal. Tryouts consisted of an initial screening test followed by a lengthy survey application to weed out contestants who have corporate affiliations, after which producers conducted interviews to assess personality.
Those who pass the interview are notified approximately two weeks later and placed into an contestant pool, where they can remain for up to four years, Briggs said. He was called to come to New York two days after being notified of his placement in the pool.
The best part of being a contestant on the show, Briggs said, was gathering his entire family in New York for the taping.
And the Sudoku question? The digits must remain single.
