Photo courtesy of Valleycrest Productions Ltd.
Campus members who watched Monday’s episode of Who Wants to be a Millionaire already know Drew Scheeler made it up to the $7,500 question. He continued as a holdover contestant on today’s show, which aired this morning, by looking at the $10,000 question with all three lifelines left.
Scheeler, a Sandusky native who recently completed his first year at Case Western Reserve, is thinking about majoring in accounting, economics or history.
He always wanted to audition for Millionaire, but his mom wanted him to be on Jeopardy. He made her a deal – he’d try out for Jeopardy if she let him audition for Millionaire when he turned 18. He not only made it on Jeopardy – he won $5,000 on the Teen Tournament – but his dream of making it to the Millionaire hot seat came true when he taped an episode of the popular game show last November.
“I spent most of my study time brushing up on strategy: what lifelines to use, when to use them, etc.,” he said of his preparation for the show. He had an opportunity to chat with host Meredith Meredith Vieira during commercial breaks.
His family and a few of his friends were in the audience, so they knew how far he went on Millionaire. As for other people, he created a fake story “for those who wouldn’t take ‘I’m legally not allowed to discuss this’ for an answer,” said Scheeler, who writes theater reviews for The Observer.
In addition to his love of game show trivia, Scheeler is a balloon sculptor. He works at the mall and at resorts making whatever balloon creation kids ask him to come up with. His most intricate creation was a pterodactyl, made with 20 balloons. He also collects Disney-branded pins.
If he wins big, Scheeler plans to pay for graduate school and travel around the world.