Contestant Interview with Phyllis Harris

Winner on Greed ($400,000) and Millionaire ($64,000).

Toeth: First off, congratulations on winning $464,000 on your 2 appearances!

Phyllis: Thank you.

Toeth: How was the accommodation for the shows?

Phyllis: I found the accommodations for both Greed and Millionaire to be quite delightful. The hotel that we stayed in for the Greed show was much prettier than the Lucerne in NYC, but that's the difference between LA and NY.

Toeth: Going by your experiences, and not by winnings, what show was your favorite to be a part of? Greed or WWTBAM?

Phyllis: Greed was much more fun to be a part of than Millionaire for many reasons. First of all, when you are waiting to get on Greed, you get to talk to many, many contestants, all of whom believe that they will get a chance to be on the show. On Millionaire, everyone is quite clear that they have between a 10 and 40% chance of getting into the hot seat. That makes everyone a little edgier. Besides that, on Greed, we had constant contact with the contestant coordinators. We stayed in a big room and they were always available. On Millionaire, we were cramped into a tiny room and left alone most of the time. All in all, my experience on Greed was so much better than my experience with Millionaire.



Toeth: If it had been only you on Greed, and not the rest of the team, would you have gone for the $4,000,000? (Since one terminator was passed up.)

Phyllis: When it got to the $4mil question, it was each person for him/herself. I chose not to pursue the $4mil because we had enough practice sessions for me to have seen that the ultimate level question, in every practice session, had at least one answer that was almost impossible to reach. And, because there was no buy out possibility if you got 3 of 4 right, it was just too much risk, for not enough reward. (remember, it wasn't really $4mil. It was $2.4 mil. They took out the $1.6 that the two other contestants won). That meant that I would be risking a 10-1 drop, for a 6 to won 1. I decided with what I had seen, it was just too random for me to try it.



Toeth: Sorry to hear about the decline from WWTBAM on the "Jitney" question, but if you could, what action would you have wanted to be taken?

Phyllis: I really think that the most fair thing would have been to do exactly what they did for Doug Van Gundy in the same situation. The put him at $32k with all of his lifelines, since he had reached that level when they realized that there was 2 answers for a question he used his ATA lifeline. I believe that if I had my ATA when going for the $64k q, I would have won quite a bit more money, and it seems to be the most fair thing to do in my mind.



Toeth: How has this money changed your everyday life?

The money has allowed me to put off going back to work until my kids are both in high school. while, I had always planned on doing that, it makes it a little easier to breathe now.

Toeth: Have you done any game shows prior to WWTBAM and Greed? Or do you have plans to appear on another show?

I have been on a total of 6 game shows, including Greed and BAM [Millionaire]. I love game shows, so I may go on another in the future. It really depends upon what shows are available when I am eligible again.

Toeth: That is very impressive! What was your favorite part on WWTBAM and Greed?

Phyllis: My favorite part of BAM was getting the call that I was going to be on. I had tried out for the show so many times in the 2 years that it was on, that I had almost given up hope of ever being called. My favorite part of Greed was the people I've met since having been on the show. I have so many new, and wonderful friends from that experience.

Toeth: If had the chance to change the outcome on your winnings, would there be anything you would want to change?



Phyllis: Of course, if I could have gotten the entire $400k that I won on Greed, that would have been terrific. ( instead of the 45% buyout). On BAM, I would have loved to have been as calm as I had been on other shows. I know that if I not been so "deer in the headlights", I would have done much, much better.

When Greed changed to Greed the Series, they started paying off the monies in a yearly fashion. If your team won up to $499k, you would get paid the normal 90-110 days after the show aired. if you won $500k-$999k, you got paid in 5 years. $1mil-$1.9 mil 10 years and our team,( the only team this happened to) who won $2mil got paid over 20 years. if you wanted a lump sum payment, you could take it. I chose to do so and got paid about 45%. And, believe me, there was no way to understand the contract unless you were an accountant. I did ask for an explanation before I was on the show, and was told that I shouldn't worry, because that was a rich person's worry.

Thanks for the interview! I look forward to being able to do it again after my next game show.

Thanks Phyllis! I'm sure I'll getting back to you after your next appearance!

On March 5th, 2002, this interview was completed via e-mail.

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