'Million Dollar Money Drop' Contestants Get Penalized for a 'Wrong' Answer That Turned out to Be Right
By Tara Ariano, The Set | Wednesday, December 22, 2010, 11:10 AM3619 comments


"Think 'Deal Or No Deal' Is Too Brainy?" read Linda Holmes's headline Monday at NPR.org's Monkey See blog. "Try Fox's 'Million Dollar Money Drop.'" Now it seems the show's contestants might be quite a bit brainier than its producers.

In the "Drop" premiere episode Monday night, contestants Gabe Okoye and Brittany May decided to try their luck in the category "Inventions." Host Kevin Pollak asked them which product was first sold: the Macintosh computer, the Sony Walkman, or 3M's Post-It Notes. Okoye was confident that the answer was Post-Its. But was it?




According to the answer supplied to Pollak, Okoye was wrong (as, by extension, was the much more hesitant May). But late yesterday afternoon, Richard Lawson of Gawker.com expressed his doubts. Post-Its first started trickling into the marketplace as early as 1977 — so, earlier than the Sony Walkman, which debuted in 1979 (and not, as Okoye guesses on the show, in "the '90s".

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Lawson has updated his original post with comment from personnel attached to the show: An unnamed rep for Fox says that producers contacted 3M to fact-check the question, and were told that Post-Its date from 1980, when they were first sold nationally. The phrasing of the question did not make the distinction of how widely available the products were, and it's reasonable for the show's producers to write their questions based on information supplied by the Post-It manufacturer.

[Rewind: Reality show announces wrong winner on live TV]

With regard to the controversy, Jeff Apploff, the executive producer of "Million Dollar Money Drop," is standing firm, issuing this statement to Gawker today: "The integrity of the questions and answers on our show are our No. 1 priority. In this case, our research team spoke directly with 3M, and they confirmed that although they had given out free samples in test markets in 1977 and 1978, it wasn't until 1980 that Post-Its were sold in stores. Million Dollar Money Drop stands behind the answer that was revealed on the show." Unfortunate news for Okoye and May — but, given the product in question, it's fitting that the show should stick to its original answer.

[Related: Conan alters show after fan finds mistake]
http://tv.yahoo.com/blog/million-dollar-money-drop-contestants-get-penalized-for-a-wrong-answer-that-turned-out-to-be-right--2022