Lingo Update

Oh, the horror...

The Lingo taping was fun. We weren't sure whether we were going back for just another game or if we would be playing past winners. It ended up that we were playing people who had won some $$ online playing Lingo. So all the matches that day were online winners vs. TV winners. I've never tried the online version, but apparently you can win hundreds of dollars. Unfortunately for us, I have a hunch that the online version is tougher than the TV version. The online winners were REALLY good and kicked all the TV winners' tails.

On the plus side, one of the people on the online winners team that we played against was Andrew Hutchings. I started talking to him during our orientation because he mentioned that he likes games, trivia games, board games, and game shows. Turns out, so do I! So, I had to ask if he also likes German games and so we were chatting about that a bit until the casting director "shushed" us and told us that we weren't allowed to talk to our competition.

During all tapings, Lingo has a third party company who monitors everything to make sure there is no game fixing, etc. going on a la Quiz Show. While we were waiting to tape, they took us out in the hall and said, "In the interest of full disclosure, we have to let you know that Andrew was on the Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions and that aired less than a year ago..." blah blah blah Sony Pictures blah blah blah. All I heard was Jeopardy! ToC. Geez!

Fast forward: We lose because we get our first Lingo too quickly and missed the word "NINJA" (arghh!) and they had control of the board longer so we could never catch up. It was fun and stressful, but great fun! After we got done, my sister and I went to talk to Andrew, because as a J! fan, I know that they don't just invite anyone to be on the ToC. I had to find out how he got on the show! Inquiring minds must know! The answer: Andrew was the 1998 College Tournament Champion. I was impressed! It was my first time meeting any big winner on J! Definitely a day to remember. What was shocking too is that he was actually social and funny! I went to a college prep magnet school (last year #2 or 3 in the country, yea!) and some people were so smart that they had no room in their brains for any social prowess. So it was shocking that someone who I assume is so smart could act like a normal person. We were chatting about games and J! and then I realized that he brought his girlfriend with him and I was worried that she might think I was talking to him too much, so I cooled it. I didn't want to be too pushy, so we pretty much left after that.

Overall, the game part was OK, but I was really excited to meet Andrew - real life Jeopardy! champ and German games lover.