(1/...) Five years ago today, Million Second Quiz ended. The world little noted, nor long remembered what happened for those 11 days in 2013. MSQ was a game show with comically byzantine rules that seemed to change (and, unbeknownst to many, actually did change) from day to day.
(2/) Not even Candace Glover-era Ryan Seacrest, roughly ten blocks from the seat of his NYE-based power in Times Sq., could genially guide America up the steep learning curve required to grasp how contestants accrued $, or why almost all of them weren't allowed to keep any of it.
(3/) MSQ became Need-Not-See TV, fading into obscurity even as it aired every weeknight in primetime. The indoor components of the set were struck during the finale. Even the converted Mercedes dealership where MSQ was filmed is now gone, a palimpsest on the map of Manhattan.
(4/) In sum, MSQ had a net impact of approximately nil. But it did affect me, very much. In those 11 days, I went from having $250,000 in student debt, grading a C- in castability and sitting in the contestant holding area for a sleepless 30 hours, to winning $2.6 million.
(5/) It was absolutely the wildest experience of my life. A bed-camera live-streamed me sleeping. At times I played trivia for 16 hours straight. I filmed interviews at 3AM. And every night, there was the very real risk that I would go home with nothing to show for it.
(6/) As it turns out, I didn't have to worry about that because I chose the best possible ally: a charismatic, whip-smart 19-year-old named Brandon. @BrandonS002 and I helped each other to the finals, we both took home a healthy windfall, and we're still best friends to this day.
(7/) MSQ streamed 24 hours a day. It cycled through 4 challengers every hour, giving roughly 1,000 people their 500 seconds of fame. That shot is thrilling, and often empowering, and, in some cases, life-changing. That's why I have always loved and will always love game shows.
(last/) So support new game shows, so we can have nice things. And be kind to contestants, even the ones like me who are C- castable, not just because they're doing something foreign and terrifying in front of a huge audience, but because they're people and deserve your empathy.
(P.S./) Also, thank you to everyone who supported me during those 11 days, especially my parents but also my law school friends (especially @GretchenOS) who came to watch and my trivia & crossword friends who were rooting for me. Wouldn't have been possible w/out you.
(P.P.S./) Also also, a huge shoutout to everyone who worked on MSQ. Everyone on set was tremendous at their jobs, from the PAs to the camera operators to the question readers to the lawyers. MSQ had a ton of moving parts, and it was an impressive sight to behold.
