"1 vs. 100": Just as I Suspected

Greetings, folks:

I think "1 vs. 100" is a very interesting concept for a trivia show. A game where the object is to get a trivia question right in order to stay in the game, and then eliminating members of a 100-person "mob" who get the same question wrong for increasing amounts of money for the lone contestant. And if the lone contestant, or the "1", gets a question wrong, the remaining members of the mob split that contestant's money. Of course, the "hook" to this program is that if the "1" manages to keep getting questions right until all 100 mob members get one wrong...he/she wins $1,000,000.

Of course, the odds that 100 people will miss a question before a single person does is incredibly small...and I'm sure NBC knew that when they decided to import this game from the Netherlands. In order for any "1" contestant to win the $1,000,000, not only does that contestant have to be courageous enough to continue playing without even seeing the question first; he/she must also be smart enough to answer every question correctly AND/OR lucky enough eliminate the 100-person mob very quickly, perhaps within 10 questions if possible. Needless to say, I wasn't at all surprised to see that while some came within 10 mob members of $1,000,000...none had the right combination of courage, brains, and luck to beat all 100. Then along came Jason Luna....

Jason definitely had the brains...he correctly answered 8 out of 9 questions without using any help. He definitely had the courage...he had no qualms about continuing to take on the mob after using up "Ask the Mob" and "Poll the Mob" on his 4th question ("In the Olympic Games, which is an official weightlifting event? Clean & Jerk, Grab & Thrust, Rub & Tug)...even as he had to risk $50,000 (twice), then $100,000 (twice), then $250,000. But the luck of this equation presented itself on question #9, which turned out to be the final question ("According to Hallmark, what is the biggest card-giving holiday of the year? Christmas, Mother's Day, Valentine's Day). There were 15 people left in the mob at this point. The odds that all 15 of the remaining members of this mob, especially considering they were smart enough to answer to first 8 questions correctly, has to be very small. Normally, it would probably take at least 2 or 3 more questions before all 15 of them missed one. However, out of all 15 members of the female mob, not one of them thought of Christmas as the biggest card-giving holiday. A statistical anomaly, to be sure...but it was that kind of luck that caused Jason to jump from $250,000 to $1,000,000 in just one question. In all probability, if he'd only made it to $500,000 on this question...he probably would have quit, and he would've been smart to do. As it was, however, he never had to worry about risking $500,000 at all. And so, Jason Luna had the necessary combination of brains, courage, and luck to beat all 100 members of the mob and win $1,000,000...just as I suspected it would take do so. Will this ever happen again? Maybe...but I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you. ;o)

Until next time....