WWTBAM Controversy

• From: KEHamlin
• Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2001 18:51:04 -0700
• Message-ID: <000TKQ0K8.000P7NJUK.12170551-quizbowl_at_...>

>From Reuters:

'Millionaire' Loser Sues
Over Debatable Question

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -
A former contestant on the ABC TV game show ``Who
Wants To Be A Millionaire'' has sued the show's
producers and the network challenging a $16,000 question
that he was told he answered incorrectly.

In a
suit filed on Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court,
Richard Rosner claims the correct answer to the question,
``What capital city is located at the highest altitude
above sea level?'' was not among the four choices he
was given.

Rosner seeks to resume play on the
show at the level he was at when eliminated a year
ago, his attorney, Rene Tovar said. Otherwise, he
plans to seek $1 million in damages, Tovar
said.

``He was a contestant in a game show. Put him back on
the show at the level he departed,'' Tovar said. ``If
not, we're going to seek monetary
compensation.''

Officials at ABC have not yet responded to the suit, Tovar
said. ``We have no comment yet as we have not yet seen
the lawsuit,'' ABC spokesman Eric Parham said
Wednesday. A spokeswoman for Valleycrest Productions, which
handles the show, declined to comment.

Rosner, who
Tovar said has an IQ in the top one-half of one percent
of Americans, and was once a runner-up in Omni
magazine's Smartest Man in America contest, alleges breach
of contract, breach of implied covenant of good
faith and fair dealing, negligence and unfair business
practices.

He said he was asked to choose the capital with the
highest altitude from Mexico City, Quito, Bogota and
Katmandu. After phoning a friend for help with the answer,
which the show allows contestants to do, Rosner picked
Katmandu, Tovar said, but was told the answer was
Quito.

After researching the question later, Rosner
``determined that not one of the answers forced upon him was
the singularly or absolutely correct answer,'' the
lawsuit states.

``Most sources recognize La Paz,
Bolivia as having the highest altitude. I'm in the middle
of researching this as well,'' Tovar said.