Nick Wright, a 2007 Syracuse University graduate with a degree in broadcast journalism, recently took a break from his busy schedule – which includes doing Kansas City Chiefs pre-game and post-game shows and hosting his own weekly program, ‘What’s Wright with Nick Wright?’ on KCSP 610 Sports – to try his luck on ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire?’ He couldn’t reveal how well he did, but Wright did speak with The Daily Orange about his experience on the show.

Watch his chance in the Millionaire spotlight today and Wednesday at 7 p.m. on ABC.

The Daily Orange: As a radio host, you’re probably used to doing shows for a large crowd. Did that help calm your nerves during the ‘Millionaire’ appearance?

Nick Wright: I was nervous about the money. Not about being in front of the people. It’s really just sinking in that I’m going to be on TV. The whole time I was there, I wasn’t thinking about the about the TV. I was thinking, ‘if I don’t screw this up I can make a lot of money.’

What went on off-the-air at the show?

They kind of wanted me to play up the fact that I wasn’t making a lot of money. …They told me to joke with Meredith (Vieira, the show’s host) about that. If you watch, I crack a couple of corny jokes early on. Then I decided I was just going to be myself.

How was Meredith Vieira?

She was very, very nice. She writes all of the contestants a short little postcard, individual to what they said and individual to what they did (on the show).

How did the audition process work?

Right when I turned 18, when Millionaire was much more popular, I wanted to get on the show because I always thought it was a really good chance to make a lot of money. … Then (this year) in the beginning of July, I went home from work and I was watching TV, and I saw how auditions were being held at this car dealership in Kansas City, and I convinced my roommate to go there…and so I went there and what they did, they brought in a new group every hour (for a quiz), and they bought in 60 of us who were there, and they gave us a 30 question multiple choice test and out of the 60 of us in there, eight of us past the test. And with those eight, they took a Polaroid of us and did like a 90-second interview. And told us, ‘You may never be called. You’re going to be in the contestant pool for two years.’ And shockingly 10 a.m. the next morning, I got a call that said, ‘Can you be in New York City July 30?’ and I said ‘Yeah.’

Is it hard to keep how you performed on the show a secret?

A lot of people at my job make jokes. The other day I offered to buy breakfast and everybody said, ‘Oh, we know who’s a millionaire.’ But besides that, everybody’s been pretty understanding.

Did you prepare at all for the show?

A lot of these dopes that I was going on with they were talking about how much they studied, and I got to say, they were complete idiots for doing it. At most, it’s a 15-question test on any conceivable knowledge in the world. Everybody assumed I wanted a sports question because I’m a sports radio host, but that’s the one thing I didn’t want. I knew if I got a sports question and I got it wrong, I’d basically have to quit my job.

Published on September 17, 2007 at 12:00 pm