Transcript 10/03/2007 - Frank Leo (carryover contestant)

[NOTE: I'm posting Wednesday's transcripts on all of the potential new Bored homes, just so everyone gets a chance to see them. I hope we decide on a single new home soon.]

[NOTE: I'm posting Wednesday's transcripts on all the potential new homes for the Bored.]

Frank Leo
Eagan, MN
Business analyst

Frank has all his lifelines available.

He was on a mission - don't trip on the way to the Hot Seat, say hello to Meredith and don't say or do anything stupd. He was freaked out by the experience. Meredith asks how he's doing; he's still freaked out. Meredith says everyone loves him (audience cheers). Frank's wife is in the relationship seat. Meredith asks if she knew Frank was smart when she married him. She answers that Frank is the only one who can beat her father at Trivial Pursuit.

$8K - What "numerical" spelling is used for the title of a CBS crime drama about an FBI agent and his math whiz brother?

A - N9MBERS
B - NUM3ERS
C - NUMB3RS
D - 9UMBERS

Frank knows the show and he knows the title is "Numbers". Meredith laughs and says, "Which one?" Frank can eliminate two but he's unsure about the others. He decides to go with "C" for his final answer. After the answer is revealed Frank says he thought it might be "B".

$16K - Craftsmen known as "shapers" and "glassers" are involved in the prodution of what kind of sports equipment?

A - lacrosse sticks
B - golf clubs
C - kayaks
D - surfboards

"B" doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and neither does "lacrosse sticks". Frank knows that surfboards have a unique shape, and so do kayaks. Frank decides to see what the audience thinks.

ATA results
A - 4%
B - 3%
C - 9%
D - 84%

Frank says he should have sucked up to the audience more just in case but he goes with the audience's answer. He was leaning that way himself.

$25K - Which of these pairs of musicals are set in locales that have about 8,800 miles between them?

A - Oklahoma and The King and I
B - Chicago and Les Miserables
C - Sunset Boulevard and Rent
D - West Side Story and Evita

Frank tries to work it out. The King and I was in Siam, the lower side of Asia; he wonders if Les Miserables is France; he doesn't think it's Sunset Boulevard and Rent. Meredith asks if Frank is asking her for help. Frank says it would be easier if she would. He finally decides to use his 50/50, leaving A and D. He says, "D, final answer" and goes back to $1K.

Commercial break

ANSWERS:
$8K - C (NUMB3RS)
$16K - D (surfboards)
$25K - A ([i]Oklahoma and The King and I)

Wow, that was a tough $25K. No only did you have to know the musicals and the locale, but know geography.

8,000 miles between

Oklahoma city and Bangkok 8842
Chicago and Paris 4147 miles
LA and NYC 2462 miles
NYC and Buenos Aires 5253 miles

16K: Gotta be kayaks or surfboards, & I'm leaning toward surfboards, from stuff I've read about them that doesn't apply to boatbuilding, but would 50/50.

25K: Oklahoma to Siam; Chicago to France; LA to NYC, NYC to Argentina. OK, Chicago/France & LA/NYC are clearly not 8K miles. NYC/Argentina is probably over 3K, but not 8K. Oklahoma/Siam wins.



Those who get here late won't even know I wrote Chile for Argentina, originally, unless I tell 'em. Fortunately, pretty much the same diff in relative distances.

Frank Leo
Eagan, MN
Business analyst

A boring MAWG without any obvious audition hook. How did Frank manage to get past the APs?


I agree with BiT that the $25K question was extremely difficult for people to estimate. I thought Oklahoma to Bangkok would be longer than that, so I was leaning towards New York to Argentina. I'm not sure if I'd have worked at it long enough to dismiss that as only about a quarter of a circumference.

BiT and I must use the same "How Far is It" site for questions like this.

earendel wrote:I'm guessing a "glasser" applies the wax to the board to make it smooth.

You may be right -- but in boat construction, a glasser is the guy who applies fiberglass to the frame. Are some surfboards covered with fiberglass? From that perspective, both kayak and surfboard could be correct. "Shaper" seems like it would be more applicable to a surfboard,but somewhat to a kayak, too, as that could be the guy who makes sure the finished surface is completely smooth.

Unless I'm completely wrong about how I think surfboards are made, and of what, this question is harder than it should be, because kayak is among the answer choices. The construction methods, if not the final size and shape, are similar.

$16K: Kayak was a great distractor answer. I almost went with that one, but then I made the glasser connection to fiberglass. The surfboard was the one more likely to be made of fiberglass.

$25K: A geography question disguised as a pop culture question. None of the lifelines would do any good here. You knew from a mile away that 50:50 was gonna leave A and D. You never ask the audience a world geography question. And it would be impossible for any PAF to instantly decipher all 8 locales in the question, then determine which two are 8,800 miles apart. This question was severely undervalued.

For the record, I also said D and went home with $1,000.

NellyLunatic1980 wrote:$16K: Kayak was a great distractor answer. I almost went with that one, but then I made the glasser connection to fiberglass. The surfboard was the one more likely to be made of fiberglass.

Not "more likely." Both are equally likely. I've never touched a surfboard. I have been around kayaks. Adventure Boy had a kayak. It was fiberglass.

silvercamaro wrote:

NellyLunatic1980 wrote:$16K: Kayak was a great distractor answer. I almost went with that one, but then I made the glasser connection to fiberglass. The surfboard was the one more likely to be made of fiberglass.

Not "more likely." Both are equally likely. I've never touched a surfboard. I have been around kayaks. Adventure Boy had a kayak. It was fiberglass.

But kayaks don't have shapers.

silvercamaro wrote:Not "more likely." Both are equally likely. I've never touched a surfboard. I have been around kayaks. Adventure Boy had a kayak. It was fiberglass.

I've been around both. Kayaks can be made of fiberglass, plastic, kevlar, and even aluminum. Surfboards are exclusively foam and fiberglass nowadays. "More likely" would be an accurate assessment.

Bob Juch wrote:[But kayaks don't have shapers.

Note what I said in my earlier response:

"'Shaper' seems like it would be more applicable to a surfboard,but somewhat to a kayak, too, as that could be the guy who makes sure the finished surface is completely smooth."

In a boat factory, where they made neither kayaks nor surfboards; I saw workers with planes to shave down the surfaces; emery cloth to sand down the surfaces; sprayers to apply more top coatings; etc. Any or all of those people might be called shapers, too.

If I'd had this question, I would have answered "surfboard." I'm simply saying that the writers may have provided two right answers, and the answer choices made it more difficult than probably was intended.

silvercamaro wrote:

Bob Juch wrote:But kayaks don't have shapers.

Note what I said in my earlier response:

"'Shaper' seems like it would be more applicable to a surfboard, but somewhat to a kayak, too, as that could be the guy who makes sure the finished surface is completely smooth."

In a boat factory, where they made neither kayaks nor surfboards; I saw workers with planes to shave down the surfaces; emery cloth to sand down the surfaces; sprayers to apply more top coatings; etc. Any or all of those people might be called shapers, too.

If I'd had this question, I would have answered "surfboard." I'm simply saying that the writers may have provided two right answers, and the answer choices made it more difficult than probably was intended.

To make a surfboard, you take a block of Styrofoam and cut away everything that doesn't look like a surfboard. That's "shaping" it. You then coat that with Fiberglas.

Bob Juch wrote:To make a surfboard, you take a block of Styrofoam and cut away everything that doesn't look like a surfboard. That's "shaping" it. You then coat that with Fiberglas.

Sounds so simple, doesn't it? Like taking a block of marble and chipping away everything that doesn't look like "David".

Bob Juch wrote: To make a surfboard, you take a block of Styrofoam and cut away everything that doesn't look like a surfboard. That's "shaping" it. You then coat that with Fiberglas.

That's a reasonable explanation. I hereby concede.