Those who had been up were down, and those down were up. One certainty, though, was that I couldn't possibly implode in the fashion of some of the other winners. Too ridiculous even to consider. Fill out forms, draw ping pong balls, answer tiebreaker question, hit make up, and soon I was back in the hot seat. Unlike my first tape day, my show was up first.
Contestant demeanor is an interesting thing to observe.
Some of us were convivial, some retreated from conversation, some talked only of sports. And then there was Mark Friedenthal. As the three of us sat on set, Mark ripped into several rounds of Presidential trivia. Arcane, bizarre, painfully difficult Presidential trivia. If I didn't know better, I'd say Mark was engaging in a little gamesmanship as opposed to conversation.