Each summer season The Value Is Proper honors first responders in a particular July 4th episode. This yr’s present options first responders who battled the California fires earlier this yr.
TV Insider talked with Jonith Johnson Jr., a helicopter pilot for the Harley Metropolis Hearth Division, who helped put out the fires and appeared on the particular version of the sport present.
Johnson has been with the division for 20 years, after getting employed on the age of 19. He began off as a firefighter after which labored within the city circuit rescue unit, however his dream was all the time aviation. Johnson took lessons, acquired his pilot’s license, and took the check 11 years into his job. He handed the check and was promoted to fireplace helicopter pilot one. The sport present contestant then took a five-year coaching course to turn into a full-fledged pilot with the LA Hearth Division. He at the moment flies the primary helicopter, the AW 139.
On The Value Is Proper, Johnson performed two video games to attempt to win superior prizes.
Learn on to seek out out what Johnson needed to say about showing on The Value Is Proper, plus how he was chosen to talk on the Oscars with different first responders earlier this yr, and extra.
Jonith Johnson Jr.
TV Insider: Because the episode you have been on was all first responders, and The Value Is Proper does that yearly, did you need to audition, or did they ask you to come back on the sport present?
Jonith Johnson Jr.: So I noticed a flyer that The Value Is Proper was doing a primary responder episode. So I assumed it might be enjoyable to attempt to get a possibility to go on it. I grew up watching The Value Is Proper, and I had a few my coworkers include me. I used to be fortunate sufficient to get picked to go on the present. It was fairly stunning. In order that was a very cool expertise with the ability to try this.
Was it an all-day factor? And why do you suppose that they particularly picked you?
After we first acquired there, it was a protracted visitor course of to get registered, fill out paperwork, you then needed to undergo an interview. And there was loads of first responders in there interviewing, so I wasn’t fairly positive in the event that they’re going to choose me or not. I used to be simply comfortable to be form of there and have the ability to have that have. So it took many of the morning. They set me in a nook, so I for positive didn’t suppose they might choose me. I assumed, ‘Oh my God, in the event that they’re going to choose me, I most likely must be within the center.’ So I used to be sitting within the nook and simply sitting there, and I heard my title get referred to as, and got here proper down. I feel I used to be one of many first individuals to get referred to as.”
Are you able to speak about your sport, prizes, and your expertise on the present?
So I began off with Bidder’s Row and a number of the merchandise that I used to be guessing. The primary one was a foldable smartphone, and I’m an electronics man. I’m into telephones. I’m in electronics. I do know what these costs are. And I feel I used to be so nervous, I utterly guessed one thing utterly improper. So I didn’t do properly on Bidder’s Row initially. So, lengthy story brief, by my ultimate likelihood to make it previous Bidder’s Row, the final vote, everybody put their guesses in, and I had a sense that they’re throughout. So I assume one greenback, and that acquired me up [on stage] surprisingly. I guessed the greenback on the final one.
I acquired Increased or Decrease, which I hoped for, as a result of I really feel fairly good about that sport. So I ended up making it previous Increased or Decrease, and the prize was an Alaskan cruise. It was a one-week Alaskan Cruise, which appeared very cool. I simply acquired into pictures as a interest. So I’ve a model new digital camera and all this tools. So, I actually needed to win that cruise, and I ended up profitable it.
So the bonus was for an additional for the money equal of the cruise, if I can guess which shell on the ball beneath it on Shell Sport. If I assume that, I might get the equal in money, which is round $20,000, and by chance i guessed proper and received that. So I acquired up and acquired to satisfy my childhood dream of spinning the wheel. The man I used to be competing with spun a 50. I hoped he was going to remain, however he didn’t, and so he ended up spinning a forty five after that. So I needed to beat a 95, so the chances have been stacked towards me. So I find yourself going and spun beneath a 95. That was the nice finish of my run on that very, very cool expertise. I’m very comfortable I used to be capable of do it.
What was it like attending to be within the room with different first responders, the place you simply all get to have enjoyable and let unfastened, as a substitute of being in intense conditions collectively?
It was a pleasant break. I’ve been working loads. I feel through the fires, I labored two weeks straight. I wasn’t flying two weeks straight, however we’ve a reasonably we’ve a set mainly most time we will fly. So through the preliminary assault, we’ll fly for six hours, after which we’ll both have a six to eight-hour break, after which we’ll fly. We’ll do four-hour shifts after that. So through the fires, the helicopters keep operating as a lot as we will, and we simply swap out the pilots. However I’m bodily there at work, so it’s a very long time away from household, and this was a pleasant little break to form of loosen up a bit and have some enjoyable. Even a few of my co-workers I haven’t seen shortly.
Are you able to speak about your expertise with Drew Carey? What was he like? Did he say something to you that caught out?
Drew Carey– Simply he was a humorous man, I imply, very, very cool persona, and appeared very relatable. You may inform he loves his job, and I can respect that. In order that was a cool expertise doing that. He form of simply talked about his expertise working with The Value Is Proper and issues like that.
Would you wish to do some other sport exhibits moreover The Value Is Proper?
Sure, I truly do. Humorous sufficient, I acquired invited to do a few different sport exhibits. The problem got here up once I did the interview with them, and the final query they requested me was, ‘Was I on some other sport exhibits?’ And I stated, ‘Yeah, I simply was on The Value Is Proper.’ I interviewed with them, however due to that, they stated I wasn’t eligible to be on any exhibits for, I feel, a yr.
Oh yeah. The cool factor is, I randomly acquired picked to talk on the Oscars, so I acquired to expertise that. Yeah, that was a surreal expertise, doing that, being on that stage and talking. I used to be very nervous. You already know, they’d us telling jokes.
What would you suppose was extra nerve-wracking? The Value Is Proper, or giving a speech on the Oscars?
I feel the Oscars have been fairly nerve-wracking as a result of on The Value Is Proper you’ve the viewers, however you then’re talking right into a digital camera. So it doesn’t really feel like tens of millions of persons are watching, however they’re. However, on the Oscars, you’re on the stage with an viewers, and you’ve got all these well-known individuals that you just solely see on TV, staring proper at you, and hoping I don’t neglect my line, get nervous, and freeze up. In order that was fairly nerve-wracking.
What was your response whenever you have been informed that you just have been going to be honored on the Oscars with different first responders?
Courtesy of Jonith Johnson Jr.
My first response was, I virtually didn’t wish to go as a result of I wasn’t the one particular person preventing the hearth. So I didn’t wish to go at first. My first thought was, ‘Hey, what concerning the different guys?’ And there have been lots of people who did loads of good work in it, and I used to be mainly informed, there’s one slot for me, and I might take it or depart. And I used to be like, ‘Properly, I’m going to take it.’ However, it was a kind of issues that they couldn’t carry everybody up, however I had the chance to signify all of the women and men of the LA Hearth Division there. We had different guys up there, too. We had three days of rehearsals.
What was going by your head whenever you have been whenever you noticed how California was destroyed by the fires, and whenever you needed to put the fires out?
The very first thing was, I used to be amazed on the pure devastation. I imply, I fought loads of fires in my time with the Los Angeles Hearth Division, and I’ve by no means seen as a lot fireplace and devastation as that. And so, we tried to do the most effective we might. And you’ll solely achieve this a lot. We did the most effective we might with what we had, and never the plane flying with as a lot element. And my coronary heart simply went out to all of the households that misplaced every little thing. And it was powerful to see. However we simply form of needed to keep centered. We had a job to do. There are loads of hazards, particularly, I feel, the primary night time I used to be flying at night time, in night time imaginative and prescient goggles. For those who can think about flying by rest room paper rolls with the display screen on the entrance. There’s loads of issues to look out for whenever you’re preventing fireplace, and outdoors the circumstances, visibility could be very low. I really feel just like the women and men did a very good job, and we did the most effective we might.
The Value Is Proper, Season 54, this fall, CBS