As hundreds of thousands of viewers and host Regis Philbin seemed on, John Carpenter rocketed to the highest query of Who Needs to Be a Millionaire throughout two nights of gameplay. And on November 19, 1999, he turned the ABC recreation present’s first million-dollar winner. On that final query, he lastly used a lifeline — not for a touch however for a gloat.
“Uh, hello, Dad. I don’t actually need your assist,” Carpenter mentioned after ringing up his father. “I simply wished to let you recognize that I’m going to win the million {dollars}.”
And that’s precisely what he did, accurately figuring out Richard Nixon because the U.S. president who appeared on Rowan & Martin’s Giggle-In.
The win and — the lifeline flex — made the then-31-year-old from Hamden, Connecticut, a nationwide hero. That’s no small feat for a man who works for the Inside Income Service.
“It was a spur of the second factor. I’m a bit little bit of a smartass,” Carpenter informed The Washington Put up in a 2020 interview, trying again on his confidence throughout that $1 million query. “I look again on it and — properly, thank God I used to be proper.”
The expertise was “very surreal,” Carpenter mentioned, and it led to many extra TV appearances and superstar encounters. Forward of Carpenter’s interview with David Letterman on The Late Present, as an example, Tony Bennett dropped by his dressing room. “[He] informed me Friday evening was the perfect factor he’d ever seen on TV,” Carpenter informed Individuals afterward. “I used to be simply floored. What a gentleman.”
In an Saturday Evening Stay chilly open the evening after Carpenter’s win, Darrell Hammond’s Donald Trump introduced his run for U.S. president and picked Carpenter as his operating mate. That sketch razzed Carpenter for coming off “kinda conceited” on the sport present, however the Millionaire star didn’t thoughts. “It’s SNL,” he informed Trivia Corridor of Fame in 2007. “I’d have dropped my pants to have been on that present.”
Carpenter additionally performed himself on the HBO jail drama Oz, showing as a contestant on Up Your Ante, a favourite recreation present among the many characters.
In the long run, Carpenter ended up pocketing about $600,000 of the prize cash after taxes — and he saved his IRS job. “It’s a hell of some huge cash, however I dwell in New England,” he mentioned. “If I lived someplace else, possibly it will be totally different.”
He did purchase a brand new automobile together with his winnings, as he mentioned in a behind-the-scenes Millionaire clip this yr. “However I wanted one anyway,” he mentioned. “I used to be simply driving round in an previous Honda del Sol with some physique harm on the time.”
Carpenter performed Millionaire as soon as extra throughout Season 1’s “Championship Week” and received one other $125,000 for himself and $125,000 for charity.
On the time of his 2020 Put up interview, Carpenter was dwelling a standard life in Connecticut, which included trivia nights at an area brewery the place just some gamers knew of his TV fame.
He mentioned within the Millionaire BTS clip that the $1 million jackpot made his life extra comfy. “It’s not like I might dwell on it ceaselessly — I nonetheless saved my job — nevertheless it was good to have,” he mentioned.
Lately, Carpenter remains to be working for the IRS, as he revealed when he returned to the Millionaire stage as an viewers member this July in the course of the recreation present’s twenty fifth anniversary season.
“So if you received that million {dollars}, virtually instantly, you needed to give $400,000 of it to the individuals you’re employed for?” host Jimmy Kimmel requested him.
“Plus the state of Connecticut,” Carpenter quipped.