March 9, 2001 UNT Inhouse publication: UNT professor serves as phone-a-friend lifeline for 'Who Wants To Be a Millionaire' contestant

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UNT professor serves as phone-a-friend lifeline for
'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' contestant

Reporters frequently use UNT faculty members as expert sources for news articles and television reports. But when Stephen Katsinas, professor and Buchholz Chair in the College of Education, got a recent phone call he gave an expert opinion that was worth $64,000 to a former colleague.

Katsinas, who received bachelor's and master's degrees in history, served as the final lifeline for Penny Poplin Gosetti, a contestant on the hit game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and a professor in higher education at the University of Toledo. She and Katsinas worked together from 1994 until 2000, when he moved to UNT.

"When I got the call, I was definitely nervous," Katsinas says. "The worst thing that would happen is that I could give the wrong answer."

Fortunately, Katsinas knew that Strom Thurmond is the "current Republican U.S. representative who also served over nine years in the Senate as a Democrat."

The correct answer catapulted Poplin Gosetti from the $32,000 mark to $64,000, but since she was unsure about the next question, she decided to walk away before risking any of her prize money.

H&R Block, one of the show's sponsors, was covering the taxes that week, so Poplin Gosetti took home $64,000 tax-free.

Katsinas says he enjoyed being part of the show but would probably never consider being a contestant himself.

"I would be too slow to be able to get on the show," Katsinas says. "You have to play your way to be one of the 10, and then you have to play your way to get to the chair. I'm just not that fast on my feet."