Chico: And now we pose. *pose*. Welcome back to WLTI. The party's a bit thinner, but we're still live.
Gordon: We still have a party of 3 - Me, Jason and Chico.
Chico: And live rhymes with five, and we're going right into the Big Five,
celebrating Game Show Newsnet's fifth anniversary.
Jason: =D
Chico: Today's subject: Biggest Players of the Past Five Years. Last time, we did biggest Host, and I have the results right there... Your Big Five Hosts
are...

5) Todd Newton
4) Phil Keoghan
3) Anderson Cooper

Chico: The top two, it was a horserace... But at #2... Chuck Woolery! And the Biggest Host of the Past Five Years according to your votes... Dude just set a record. REGIS PHILBIN!
Gordon: That's great. hey Chico, out of the Top Ten, how many of my hosts were still there?
Chico: Two. Anyway, now we're going onto the other side of the equation... Biggest Player.
Gordon: Of the two hosts that you left standing, which two were they?
Chico: Regis and Chuck!
Gordon: So MY TWO choices came in first and second? BWA HA HA HA HA!
Chico: Ahem... Anyway, we call this one, Biggest Player of the Past Five Years.
Gordon: The idea is for each of us to give our top 5 contestants, and then
get it knocked down to a list of ten that you, the voters, vote on. Aldo, before he left, gave me five.
Chico: What did he say?
Gordon: OK - #1 - Ken Jennings.
Jason: DER. Ken, obviously.
Chico: mm-hmmm
Gordon: #2 - Kevin Olmstead. #3 - John Carpenter. #4 - Rob Mariano. #5 - William Hung
Chico: Oh man.. we're going to have so much fun with that last one.
Gordon: I may wind up defending him.
Chico: We'll see. Okay, Jason, you have five? You can repeat if you wish.
Jason: Five contestants? ....is this thing on? There we go.
Chico: Correct, and yes
Jason: Okay, #1 is, without a doubt, Ken Jennings...he's made people talk
about game shows again (read: "Jeopardy Guy" updates on PTI). #2 has to be Kevin Olmstead; #3... I would actually say Richard Hatch, and that's because almost everybody remembered (at the very least) 'that naked guy from Survivor' and it garnered such HUGE responses. Then #4 would be John Carpenter....#5 is tough.... Could I say Jason Block? :-P
Chico: You could. Millionaire and Jeopardy! within one year. He'd be pleased.
Gordon: Make Jason happy - nominate him.
Jason: =D okay.
Chico: Okay, now I'm going to play the role of Gordon this week... I need
glasses.. No seriously, I think I went out on a limb here, but these are five
that I think, you know, stuck out in my mind...
Gordon: Ok.
Chico: But given the age, You probably would'nt even have thought about
these. 1) Dan Avila... A loser, but a good sport about it. Not everyone can say that they lost $3,000,000 on the same stage. 2) Phyllis Harris... For raiding Greed AND Millionaire and just being so darn cute about it... and the fact that we need more ladies here. 3) Eddie Timanus.. He was the Jeopardy! story before Ken Jennings. He conquered the game without having seen the board once. Truly one of the feel-good stories of the early 2000s.
Gordon: Yep
Chico: That and he suggested I pitch FastTalkers to somewhere, but that's
beside the point.
Jason: Hehe.... another good choice.
Chico: 4) Ben Tritle... The final 21 player, a Jeopardy! champ, and probably the most patient person that I've ever seen on TV.
Gordon: Not to mention a man who loves giving out Street Smart tickets
Chico: And finally, the aforementioned Jason Block. Also, a nice guy.
Jason: ....and in the Hot Seat.
Chico: Okay, Gordon, hit it up.
Gordon: Well, 4 of my 5 picks are up there, so I'll have to go off the board.
Let me take 2 Greed people off the board. 1. Curtis Warren. Mr. 'HAIR', who won $1.2 million on Greed and won everything on Sale of the Century. 2. Madeleine Ali, who won $300,000 on Greed, but who also won big on Millionaire and won the big money all by herself on Friend or Foe
Chico: Interesting, yes.
Gordon: 3. Dr. Will Kirby, who taught everyone the strategy of Big Brother - and played it perfectly for a $500,000 payout.
Chico: Not to mention gave us this credo: If you have a problem with reality TV, you have a problem with reality.
Gordon: 4. Kelly Clarkson - the first, hottest, and arguably, most successful
American Idoler.
Jason: Alright, interesting choices thus far.
Gordon: And I will have to keep the same strategy that I used last time and bring up a decoy to protect my other 4. So my fifth choice is.....
Chico: Dude, no decoys! You have to believe!
Gordon: Decoys are part of the game - and it brings entertainment value to the segment.
Chico: Yeah, whatever, your fifth choice, please?
Gordon: SKYLER CLIPNER!!!!!!!
Chico: Can I play spoiler now?
Gordon: Fine, I'll not use the decoy (party pooper)
Chico: I was going to get rid of Clipner :-)
Gordon: Nooooooooo - really?
Chico: Really! That's basically how you play the Spoiler Round. One at a
time, we'll just take one name and... see ya! Until there are 10.
Gordon: #5 - Nancy Christy, the first women to nail a million dollars on
Millionaire.
Chico: Okay. We each get two. From 16 to 10...: Here's the list:

Madeleine Ali, Dan Avila, Jason Block, John Carpenter, Nancy Christy, Kelly Clarkson, Phyllis Harris, Richard Hatch, William Hung, Ken Jennings, Dr. Will Kirby, Rob Mariano, Kevin Olmstead, Eddie Timanus, Ben Tritle, Curtis Warren

Chico: Time to play spoiler. JD... You're up first... Who you want to bump?
Gordon: I DARE you to cut Jennings.
Jason: HELL no. =P I'm cutting Madeline, and... Hung.
Gordon: Awwwwwwwwwww
Chico: I can't wait to hear this one...
Gordon: He banged himself right out of the tournament. Is it my turn? =)
Chico: Hit it.
Gordon: I won't cut Jennings either.
Chico: I'm thinking.. so many choices.. So many good choices..
Gordon: This is tough. I'll have to cut Mariano (since I thought Hatch was a
much better player).
Chico: And?
Gordon: Having guts is nice, but you have to have glory to go along with it.
I'm sorry, Dan Avila, you're gone.
Chico: Fair enough... Fair enough.. Okay, now it's my turn... And this is
very VERY hard... I'll have to take these one at a time... Jason Block...
Probably the first "big name star" of Millionaire... Or one of the first.
Gordon: I met all of these people at the convention, so I wanted to make sure I didn't cut them - lol
Chico: Well, Curtis Warren really didn't do anything that anyone else
couldn't do. I mean, he knew when to go, and he went... So I guess I'm going to have to cut him. Those are a dime a dozen nowadays.
Gordon: You're cutting a millionaire.... sob....
Josh: How much did Block win on Millionaire? I was unaware he was even on until after the con.
Chico: I think $125K.
Gordon: $125,000 - and was a 4 day champion on Jeopardy: and also won on Turn It Up
Chico: I'm not cutting Jennings either.
Gordon: So you cut someone who won the grad prize on TWO shows. It's a good thing you're bald.
Chico: It is, isn't it? =p Man... This is hard..
Gordon: ok - one more cut.
Chico: I may have to pull a sac fly and cut one of my own.
Gordon: So who do you cut - and insult - at the same time? lol
Chico: Right now, it's down to Nancy and Ben for the final cut... Ben's just
one of those lovable losers that you can't help but root for. Nancy was the
first female Millionaire winner... Can I phone-a-friend?
Gordon: Who would you like to call?
Chico: Mike Klauss. He's on IM right now..
Gordon: Jason said that Ben gave him free tickets to Street Smarts, so cut
Nancy.
Chico: I was going to cut her anyway. She's kinda overshadowed by Carpenter anyway.
Gordon: and ONCE again, I am down to TWO selections. Thanks, guys.
Chico: So there you have it. The Top 10. Don't forget to vote. The results in the next WLTI.
Gordon: The final Top Ten list, please?

Jason Block, John Carpenter, Kelly Clarkson, Phyllis Harris, Richard Hatch, Ken Jennings, Dr. Will Kirby, Kevin Olmstead, Eddie Timanus, Ben Tritle

Gordon: That's the list, good luck to everyone on it.
Chico: When we return, it's the Big Finish, and I get to bring out the big
board for a little bit of happy fun.
Gordon: Hooray, Board!

(Brought to you by Little Bit of Happy Fun. It's all you need.)

Click here to continue...