University Student Wins $50,000 on Millionaire Show

Grace Riley, a student at the University of Arkansas, walked away with $50,000 in winnings from the syndicated television show “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire,” broadcast Monday, Dec. 17. In the show, contestants try to choose the correct answer among four possibilities, with increasing difficulty but also increasingly higher winnings with each correct answer and culminating with the potential to win $1 million. Riley started in the show's hot seat on Friday, Dec. 14, and correctly answered questions to reach winnings of $25,000 before time ran out.

She continued as a holdover for Monday’s show on Dec. 17 with two "lifelines" still available. A lifeline is an option a contestant can use just once to get help answering a question. The two options she still had available were to phone a friend and to switch a question out for a new one. She started by looking at the $50,000 question:

Unsure of the correct answer, which was Kubla Khan, Riley used her “Switch The Question” lifeline to get a new question:

Riley used her “Phone A Friend” lifeline on this new $50,000 question and then correctly guessed the answer to be “D, Traveler.” Riley’s $100,000 question proved more difficult:

Out of lifelines and unsure of the answer, Riley decided not to take a guess and instead walk away with the guaranteed $50,000 that she had already won. If she had guessed incorrectly on the $50,000 question, she would have fallen back to $25,000 in winnings. The correct answer was Barium.

Riley is a senior at the University of Arkansas and is studying political science, history and anthropology in the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences. She’ll actually end up with three different degrees when she graduates in 2008. She is a 2002 graduate of Southside High School in Fort Smith and is the daughter of Tom (dad) and Kevin (mom) Riley, also of Fort Smith. According to "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," Riley is a sideline photographer for various sporting events for the Arkansas Democrat Gazette and has the injuries to prove it. She has taken a football directly in the face, a line drive to the shin and a cleat to the shoulder. Grace would eventually like to be a professional photographer.