Wasilla woman hits game-show paydirt

Iditarod veteran takes home $25,000 from appearance on popular TV quiz program

December 16, 2005

CASEY RESSLER/Valley Life editor

She didn't win a million bucks, but Wasilla's Kelley Griffin did pocket a cool $25,000 after answering questions about everything from inflation to atomic bombs on the nationally syndicated show, &#8220Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”

After breezing through four questions in a show aired Wednesday, Griffin set out to finish her quest for $1 million on the show that aired Thursday afternoon. After answering five questions correctly to guarantee herself $25,000, Griffin missed a question for $50,000.

On the show, she told host Meredith Vieira that she plans to move some dirt with the winnings.

&#8220I want to buy a bulldozer. Just a small one, like a D-4,” she said on the show. &#8220I'd absolutely love to start a winery.

It was undoubtedly the first time a contestant has told Vieira that they wanted to buy a bulldozer with their winnings, but Griffin isn't your average contestant - she's a dog musher who has run the Iditarod, worked in the oil fields and lives a typical Alaska lifestyle.

On the show Wednesday, Vieira showed a picture of Griffin leaving the starting line of last year's Iditarod, and talked at length about Alaska.

Griffin easily answered questions about the moon's gravitational pull, the Consumer Price Index and Oprah Winfrey before facing a tough question for $16,000. The question was, &#8220Jodhpurs, a style of long pants worn by horseback riders, get their name from a city in what country?” Griffin used her first lifeline, polling the audience, but it didn't help much - while 55 percent of the audience said the answer was India, 40 percent of AOL users said the answer was Morocco.

Griffin then used another lifeline - 50/50 - to eliminate two answers, leaving her choice between India and Turkey. She choose India, the correct answer, &#8220because it rolls off the tongue.”

For a guaranteed $25,000, Griffin had to answer the question, &#8220In the 1914 story ‘The World Set Free,' what author coined the term ‘atomic bomb' decades before its invention?” She choose to call &#8220Jaime,” whom she met at a botanical garden tour this summer.

&#8220I was so impressed with what he knew, I asked him to be one of my Phone-A-Friends,” she said.

Jaime knew the answer was H.G. Wells.

&#8220Cool beans! Alright!” Griffin said when Jaime announced he was &#8220positive. 100 percent.”

After earning another lifeline, which allowed her to switch a question, Griffin immediately used it on the next question, about T.G.I. Fridays.

The question was switched, and for $50,000, she had to identify in what country Ushuaia, the world's southernmost city, is located. She answered Chile, but the correct response was Argentina.

Griffin was just the second Alaskan - and second from the Valley - to ever appear on the popular game show. In November 2003, Palmer's Sarah Brock was a contestant and won $16,000. Brock was one of the five people Griffin had listed on her Phone-A-Friend list.

Contact Casey Ressler

at 352-2265 or valleylife@

frontiersman.com.