Wasilla woman in ‘hot seat'

Iditarod veteran to appear on popular television game show

December 13, 2005

CASEY RESSLER/Valley Life editor

WASILLA - A Wasilla woman could be the next millionaire, but people will have to tune into ABC Wednesday to find out.

Dog musher Kelley Griffin appears on the popular ABC game show &#8220Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” tomorrow afternoon and again on Thursday. The shows taped in October, and Griffin is keeping quiet when it comes to the outcome.

&#8220It was a blast. It was so much fun. I can't tell you how it turned out until the show airs, though,” Griffin said Monday from a cell phone as she mushed her team of dogs. &#8220It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Griffin first got the idea to try out for the show earlier this year. She went online and found out the audition dates, and then headed to New York City for the open auditions.

To prepare for testing that was to come, she started studying up on the Internet.

&#8220I went to a third-grade Web site to get down all the states, the capitals, the presidents, things like that,” Griffin explained. &#8220They have four different days they do the tests. I passed it the third time I took it, and then that got me an interview. I figured all I had to do was get an interview and I'd get on the show.”

Griffin said she had several things going for her in the interview to set her apart from the other candidates.

&#8220I figured that since I was from Alaska and that I had run the Iditarod, it was a pretty interesting story for them” Griffin said. &#8220After I got back, I got a postcard in the mail that congratulated me for being chosen for the contestant pool.”

She's not the first state resident to do so. In fact, when it comes to potential millionaires, the Valley leads the way for Alaska.

When Griffin appears on the nationally syndicated television show Wednesday afternoon, she will become just the second Alaskan to ever sit in the &#8220hot seat” and play for big money. Two years ago, in November 2003, Palmer's Sarah Brock appeared on the show and walked away with a cool $16,000.

After Griffin found out she was going to be on the show, she called Brock to find out a bit more about what she might face.

&#8220I got up enough courage to call her, and I wanted to know what the set was like and what to expect,” Griffin said. &#8220I was grilling her with all kinds of questions.”

During that conversation, Brock offered to be a &#8220friend” for the popular &#8220Phone a Friend” feature, in which contestants get to call a friend from the hot seat if they aren't sure about one of the answers.

&#8220You get to have five ‘friends,' and I put her down as one of mine,” Griffin said Monday. &#8220She helped me a lot.”

Griffin returned to New York City in October to tape the shows with host Meredith Vieira. During the Oct. 4 taping, she made her way to &#8220the hot seat” to star in the show and potentially win a million dollars.

&#8220When I was in the hot seat, I don't even know what happened. That's why I'm looking forward to seeing the show myself. It was such a blur, like a blank in time for me,” Griffin said. &#8220Things seemed to happen so quickly. I'm not even aware of what was going on. I'm just as curious as everyone else.”

Of course, Griffin knows if she came out of the show a lot richer than she went in. But she isn't about to give up that little secret.

&#8220You'll just have to watch the show,” she said with a chuckle.

&#8220Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” featuring Griffin will air on Wednesday and Thursday at 4 p.m. on KIMO ABC Channel 13.

Contact Casey Ressler at

352-2265 or valleylife@

frontiersman.com.