The $40,000 Chain Reaction (USA, Episode 8; aud. game)

[dougmorrisontheair]

There ya go. POLITICS.










(ding; audience applause)

Certain employees at work try to gain influence through office politics.

Well, Marc, we've been down this round twice before. $4000 in the bank with one link left. You may recall on an earlier show, Marc lost a penny to a Missing Link game but still parlayed three pennies into $30,000.

But that was then. This is now. If you can complete the chain right now, you win another $40,000. If not, you still have three more tries courtesy of the spare letters.

For the 40 grand, the last link, under POLITICS, starts with C.

[marc412]

Controversy?

[dougmorrisontheair]

Political matters have been known to cause controversy. If that's it, you win another $40,000.










































(buzz)

Not CONTROVERSY. That'll cost you a letter.









(ding)

C-H.

[marc412]

Change?

[dougmorrisontheair]

If it's CHANGE, you'll win a great big piece of change -- to the tune of $40,000.











































(buzz) (a few groans)

Not right. Still have another free letter.









(ding)

C-H-U.

[marc412]

Chuck Todd?

[dougmorrisontheair]

(a few cheers)

Thinking one of our corporate cousins. If it's CHUCK TODD, you've got the 40 grand.











































Not right. Still have another free letter.









(dings; audience cheers; win music plays)

THAT'S IT!!!!

Chuck Todd covers politics for NBC News.  He also interviews political figures on "Meet the Press".

Marc, you did it again. Another $40,000. How do you feel?

[marc412]

A whole lot richer!

[dougmorrisontheair]

As well you should. With this win, you now have a total of another round figure -- $174,000.

(audience cheers)

And, Marc, if you win the next game, you could be richer by, at least, $85,000. If you do win the next show, that's five straight wins and an instant payoff of $40,000. Of course, you'd need at least $5000 to win that game. Win another $40,000 from your final chain -- and you'd retire undefeated with more than a quarter million dollars.

(audience cheers)

We will see you the next time. We'll see someone else for an audience game -- after this.

(audience cheers; theme plays)

[dougmorrisontheair]

Okay, we're wrapping up our episode with an audience game version of Missing Link. We spot you $5000 -- and take away $1000 for each letter you need. Once you solve the game, you keep whatever's left in the bank.

Wanna play? As long as you didn't play the main game of this episode, just be the closest to the right answer to this question.

On January 24, 2014, at 11:00am Central, we watched a rerun of "Lingo", hosted by Chuck Woolery, on GSN. The two teams scored a total of how many points in this episode? Please respond in increments of 25 points.

Please PM me your answer in 24 hours from now.

[dougmorrisontheair]

All right, we're all set. Let's see what the combined total was.









(ding)

Team 2 defeated Team 1 by the final of 475 to 50. Who's the closest?

750 pathfinder20

Ah, Kourtney Wilson's trying for $5000 after this.

---

Voice over guy: An encore presentation of "Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!" -- tonight at 8 Eastern on USA.

---

(audience applause; theme plays)

We're back on The $40,000 Chain Reaction. Let's try and give $5000 away to our audience game contestant. A warm round of applause, please, for Kourtney Wilson. (audience cheers) Kourtney, welcome to our show. Before we play your game, let's find out about you. Please tell us about yourself.

[pathfinder20]

Well, Doug, I am from Southern Georgia. I work at a major sub sandwich chain as a cashier and runner (person who walk the food to tables). I am huge game show fan since when I was young. I also like listening to music, writing stories (role playing), hanging out with friends and playing netgames as well.

[dougmorrisontheair]

Well, thanks for coming from South Georgia. Hope we can send you back with $5000 in your pocket. Here's how with our audience version of Missing Link.

First, instead of spotting you pennies, we spot you thousands of dollars.







(ding)

$5000 as a matter of fact. In a moment, Kourtney, I'll spot you the top and bottom links and the initial letter of the missing link. Solve it correctly on the first try and you win all $5000 instantly. But for each additional letter you need in that missing link, it will cost you $1000.

So -- if you're set -- here's your Missing Link game.







(ding)

This missing link game starts with BURLINGTON and ends with CALLOWAY. Link in the middle starts with N. For $5000, what's that missing link?

[pathfinder20]

Total shot in the dark: north?

[dougmorrisontheair]

(cuckoo bird)

Little birdie tells us it's not NORTH -- but you're close. You get one more chance at the $5000 to tell me what exactly is in that link.

[pathfinder20]

Okay let's try North Carolina...

[dougmorrisontheair]

(buzz)

Not NORTH CAROLINA. It's going to cost $1000 to see the next letter.







(ding)

And no surprise the next letter's an O. For $4000, what's that missing link?

[pathfinder20]

Ok we will try the other North I had in mind: North Dakota

[dougmorrisontheair]

(buzz)

It's not NORTH DAKOTA. Here comes your next letter.







(ding)

And as you'd expect, it's an R. Can you nail this for three grand?

[pathfinder20]

Total shot in dark, North Virginia.

[dougmorrisontheair]

(buzz)

It's not NORTH VIRGINIA, either. Next letter.







(ding)

No surprise -- a T. For $2000, what's that missing link?

[pathfinder20]

I have no clue.

[dougmorrisontheair]

Okay, we'll give you the next letter, which costs another grand.







(ding)

It's an H. The link is not complete.

Kourtney, I tell you what I'm going to do here. If you get this right, you'll win $1000. If not, each additional letter will cost you half your money. But let's see if you can nail this here for $1000.

[pathfinder20]

Still no help for me...

[dougmorrisontheair]

All right. We now take half the money away for each additional letter. So you're spending $500...







(ding)

...on an E. Think you got this now?

[pathfinder20]

Northern California

[dougmorrisontheair]

I *think* we can give this to you.








(ding; audience applause)

Yes. Just NORTHERN we were looking for.

Kourtney, when you said NORTH to start out, that's why the cuckoo bird sounded. From there, a later guess of NORTHERLY probably would have triggered another cuckoo. Otherwise, you had to hit it on the head or, in this case, say NORTHERN and another word to win.

Burlington Northern, by the way, was a railroad company. The late actor Northern Calloway was a cast member of "Sesame Street".

You've got $500 to take home as well as a week's stay at your favorite Holiday Inn. Congratulations and thanks for playing.

Next time we get together, Marc goes for an undefeated champion. See if he can crack the quarter million barrier on Chain Reaction. 'Til then, make it a great day, keep the faith and treasure you loved ones.

(theme plays; audience applause)

YUM BRANDS

HAWAIIAN TROPIC

SCISYS

Z-BRICK

INTERCONTINENTAL HOTELS GROUP

HASBRO, INC.