The pressure was on for the 31-day Jeopardy! champion Jamie Ding as he competed on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? with Ben Affleck. When the pair got to the $250,000 question, Ding, a bureaucrat, was stuck. Did Affleck help him out of a bind?
WARNING: This post contains spoilers for the July 22 episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.
The Season 5 premiere began with Larry David and his daughter, Cazzie. They lost on the $64,000 question and took home $32,000 for their charity.
Then, it was time for Ding and Affleck. Their pairing brought ack memories of last season when Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings teamed up with Affleck’s friend and host Jimmy Kimmel‘s “enemy,” Matt Damon. They went on to win $1 million.
“I’m literally here riding this guy’s coattails,” Affleck said. “I’m lucky to be here.”
Ding wore a black suit with his signature orange tie. During his Jeopardy! run, he shared that orange was his favorite color and that he wore it on every episode to bring him luck.
The team played for Eastern Congo Initiative. They flew through the first five questions, easily winning $1,000.
On the sixth question, Affleck believed he knew it, but turned to Ding to make sure he was right. When Ding said he was, he locked in the answer, and they continued their streak. Affleck shared that he was “betting” on Ding during the next question.
The men were on a roll with the questions, but decided to use their Audience Life-line during the $32,000 question. “Unless you specifically ask for more, which McDonald’s sandwich is served with a half slice of cheese?” the question read.
The options were McRib, Filet-O-Fish, McCripsy, and Big Mac. With 50 percent, the audience chose Filet-O-Fish. Ding and Affleck both agreed with that option, chose it, and won the $32,000.
The team deliberated on the $125,000 question, guessed, and got it right. Their episode ended on the $250,000 question. The question was “During the annual Spanish festival El Colacho, men dressed in devil costumes run and jump over what?”
The choices were hot coals, stacks of money, babies, and hats. Ding was shocked at the option of babies and made a surprised face. “When Matt was on this show, I was sitting there like ‘I can answer that, no problem,” Affleck said. “He had this New Year’s Eve question, which what do you eat? Grapes, was the answer.”
“I didn’t know that. I Google ‘Spain’ and their customs because I said I speak a bit of Spanish and know a bit about the Spanish-speaking world. I Googled the customs and stuff that happen, and this was one of them,” he said.
When Kimmel asked Ding if he knew it, he said he had a guess. “Colacho looks kind of like coals, so that would be mine, but it’s just a guess,” he said.
“It’s actually the one you were shocked by. It’s babies,” Affleck said.
“Whoa!” Ding replied.
“It’s the devil jumping over babies and relieving it of Original Sin and all that,” the actor said.
“I trust you, Ben,” Ding replied.
“Jamie, how does it feel to be riding Ben’s coattails now?” Kimmel asked.
“It feels good. It’s a team effort,” Ding said. They locked in babies and were right, winning $250,000.
On Jeopardy!, Ding won a total of $885,605, including the second-place prize for his 32nd game. Find out if they win the $1 million for their charity next Wednesday.
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Wednesdays, 8/7c, ABC, stream next day on Hulu
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