Sean Kent is a maitre d’ for a restaurant in the Manhattan theater district, so he has some time on his hands during the day.
And how does the Weehawken resident occupy that time?
“I’m a huge game show fan,” Kent said. “I watch all the game shows.”
Kent also watches one in particular.
“I have been watching [Who Wants to Be a] Millionaire for a long time,” Kent said. “I always wanted to be a contestant on the show, but I knew that I could never get past the ‘fastest finger’ part.”
However, the new version of the popular ABC game, which used to feature Regis Philbin as a host and now stars Meredith Vieira of the “Today” show, does not have that “fastest finger” feature any longer.
“Once they took that part out, I figured I had a shot,” Kent said.
While scrolling the show’s website, Kent also noticed that “Millionaire” was promoting a special week of shows dedicated to movie knowledge.
“I never thought I’d want to go on the show for general knowledge,” said Kent, who is also a playwright in his spare time. “But with the movie theme, I was interested, because I am a big movie buff. So I went to the website, entered my information and waited.”
Testing, testing
About three weeks later, Kent received word that he was going to have to take a written test and see if he passed.
“The test had 30 questions and it was like going back to school, with the No. 2 pencil and coloring in the right answers,” Kent said.
He took the two tests, one in general information and the other on movie themes.
“I passed both tests,” Kent said. “I couldn’t believe I passed in general knowledge. My entire focus was on the movie edition. I was told that it was hard to do.”
Kent was told that his in-person audition date was set for May 12.
At the same time, he started to experience severe pain in his lower abdomen. The doctors told Kent that he required emergency hernia surgery. The date? May 11.
“More than 30,000 people try out for the show each year and only 500 end up getting on,” Kent said. “I couldn’t re-schedule my audition and I had to get on. So I went.”
Yes, auditioning for the show exactly one day after hernia surgery.
“I was in a fair amount of pain,” Kent said. “Thank God for my friend Vicodin. He helped me.”
Kent’s determination paid off. He was told that he was going to eventually become a contestant on the show, but he didn’t know when the filming would take place.
Call me
“They eventually called me and gave me about 14 hours notice,” Kent said. “They called me at 5 p.m. one day and I had to be there at 7 a.m. the next. I had to line up my five phone-a-friends.”
Kent, a native of Baltimore who has called Weehawken home for the last two years, called upon two friends from college (the North Carolina School for the Arts), his wife Katrina’s uncle and his mother-in-law. All of those people had to sit next to a landline telephone for the entire time Kent was a prospective contestant, basically 10 hours.
“I spent about four or five hours being briefed before the taping, then about four or five hours waiting for my chance,” Kent said. “They tape five shows a day. It was great. I got to meet people from all over the country. It was just a tremendous amount of good fortune for me just to be able to play the game.”
In the months prior to the taping, Kent said that he didn’t read encyclopedias or practice playing the game online. He did say that in preparation, he had imaginary conversations with host Vieira.
“It was sort of like ‘The King of Comedy,'” Kent said, referring to the dark movie starring Robert DeNiro. “I really did practice making small talk with Meredith. I was more nervous about that than playing the game. But Meredith was just fantastic. She puts the people at ease. I was happy to get the chance to meet her.”
So Kent was finally a contestant, but he’s not allowed to say anything about how he did on the show.
Chance of a lifetime
The two episodes featuring Kent will air Tuesday, Sept. 11 and Wednesday, Sept. 12, at 12:30 p.m. on WABC-TV Channel 7.
Kent is one of the first contestants as “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” begins its sixth season in daytime syndication with Vieira as the host.
Kent has been chomping at the bit, waiting to tell family and friends about how he fared on the show.
“It’s been driving me nuts, not being able to say a thing,” Kent said of the agreement made between the show and the contestants about not revealing how they did. “But I can say it was a tremendous experience. It was really the chance of a lifetime. It makes me want to be part of a game show again. It was fun. If you’re a trivia nut, it’s as close as going to the Super Bowl as a football player. There’s the crowd, the applause. It’s really exciting. I thought it was an achievement.”
Kent said that his family and friends are ready for the airing, but since it was scheduled to air on the sixth anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy, he’s not sure if it will be shown locally.
“But I have family and friends recording the show all over the country,” Kent said. “Eventually, we’ll all get together at a later date and watch it together.”
Kent was asked if he could give us a hint about how well he did.
“I think there’s a happy ending,” Kent said. “Can I say that? I can say it was a great experience.”
Playwright Kent, whose first play, “The Salacious Uncle Baldrick,” was produced at the Fringe Festival in New York last year, is currently working on a one-act play that will be ready later this year.
He has one piece of advice from his entire experience.
“I highly recommend giving it a try,” Kent said. “There’s no reason not to. Everyone has a great time. It was a lot of fun.”
Jim Hague can be reached via e-mail at either OGSMAR@aol.com or jhague@hudsonreporter.com