Mike Yarish/Fox
“There are no second acts in American lives,” said F Scott Fitzgerald. Au contraire, if Fox’s Million Dollar Money Drop is anything to go by.
To recap, on Monday night’s debut show, contestants Gabe Okoye and Brittany Mayi lost the majority of their money by answering that Post-it notes were sold in stores before either the Walkman or the Macintosh computer. But they then saw $800,000 fall through the trap door as the show said that Post-it’s came the year after the Walkman’s 1979 debut. Cue game-show anguish as our plucky competitors were apparently consigned to loser-ville.
(See the top 10 game-show moments.)
And then the internet got involved. A debate began to rage over the relevance of the Press ‘N Peel, which not only led to the Post-it but was tested in four cities in 1977. Initially, Fox stood by its stance but has subsequently softened and not only admitted its error but graciously allowed Gabe and Brittany to come back on the program and get another crack at keeping the million (or at least as much of it as feasibly possible).
Here’s Executive Producer Jeff Apploff’s statement which was emailed by Fox to NewsFeed…
“Unfortunately, the information our research department originally obtained from 3M regarding when Post-it notes were first sold was incomplete. As a result of new information we have received from 3M, we feel it is only fair to give our contestants, Gabe and Brittany, another shot to play Million Dollar Money Drop even though this question was not the deciding question in their game. The revised information regarding the Post-it is as follows: the product was originally tested for sale in four cities under the name ‘Press ‘N Peel’ in 1977, sold as ‘Post-its’ in 1979 when the rollout introduction began and sold nationwide in 1980. We would like to extend our sincere thanks to the viewers who brought this to our attention, and we’re thrilled to give Gabe and Brittany the opportunity to return to play the game.”