That's what Richard Rosner seems to believe. The former contestant is suing ABC and producers of the Regis quizzer in a dispute over their "official" answer to a $16,000 question that got him booted from the hot seat.
The brain-bender in question: "What capital city is located at the highest altitude above sea level?"
During his appearance in June 2000, Rosner, with the help of a phone-a-friend lifeline, incorrectly guessed Kathmandu. The answer, Regis told him, was Quito, Ecuador.
But after rifling through almanacs and doing his own research, Rosner claims that the real answer--La Paz, Bolivia--was not even listed. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, is just his latest effort in a long-running campaign to get another chance to test his intellect on the show.
According to his lawsuit, Rosner contends that "none of the mountainous capital cities offered as purported correct answers...has one constant altitude." The suit accuses producers of breach of contract, negligence and unfair business practices. And if ABC won't give him another shot, he's seeking $1 million in damages.
"They asked him for what we classify as an absolute answer," says Rosner's lawyer, Rene Tovar. "But unfortunately, the game show did not provide Mr. Rosner with the correct answer." Tovar likened the question to "being asked what the capital of the United States is" without Washington, D.C., being listed as a possible choice.
Naturally, ABC disagrees. The network refused to comment Wednesday on Rosner's lawsuit, but it previously has turned down his request for a do-over. For its part, ABC countered that the question simply asked, from the choices given, which city has the highest altitude--not which one is the world's highest.
"After reading your letters and reviewing our research, we continue to believe that the answer to your $16,000 question is correct," ABC reportedly countered in a letter to Rosner, according to a report published last November in the Denver weekly newspaper Westword.
"Of the four capital cities given as answer choices, Quito is the highest and, thus, is the correct answer," the network added. "As you may remember, the Official Rules for the competition, as well as the Contestant Release and Eligibility Form that you signed, provide that the decisions of the judges relating to all aspects of the game, including questions and answers, are final. Under these circumstances, we do not believe that a return trip to the show is warranted in your case."
ABC, of course, has already had its fair share of litigious hot-seat losers. Last May, a Florida man (and Mensa member) sued the show in a dispute over the wording of a $32,000 question about zodiac signs. Then last June, a deaf schoolteacher sued the producers, claiming Millionaire's qualifying process in unfair to the hearing impaired.
The whole losing experience must've been tough for Rosner. After all, in 1986 he placed second in Omni magazine's Smartest Man in America contest. Rosner actually has appeared on Millionaire two times, after having made it onto the show in August 1999 as a finalist but not making it into the hot seat. He claims to qualified for Millionaire 45 times.
His lawyer, meanwhile, says Rosner just wants a fair shot at Millionaire's big prize. "[Rosner] asked for relief and was denied," Tovar says. "We're hoping ABC would change their decision."