ABC has secured ten Olympic athletes to compete on "Who
Wants to be a Millionaire," scheduled to air "outside the
sweeps" period on October 22 and 24, according to Lisa de
Moraes of the WASHINGTON POST. Rulon Gardner, Lenny
Krayzelburg, Jenny Thompson, Dara Torres, Gary Hall Jr.,
Lisa Leslie, Maurice Greene, Laura Wilkinson, Julie Foudy
and Stacy Dragila will be the athletes featured. Half of
each player's winnings will be donated to the charity of the
athlete's choice, and all participants are "guaranteed"
$16,000, with $8,000 for charity and $8,000 for the player.
The move comes as NBC and CBS have told "their stars that
they don't want them to appear on November's sweeps
celebrity editions" of the show. By scheduling the athletes
in October, de Moraes writes, "ABC must've looked at the
numbers NBC scored with the Games" (WASHINGTON POST, 10/17).
The AP writes, "Given NBC's [Sydney] ratings, will the
athletes be seen by more viewers answering [Regis] Philbin's
questions than in competition?" (AP, 10/17).
ONE-ON-ONE: Olympic Gold-medal winning swimmer Dara
Torres co-hosted "Live! with Regis" today (ABC, 10/17).
