John Hanlin Wins $100,000 on “Bingo America”
On the same day as the massive massive failure on NBC’s Deal or No Deal (video of that will be coming soon), GSN had a reason to celebrate. Bingo America crowned its second $100,000 winner; the first with the new and vastly improved end game. John Hanlin beat some pretty amazing odds. In the end game, you have to pick a number from each row on a Bingo board (B: 1-15, I: 16-30, N: 31-45, G: 46-60, O: 61-75). Rows I through O have wrecking balls (1 in I, 3 in N, 6 in G, 10 in O) which, if picked, wipes out your entire bank. He risked $6,500 on the 1:3 shot to pass the O level and was the first person to clear the board, securing $7,000. A Superball was then drawn from the Bingo Sphere, and if it matched any of the five numbers that Hanlin picked on the board, that $7,000 becomes $100,000. He beat the 1:15 odds and collected the top prize.
Hanlin said, “I felt very eager to get on the show and play… it sounded like a fun and exciting atmosphere to compete for a cash prize.” Hanlin, a game show enthusiast who had never won anything before added, “Going all the way to the final round was icing on the cake; I had a blast! Winning on Bingo America was such a fantastic feeling, because it was one of the most unexpected and exciting thrills of my life.” With his $100,000, Hanlin plans to purchase his dream car, a classic 1969 Chevy Corvette and share his new wealth with his family. You can see John Handlin talk about his winning experience on GSN Live today during the 3PM ET-6PM ET block, hosted by Fred Roggin and Kelly Packard.
A video of the win will come soon. This was such a great win compared to last season. It’s all luck still, whatever, but it was incredibly exciting to watch. It was a much nicer and more thrilling win than Random Ass Matching of season one. Congratulations to Mr. Hanlin. Again, a video of the win will be coming soon for all to see. *gasp* GSN didn’t even spoil the win! What crazy practices they are doing these days.
It’s a practice called “let’s let Joe the Viewer stay on the edge of his seat” practice. But, on a serious note, that was some overwhelming odds (1:15). Could you imagine how Las Vegas would feel about those odds?
LOL devares, Joe the Viewer.
I am very glad GSN isn’t ruining the surprises. Hopefully they never will.
According to Alex’s description, there is a 1 out of about 83.705 chance of winning $100,000 in this bonus game.
Anyway, congratulations, John!
I’m telling you, GSN is on a roll here! Good originals (Arrgh when does The Money List premeire?!), solid classics, GSN live, and NO SPOILERS!
He’s my brother! Go John! He was able to keep it a secret from us for two months! I can’t believe it!
I wasn’t able to watch it last night, I’m really looking hard for a video!
Congratulations John!!! I am glad GSN didn’t ruin it either. I want the Money List to come soon, too.
Richard Karn is a awesome host.
You the man Ralphy! Riverview’s finest!
G58 Lambert
O75 Greene
Go Steelers!
Actually, they had 2 different bonus setups for the “wrecking balls” during season 2 run. In the one our guy hit the $108,331 prize (I believe from my sources that’s the correct prize $1,331+$7k+$100k), it was 0/1/3/6/10. However early run eps are 0/1/2/5/12. I believe they shuffled to the set in which the grand prize was won as it was easy to run thru the G level and then be smart and quit under the 12 setup.
That’s my son!!! How he ever kept this a secret for 2 months I’ll
never know. He is certainly worthy!!! John D. you are the BOMB!!!
0/1/3/6 = 44.8% chance of surviving “G” x 1/3 chance of surviving “O” = 14.9% chance of going for the $100K = ~1% chance of winning $100K–which seems almost perfect.
0/1/2/5 = 53.9% chance of surviving “G” x 1/5 chance of surviving “O” = 10.8% chance of going for the $100K = ~2/3% chance of winning $100K.
Chris, I don’t thnk he got to keep the $7,000. I think that the Superball’s a proposition where if he misses it, he gets the $7,000 he won, and by nailing it, he brought his bonus round total up to $100,000.
Congratulations to John, though! A hundred grand! He and John Stefan should be a part of some sort of Bingo America promotion, maybe a special face-off episode. Or they could always but the 2 of them on Grand Slam 2009 (come on, GSN!)