Sophomore Will Appear on TV Show 'Greed' In June

Last weekend, Grant S. Quasha '02 became the second Harvard undergraduate in two months to be a contestant on a popular prime-time game show.

Quasha's episode of the show "Greed," taped on Saturday, will be aired on Fox on Friday, June 2 at 9 p.m.

Due to the show's rules, Quasha was not allowed to disclose whether or not he won money on the show.

On April 9, ABC aired an episode of "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?" on which Richard A. Cooper '01 won $1,000.

"Greed" puts five contestants on the same team and then encourages them to turn against each other through "the Terminator," which offers players the chance to knock each other out of the game and take their money after a one question face-off.

The first question is worth $25,000 for the team to share, and each subsequent question is worth more--going up to $2 million.

Quasha, a government concentrator in Dunster House who is also a Crimson editor, participated in a college-themed taping last weekend. Fox flew 30 college students to Los Angeles on Friday, put them up in a nice hotel and left them to themselves, Quasha said.

The students decided to go out for dinner and drinks together Friday night and to party in one student's hotel room on Saturday, after the taping was over.

So, according to Quasha, the tournament did not feel quite as competitive as the network executives might have liked.

"They want you to compete against each other," he said. "They didn't want us to be too chummy so that we wouldn't 'terminate' each other."

The students have ended up staying in touch with each other through an e-mail list, Quasha said.

Fox did not have to worry about Quasha holding his bets during the taping.

During his 10-second interview while auditioning at John Harvard's Brewhouse earlier this spring, he told the show's recruiters he was a big gambler.

Once, at a Bahamas casino, he exchanged $6,000 worth of his and his friends' chips for cash.

"That was the most money I ever held in my hand until last week," he said. One feature of "Greed" is that contestants are allowed to touch the money they are risking before they decide whether to press their luck and try another question.

The money is real, Quasha said.

But the set of the show is actually in a CBS studio, said Quasha, and it is much smaller--and colder--than it looks on television.

Quasha was the only contestant from Harvard in the college show, though about 200 students auditioned at John Harvard's Brew House.

Some, Quasha recalled, were more creative during their interviews than he was. One student mooned the interviewer.

Quasha decided to just tell the recruiter that he has produced a B-movie, called Tromio and Juliet, a sex and violence-filled spoof on the Shakespeare play that is available in the "cult section" of the Garage. He also told the recruiter that he plays a lot of poker and blackjack.

But Quasha's roommate Mark D. W. Best '02 said he is not really such a big gambler.

"He likes to think of himself as one," Best joked. "I think he's getting better."

Quasha's true skill, according to Best, is trivia. When the two have "Jeopardy!" on in their room, Quasha always yells out the answers.

"He's actually pretty impressive. I hate to admit it," Best said.

Devon R. Quasha '01 confirmed her twin brother's talents.

"He knows the most useless pieces of information," she said, and because of that, he had the chance to win $1 million. "But I love him."