Here’s an example of Alex being comfortable in the ‘Million Dollar Minute’ environment in 2014… Although I’m fairly sure that’s just a cardboard cut-out of host Simon Reeve, and not the genuine article.

Hello and welcome to the final part of my chat with big game show winner Alex Dusek! When we left off last week, we were talking about the theory that actors tend to do well on game shows because they’re comfortable being in the spotlight…

==================================================================

SH: But you also seemed to be very comfortable on your appearances on Million Dollar Minute. You didn’t seem to be intimidated, you seemed to lean into it and really enjoy it.

AD: I would often think back to that because I’m an awkward person. In person, I don’t really know what to say to people, but then when I was in front of camera, I felt very comfortable. And I don’t know why that was. I really enjoyed being on camera and it relaxed me in a way. And I remember in the green room, there were lots of intelligent people that were really good with the questions that I remembered from the testing, but then they’d get to the studio and they didn’t really handle the lights or didn’t handle the moment.

SH: Now Alex, we ‘re coming to the end of our time together, but I’ve loved chatting to you today. And I’m noticing that throughout these stories one of the common themes is that there are just such happy memories. And like you say, it’s a life highlight, isn’t it? I mean, this doesn’t happen every day.

AD: No, you’ve really got to remember that you’re in a very exclusive club of being able to do this. For me, I sometimes forget about it… And then I remember, “Oh, wait – I was on Million Dollar Minute 10 years ago! That great thing happened!” And then you sort of forget it for a few months, and it does just keep coming back. It’s a gift that keeps on giving.

Alex these days.

And there were certainly little lucky things along the way. When getting on the show, I was lucky in that I came in when the previous episode, the Carryover Champ had just either lost or taken the money. So I came in as one of three fresh people. So that was lucky. And then I remember the first taping that I went to, I didn’t get picked.

I was just in the green room all day, and there was a lady at the end who’d been on Sale of the Century, and she was giving me advice; “if you get a question wrong, it’s like catching a ball. If you drop it, don’t worry, just catch the next ball. Just stay very objective about it”.

And then the next time I came back for a potential to be picked for the show, I was a lot more settled. I was a lot more relaxed.

And if I’d been picked that day, it might’ve all panned out differently. I do remember that the whole time on that show, I was always looking for who the person was who was going to be the real threat. And every episode, you’d be in the green room, two new people would come in and you’d think, is this the time? Is this the one? Is this them? And it didn’t ever seem to be them… until finally when I was departing and I went to the green room to grab my bag, they brought two people in and there was one guy in a salmon shirt. He shook my hand and was very agreeable. And that turned out to be Pierre Sutcliffe, who was excellent and ended up being a $500,000 winner. And he was the one; he was the threat that I had have been looking for the whole time. So I missed him by an episode.

SH: It sounds like all sorts of things just fell into place for you and all contributed to that wonderful win! And on that note, our time’s running short, so I might just wrap it up there. Thank you so much, Alex!

AD: 100%. Thank you so much. It’s been a pleasure.

SH: Cheers, Alex. No thank you! Bye.

AD: Bye.

==================================================================

Once again, I’d like to thank Alex for his time, and for sharing all his memories – and all his updates – with me. It really was a sensational win that he had back in 2014, and it couldn’t have happened to a nicer bloke.

I’ll be seeing you again soon, for the next one of these checking-in-with-game-show-big-winners-after-quite-a-while-to-see-what-long-lasting-differences-their-win-has-made-to-their-lives interviews.

Until then, then!