It feels great!  I feel very fortunate to hold the title because I received a lot of lucky breaks along the way.

It has reduced my stress level quite a bit.  Fewer things to worry about. Overall, however, my wife and I have attempted to limit the impact of the winnings.  We have gradually allowed some things to change, but we have tried to control the pace of it.  Currently, we are both still working full-time and I am still a part-time student.  We still reside at the same address and still drive the same cars.  Some of these things will change in the near future as we become more comfortable with our good fortune.

I've always had something of a knack for trivia, and with the emergence of the big money shows, I was determined to take my shot.  I knew that if I could manage to get on one of the shows that I had a good chance to do well assuming luck fell on my side.  I had been calling and trying to get on Millionaire for some time.  In fact, I qualified some 25 times without a random callback prior to my appearance on 21.  Someone posted the 21 number on the gameshow usenet newsgroup and it just so happened that they were going to be in Chicago that weekend.  So I called and got the ball rolling but never really envisioned even getting on the show.

I called and left my name and number on a recording.  Later that day, received a return call and took a phone test which was fairly easy.  This qualified me to come to their contestant search that weekend.  The search consisted of a fairly difficult written test which elimated most of the hopefuls.  Luckily, I passed that and moved on to the next step where I participated in a mock game which was videotaped.  After reviewing our profiles and videotapes, some of us were selected to come to LA and meet with the producers, Fred Silverman and Phil Gurin.  The producers chose contestants from among this group to actually appear on the show. Approximately two months passed between my initial call and the day my episodes were taped.

When I actually appeared on the show, it was my 3rd trip to LA and my second time I had been among the contestant pool.  We were picked up early in the morning at our hotel and brought to NBC Studios in Burbank.  From that point, we filled out some paperwork, talked with the Contestant Coordinators and the Standards and Practices folks, went through hair and makeup, ate lunch, and went through a walk-through of the set.  It was early afternoon by the time we actually started taping.

My impression of Maury was that he had a very full schedule.  He didn't really warm up to a contestant until they had won a few games, but he was always very cordial.  As far as Melissa and Mercedes go, I never really interacted much with Mercedes as I was always on Melissa's side.  Melissa always had a big smile when she opened my door but that was really the limit of our interaction.  The rest of the behind-the-scenes folks were very professional and easy to work with.  

OK, here's your chance.  Don't embarrass yourself.  I hope she doesn't hit 21 in two questions.  Remember the strategy you have settled on.  And stop shaking for Pete's sake!

You can see a limited distance but you can't hear anything.  You can't see Maury when he's speaking to the other contestant since they have you step back in your booth.  The booth's are designed to limit what you can see to the first row of the front section of the audience, where the waiting contestants sat.  Those who sat in these seats were prohibited from clapping to prevent giving either contestant an advantage.

Usually, I was just trying to keep myself calm and think through what I might do based on what the next category was.  Basically, I kept the current game in the forefront of my mind, thinking about what my score was, how many strikes I had, and whether or not I had used my second chance.

Yes.  I tried out for College Jeopardy! as an undergraduate.  I drove all night from Lawrence, KS to Minneapolis, MN for the tryout.  I think the lack of sleep kept me from performing my best as I just missed the required 70% score on the written test.  I will certainly try to get on Millionaire when I am eligible, and both Win Ben Stein's Money and Jeopardy! are appealing.  I would need to study some weak areas before appearing on either of the last two, however.

I certainly used to be.  I watched a lot of Game Shows growing up.  Now, I mainly watch Question and Answer (Trivia) type shows and I'm not that interested other types of Game Shows.

I feel that their expectations were too high and that the show was mishandled.  They were expecting Millionaire type ratings which wasn't realistic.  Not even Millionaire has maintained the ratings it had back then.  Millionaire burst on the scene due to a unique method of introduction.  The show was on every night for two weeks, and this aided its rapid rise considerably.  The buzz grew and people who were interested in this show their friends were talking about only had to remember for a few hours that they wanted to watch it because it would be on again that night.  I don't know if 21 would have had similar success with a similar commitment, but it certainly would have performed better than it did.  Keep in mind that the entire run of 21 lasted only a couple more episodes that the first two weeks of Millionaire.  And 21 really didn't do that bad in the ratings.  It always outperformed the show it was replacing.  And when NBC left in the same timeslot for a few weeks, it always built on its ratings and eventually cracked the Top 20.  The show certainly deserved to be picked up for at least a summer run to try and build a following against reruns of other shows.  NBC could decide at anytime to give the show another chance (since they own it), but I don't expect them to do so.