Originally posted Tuesday, June 26, 2018 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
“What a moth might say.”
That incredibly difficult answer is what helped keep Atlanta's Archith Seshadri from pocketing the top prize on ABC's "$100,000 Pyramid."
But he still won a very respectable $61,500 because he made it to the winner's circle twice and won $50,000 in the first round with The Roots' Questlove.
In fact, he and Questlove were so in sync, they finished their six categories with 13 seconds to spare. Too bad he couldn't bank the extra time for Snoop Dogg.
“It was awesome,” Archith said in an interview. “It was so much fun. It’s like the American dream.”
Yes, it's a testament to Archith's "Pyramid" skills at the game that he managed to even get to the winner's circle with Snoop Dogg. At one point, when the category was celebrities with big Twitter followings, Snoop Dogg had to give Archith clues for singer Pink. All Snoop could come up with is "color," adding helpfully, "white girl." So Archith started listing many many colors in succession before shouting "Beyonce," the answer to a previous clue ("Jay-Z's wife!") that he couldn't get up front. (And he got credit for it!)
Archith, a former CNN reporter who just came back from India after two years at an English-language network there, is a game show fanatic. “I’ve always wanted to be on a game show,” he said.
Once he found out he was cast on April 18, he spent a month before taping prepping for the show by playing the board game versions and watching old episodes of "Pyramid" on YouTube and GSN, including classics hosted by Dick Clark and Donny Osmond. He wrote lists galore of potential categories. He read pointers on line such as providing clues when given the option is preferable over taking them from the celebrity.
He felt all that practice paid off. And he got to bring his mom along to New York to make it a trip to remember.
Archith said he had no idea who the celebrities were for his taping until he showed up on set. He was a little worried seeing Snoop Dogg and Questlove because he figured that meant a lot of hip-hop references. “I don’t listen to hip hop at all,” he said.
He told Questlove not to give him any clues related to hip hop if he could help it. And he worked around hip-hop phrases when he could.
For words from famous hip-hop groups, for instance, he made not a single hip-hop reference to Snoop Dogg. For "salt," he said "Not pepper but..." For "run," he said, "Not walk but..." For "private," he said, "Not public but..." And for "hill," he used, "Jack and Jill went up the..." (The groups in question, respectively, were Salt-n-Pepa, Run DMC, Public Enemy and Cypress Hill.)
And when Prince songs came up during the Winners' Circle with Snoop, Archith quickly skipped it. (The crowd audibly groaned when he did that.) Why? He only knew one Prince song off the top of his head, "Purple Rain." Then again, that alone might have gotten him the money if he had tried.
Archith said there was a technical glitch the first time he played the Winner’s Circle with Snoop and they had to start over with a new board. He now wonders if that first “moth”-less board might have gotten him the $100,000.
ON TV
“100,000 Pyramid,” airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on ABC
***
Sometimes you really can go back to the shore again.
MTV was able to turn a Southern version of “Jersey Shore” into a hit last year with “Floribama Shore” and is bringing it back this summer with at least 14 more episodes. The show returns Monday, July 9 at 10 p.m.
Its very success may have encouraged MTV to bring back most of the original cast for the recently concluded “Jersey Shore Family Vacation.”
Kirk Medas, 26, of Atlanta has enjoyed the fruits of being on "Floribama Shore," which primarily means getting paid to show up at nightclubs. Better yet, he gets to bring his friends, get free drinks and hang out in VIP.
“You can’t hate that,” he said. “The club owners and managers I’ve communicated with so far have been very cool.”
He spent two and a half months on the shore during the spring time with the seven other cast members.
“We’re tighter than ever,” he said. “We group message. We text every day.”
He said he’s especially close to the dudes. “We are legit friends even outside of work and stuff. We make plans and take trips. We hang out.”
But that paradoxically means there is more conflict than ever- and more romantic hook ups.
“We know each other a lot more,” he said. “Last year we didn’t know what to expect. Now we know how to push each other’s buttons.”
And despite that big blow up in the season finale with small-town Alabama girl Aimee Hall, Kirk said they are now buds again. "She has even a bigger temper season two," he teases. "This time, it's not directed at me."
Kirk is fans of the cast of "Jersey Shore." He got to meet most of them and is a big fan of Pauly D: "Coolest guy I've ever met in my life!"
And he got to attend the MTV Movie & TV Awards this past weekend and was slack-jawed meeting the likes of Chris Pratt and Michael P. Jordan. He was also surprised and flattered that fellow Atlantan and rap star Lil Yachty knew who he was.
TV PREVIEW
“Floribama Shore,” season 2 begins at 10 p.m. Mondays, July 9 on MTV
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