'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?': Lauren Lapkus wins $500,000, the highest any celebrity has won on the season
'The Wrong Missy' star Lauren Lapkus won half a million dollars on 'Who Wants A Millionaire?' for Crohn's and Colitis Foundation America. She featured on the show in the last couple of minutes during last week's episode right after Kaitlin Olson.
The format of the show allows celebrity guests to bring in a family member, a relative or a friend to help them in case they get stuck with a particular question. Lapkus brought in her husband, actor Mike Castle, enlisting him as the smartest person she knows, to help her win money for the charity. Last week, time permitted her to only play a couple of questions and she won $1,000 before the episode ended. She continued playing the game this week and she became the first celebrity contestant to win $500,000 on the season that has seen celebrities like Anthony Anderson, Catherine O'Hara, Dr Phil, Eric Stonestreet, etc. Also, she is the fifth celebrity to win $500,000 on the US version of 'Millionaire', following Drew Carey, Rosie O'Donnell, Norm MacDonald and Charles Esten.
Lauren exhausted the last of her lifeline left, 'Ask A Friend' while answering the question that won her $500,000. She was left with no help or backup now and the million-dollar question was not exactly a piece of cake, resulting in Lapkus quitting the show. The question was "On the periodic table, there are four different elements named after what?" After quitting and securing half a million, she took a guess as to what she felt was the right answer, and thankfully the decision to leave the show was for the best as she was very far from the right answer. Lapkus was last seen in the Netflix film, 'The Wrong Missy' with David Spade and her role in the film is highly appreciated and loved by fans.
Joining in on the show next was CNN host and new proud father, Anderson Cooper and he brought along Bravo's Andy Cohen to help and advise him. Cooper will continue playing the game, next week as well.
Whatever amount of money he was about to win on the show would go towards the Spikes K9 fund. The organization works towards training and caring for working dogs. It also helps retired police dogs with the medical attention they need. The organization was started by James Hatch, a retired Special Warfare Operator. As a K9 (police dog) handler on several deployments, his life was regularly saved by the work of K9s – one of the most memorable was Spike. On his final deployment too, his critically injured self was saved by a K9 who lost his life to save James.