Friends are there in times of need and to share the joys of life with you. For Matt Schultz, one of his friends has been very valuable: she helped him win $50,000 on ABC television’s game show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”
The Princeton Junction resident, father of three, and the youth pastor at Nassau Presbyterian Church in Princeton called up Liz Marshall, a human resources recruiter, also from West Windsor, as a “lifeline” on his way to winning $100,000.
Schultz said he has always been a fan of the show — he and his wife were even watching the game show when his oldest son, James, 9, was being born. And, he missed the first day of kindergarten for his son, Andrew, 5, who attends Maurice Hawk School, to appear for the taping of the show, but “he has forgiven me,” he joked. The couple’s other child, Anna, is 1.
“I always watched the show and said to myself, ‘I think I can do that,’” Schultz said. “When I went to audition, I assumed it was just a lark.” But, he ended up getting a call-back. “It was nerve-wracking being up and in that seat, and it was amazingly stressful,” he said, but “I wanted to try something I’ve never done before.”
Schultz appeared on the game show on September 25 and again on September 29. On the first day, time ran out as he was answering the $12,500 question. He appeared in the following episode, making it all the way to the $250,000 question, where he decided to stop and take the $100,000 he already won (instead of possibly guessing incorrectly and being left with $25,000).
Contestants in the game show, hosted by Meredith Vieira, are asked questions worth increasing amounts of money on their way to $1 million. Along the way, if they need help in answering questions, they are given four lifelines — “Ask the Audience,” which Schultz used on the $12,500 question; “Double Dip,” “Ask the Expert,” and “Phone a Friend.” During the second day, Schultz used his “Ask the Expert” lifeline on the $25,000 question.
At the $50,000 question, Schultz again found himself in trouble, when he called Marshall for help. The question he was asked was “What government organization’s logo is affectionately known as ‘the meatball?’” The choices were NASA, CIA, FBI, and IRS. She helped him correctly guess the answer: NASA.
Schultz and his wife met Marshall and her husband when they attended the Princeton Theological Seminary from 2001 through 2005. In fact, both families moved out of the area for a while after finishing at the seminary before they both returned again to Princeton Junction. Schultz plays on the seminary’s basketball team with Marshall’s husband.
Schultz was born and raised in the Berkshire Mountains in New York. His mother is also a pastor, and his father worked with troubled youth. He first attended Westminster College, north of Pittsburgh, where he met his wife, Elizabeth, who serves as co-pastor with him at Nassau Presbyterian Church. They were living in Alaska when they felt the call to come to the seminary, he said, and they both moved to West Windsor to attend Princeton Theological Seminary, which was also halfway been their parents’ homes.
They later moved to Watertown, NY, for a few years, before coming back to West Windsor about a year ago, where they now live off Clarksville Road.
Marshall and her husband have two children — Kyla and Ana — in first grade and pre-school. Schultz describes the couple as equally comfortable sitting and jovially watching football games as they are in deep thought, having a discussion about theology.
From his friendship with Marshall, he knew that she was cool under pressure, he said. “She and I practiced a lot,” he said.
“She was nervous about it, since it could put a strain on the friendship if you misguide someone and make them lose $50,000,” he said. “But I had a great deal of trust in her, and she certainly lived up to it.”
The choice was obvious to include her as a lifeline beforehand, he said. “Part of her job all day is being on the telephone and utilizing the Internet — she seemed like a natural person to choose. She had a really good chance of knowing a lot of information.”
After Marshall helped him come up with the correct answer — NASA — he used his “Double Dip” (the ability for a contestant to guess again if his or her first guess is incorrect) lifeline on the $100,000 question: “Slated upon completion to be the longest railway tunnel in the world, the Gotthard Base Tunnel is located in what country?” The choices were France, Switzerland, Germany, and Austria. Schultz first guessed Germany, which was incorrect, before he chose the correct answer, Switzerland.
At the $250,000 question, Schultz had no lifelines remaining, and he chose to walk with the $100,000, rather than risking only taking home $25,000.
The $100,000 is “definitely life-changing,” said Schultz. “The past few years have been hard on us financially,” because of a house sale and because of a variety of medical bills. “Once we pay the taxes on the winnings and pay off that debt we have accumulated over the last few years, we’ll be out of debt.”
“We’re not going to have a lot of money left over to travel or anything, but my goal was never to live extravagantly,” Schultz added. “My goal was to get my family out of debt so we can be at a simple zero point. It’s still mind-blowing to me that it actually happened.”
And Schultz still has a chance to win more money on the game show’s Tournament of 10, which features the 10 best contestants through November 6. Currently Schultz is in third place, which is determined by the amount each of the contestants won and then by how quickly they answered their questions.
“In getting the $100,000 that I got, I’ve crossed a threshold, and it’s going to take a lot to convince me to gamble that,” he said, referring to risking the $100,000 he has already won for the opportunity to win $1 million.
Even though he will play conservatively if he does make it into the tournament, Schultz said that if he wins $1 million, his first goal would be to pay off his mother’s mortgage. He said that throughout her life, she has taken a series of jobs in which she has served people. “They pay very little, and she stepped out in faith each time to say, ‘Let finances work themselves out in the long-run,’” he said, adding that he hopes he can be the solution in “the long-run.”
Beyond that, he said he and his wife might try to find more permanent housing in the West Windsor area. “We will probably seek ways to make life in this area long-term,” he said, since he wants his children to have the opportunity to continue to attend WW-P schools. Adding to his desire to stay here is his love for his job and the fact that he shares it with his wife.
Regardless of whether he wins more money, “I kind of considered this my part-time summer job, and it paid very well,” he said.
