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E

LISA BARSON

Special to the Jewish News

ow well do you know
your poets?
You'd better brush up
on them, because you
never know when ranking famous
poets in order of when they lived
might be the difference between
becoming a millionaire or having to
report back to work next week.
That is the lesson learned by 29-
year-old Mark Berke of West
Bloomfield.
A Michigan State University and
Detroit College of Law graduate,
Berke and his wife Alisa often watch
and play along with the ABC-TV
program Who Wants To Be A
Millionaire. Encouraged by his friends

and relatives, Berke decided to stop
being an armchair contestant and try
his hand at meeting host Regis
Philbin in person.
Potential contestants call the
show's toll-free line and answer a
series of questions. Candidates that
correctly answer are entered into a
drawing. Those selected are instructed
to call back during a 15-minute time
slot and answer five
more questions.
Around the same
time Berke passed
these first two
rounds, so did his
cousin Dan Serlin
and friend Bernard
Hirsch, both of
Southfield. The
three met in Berke's

office on the designated October
afternoon to make their calls. Berke
called first and answered all five ques-
tions correctly. Hirsch called next,
and had five different questions to
answer. He answered four correctly.
Serlin was last and correctly answered
his five questions.
Berke and Serlin chose the same
October taping day, hoping they
would both be
selected and be able
to travel to New
York together.
That evening,
Berke and Serlin
held on to their
mobile phones dur-
ing the required
time frame. "Dan is
the smartest guy I

A good game plan
almost works
to perfection
for one
"Millionaire"
wannabe.

know. I thought for sure he was going
to be the one to make it," says Berke.
But at this point, the selection
process was more a matter of luck.
Berke received the call from the
show's producers that he and a guest
would be flown to New York for the
taping. Serlin never got the call.
Berke was very excited, but also a
bit nervous. "My biggest fear was that
I'd make it to the 'hot seat' and bomb
out on a $200 question," he laughs.
But he was also slightly relieved that
Serlin would not be among the corn-
petition. "He was one of my 'life-
lines.'"
Berke and his wife were flown to
New York by ABC, and put up in a
hotel. They spent most of the next
day at the studio where the program
is filmed.

Mark Berke bolds the
check that he could
have spent if only ...