I was particularly interested in the results of the current "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" lifeline poll question. As I type this, it's a dead heat, with just about 60 votes for each.

As I've probably mentioned here before, I was actually on the show last August (on the second and third episodes). I was the first contestant to earn as much as $32,000.

Back then, we weren't sure of the best ways to use the lifelines, since no one had seen the show aired yet. By now, though, I think it's pretty clear.

"Ask the Audience" is best used early on, on questions relating to pop culture, sports, or just general knowledge (as opposed to, say, a tough history or science question). The audience gets it right a surprising amount of the time, even on harder questions, though.

"50/50" is best when you think you know the answer, or are debating between just two choices, and think it's likely that one of those will be eliminated. (Keep in mind that the preselected choices for elimination are always what the writers feel are the two least likely choices.) Another good way to use this is when you are certain of one answer being wrong and also feel certain they will leave that as one of the two remaining choices. For example, several weeks ago there was a question about the ship that passed by the Titanic victims, and one of the four choices was the Carpathia. I knew this was the ship that picked up some of the survivors, but I also knew they'd keep that as one of two 50/50 choices, and the other one would be the right answer. Sure enough, the contestant used 50/50, and the two choices left were Californian and Carpathia. (Unfortunately, he then chose Carpathia.)

"Phone a Friend" is the strongest lifeline and should be saved as long as possible. You preselect five people for your phone list, and the producers put them all on guard as soon as you make it to the hot seat. You only have about 24 hours' notice to put this list together. So what you have to do is delegate areas of your weakness. I made certain to have a classical music person, a science person, a sports person, and so on, while not worrying so much about my strengths (literature, geography, pop culture, etc.). What makes this lifeline so strong is that you can get specific feedback; while you never know whether audience members are guessing randomly or actually know the answer, your phone-a-friend can tell you "I know for certain that it's not B or C", "I'm 75% certain that A is right", and so on.

At any rate, the worst sin is to leave the show with lifelines unused. If you're ever unsure of an answer, don't guess. Use a lifeline. The point is to maximize your winnings, not necessarily to win a million dollars. Even if it's a question of going from $2,000 to $4,000, say, it's not "wasting" a lifeline to use one, because after all, if you guess and miss, you really *have* wasted it.

(How did I use my lifelines? I used the 50/50 and Phone-a-Friend on the $32,000 -- I knew I was going to use both, because I wanted to give my Phone-a-Friend every chance to get it right, and I was determined to get that question correct. I used the Ask the Audience on the $64,000, but I led them to choose between two choices, both of which turned out to be wrong. C'est la vie.)

-- Trip