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UC San Diego Staff Member Appears on “Millionaire”
Pat Jacoby | May 14, 2007
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| Valerie McFarland |
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Valerie McFarland, director of the Conflict of Interest
Office at UC San Diego, will be a “hot seat”
contestant opposite guest host Tom Bergeron on ABC’s
“Who Wants To Be a Millionaire” on Thursday,
May 17 and Friday, May 18.
McFarland is a 1983 graduate of Mt. Miguel High School
in San Diego and the daughter of Sandra Dryden, recently
employed in the Public Affairs and Communications
Office at UCSD, and Nolen McFarland of Atlanta, Ga.
Both Sandra and Nolen joined McFarland in New York
City and sat in the “Millionaire” audience
as her on-air companions when the show was taped.
Although she couldn’t reveal in advance how she did on the show, McFarland said she “didn’t embarrass herself, but didn’t win the big money.” Asked how she prepared for the show, McFarland said “I didn’t. It went so fast, from the time I auditioned during a vacation visit to New York, and when I was chosen, I didn’t have time to study.”
McFarland hadn’t planned to audition for the show. But she wanted to attend a taping, so she decided to swing by the Millionaire’s studios during a vacation on the East Coast. She stood in line with her mother on a beautiful, but cold, New York morning when Millionaire staff members handed out tests to audition for the show. McFarland did well and was invited for a five-minute interview with the producers after the taping. A few weeks later, she received a call asking her to fly to New York in a couple of weeks, for yet another taping, this time as a contestant.
McFarland bought airplane tickets and soon found herself sitting across from guest host Tom Bergeron. The experience is very different from sitting in your living room, she said. “When the lights come on, everything flies right out of your head,” is how she described it.
In the audience, McFarland’s parents where of different minds. Her mother urged her to be cautious. Most of that morning’s contestants hadn’t done very well. Her father wanted her to take more risks. She missed her fiancé, who had not been able to come.
But in the end, it was a great experience, McFarland said. “It was so much fun.”
“I was so proud of her,” said her mother.
McFarland is a self-admitted ‘football freak’
and was the first female football referee in San Diego.
Prior to her role in Conflict and Grants at UCSD she
served 16 years on the development staff and was manager
of Stewardships.
Staff Writer Ioana Patrigenaru contributed to this
story
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