Deerfield resident battles through vision problem on ‘Millionaire’

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Margi Rice of Deerfield, a Jan. 10-11 contestant on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire," listens as hostess Meredith Vieira tells Rice about her winnings. | Photo courtesy of Valleycrest Productions Ltd.

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Updated: February 27, 2012 8:36AM

It was the best of times and the worst of times for Margi Rice when she appeared Jan. 10-11 on “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.”

The Deerfield resident, who formerly taught at Holy Cross elementary school and tutors at St. Malechy’s grammar school on Chicago’s West Side, was a contestant during “Cruise In and Win” Week.

“My daughter, Samantha, and I were making dinner one day in July and watching ‘Cash Cab’ when we discovered that ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’ was still on the air,” Rice said. “She said ‘You’re really good at this. Why don’t you try it?’”

And the next week there was an announcement saying the show, hosted by Meredith Vieira locally on WGN weekdays at 4 p.m. and in its 10th season, was auditioning potential contestants at Arlington Park in Arlington Heights.

“My family was so excited,” Rice said. “Pretty soon there was a plan. I was suited up and sent out to make money to help pay for tuition.”

Rice’s husband, Tom, is in financial services at UBS. But daughter Samantha, 24, is a student in optometry school; Stephanie, 22, is a senior at Notre Dame University; and Kristi, 18, is a freshman at Notre Dame — a slight drain on the family’s budget.

“I got up at 4 a.m. to get in line because it was an open audition all day long and I knew there would be thousands of people,” Rice said. “They took 500 people at a time and gave us each a sealed envelope and a pencil. We had 10 minutes to answer 30 questions. Then the top 5 percent of the crowd went on to the next point.”

“Of those 25 people, they said they would decide who they wanted to interview. Then they told us that we would get a card in the mail to let us know if we would be in the pool or not, and maybe we would get called in the next two years. But I get a notice asking me if I could be in New York in 12 days. And I said ‘Sure!’”

When the day came, Rice awoke early because she had to be at the studio at 6:45 a.m. But she was shocked to see how foggy it had become — indoors and out.

“I didn’t find out until later that epithelial tissue had pulled away from my eyes, possibly because of faulty contacts,” Rice said. “I could barely see the questions. All I could think of was ‘Why here? Why now?’ I thought it must be nerves.”

Rice only had time to answer two questions before time ran out on the first day’s show. She continued as a holdover contestant a second day, where she started on her third question with an accumulated bank of $12,000 and all three lifelines left, said Trisha Miller, the game show’s publicist.

After the questions and money in Margi’s first round were shuffled, Vieira told Rice that her “cruise question” would be her seventh question. If Rice answered that correctly, she could win the money attached to the question, as well as a three-night cruise vacation for four aboard the Disney Fantasy cruise ship.

Rice reached her seventh question, but wasn’t sure about the answer and used her “jump the question” lifeline, meaning she had to forfeit the money and the cruise attached to the question, Miller said.

Rice proceeded to her ninth question.

“Category: ‘First Ladies.’ Raised in Nantes, France, and London, England, who was the only first lady in American history to be born in Europe?”

Rice’s choices were: Martha Washington, Louisa Adams, Martha Jefferson or Dolley Madison.

The answer was Adams, but Margi was unsure and decided not to guess. That allowed her to walk away with $26,300 in winnings, half of her accumulated bank, which had risen to $52,600.

If she had guessed incorrectly, she would have won only $1,000, Miller said.

“I did OK, but my husband said I looked like I was having a nervous breakdown,” Rice said. “I could barely see. I found out later that my eye condition was serious, but treatable, and I’m all right now.”