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Ron Jeremy: "The Weakest Link"?
Hedgehog joins "Newsmakers" on NBC quiz: Former game show guy (which is kind of like "former Marine") Tod Hunter reports.
BURBANK, Calf. - It was an interesting crew of "Newsmakers" on last night's edition of the NBC quiz The Weakest Link: a motley mix of Survivor contestants (Tina Wesson, Gervase Peterson), has-been child actors (Gary Coleman, Corey Feldman), momentary newsmakers whose personal timers were at 14:55 (Diet Coke ad model Lucky Vanous, marryin' "millionaire" Rick Rockwell, Mayflower madam Sydney Biddle Barrows) and Ron Jeremy, who is an active part of the admittedly-non-mainstream adult industry. He introduced himself by saying "I'm a... performer," then barked a mock-angry "Hey!" at the audience's amused reaction.
The game, a rapid-fire Q-and-A session, has a complicated scoring system that defies quick description, involving consecutive correct answers and "banking" earnings before an incorrect response drops the group score to zero. Suffice it to say that the potential jackpot for each episode is $1 million and most jackpots top out between $50,000 and $100,000. At the end of each timed round, the contestants vote out one contestant (the "weakest link") who is summarily dismissed by the host, Ann Robinson, a diminutive redheaded Englishwoman dressed in black, with her trademark "You are the weakest link. Goodbye." The dismissed contestant gets nothing, not even parting gifts, and the remaining contestants play the next round.
In interviews between rounds, Coleman admitted that he was a virgin and when the Robinson asked him "How does that feel?" Coleman asked Jeremy to help him out for a response. Later, Robinson asked Jeremy "What do you do in your films?" and Jeremy responded "In the regular features, I act. In the adult features, I act and do other things."
"What other things?" Robinson demanded, putting Jeremy on the spot.
Coleman bailed him out: "He does what I haven't done."
Robinson let the laughter die down, then asked, "Then what happens?"
"We make a very funny noise, get our paycheck, and leave."
More laughter, then quiet.
"Tell me the noise you make."
"Well, the ending noise sounds a little like this: uuugh."
Jeremy held his own in the opening rounds: He never got even one vote to be dismissed, and saw other contestants get voted out and even selected the "weakest link" once to break a tie. As the rounds continued, the weaker members of the group got cut, one by one, with Robinson asking such zingers as "Who is about to be forgotten again?"
It eventually got down to the end-of-the-show "gang of three," when the last "weak link" is voted out. At this point, the name of the show notwithstanding, often the strongest player is voted out, as all three players vote out the opponent they do not want to play against. Unfortunately, Jeremy ate up 20 seconds of valuable round time trying to remember the name of the actress who played the queen of Naboo in Star Wars Episode One - and then didn't come up with it. Feldman and Rockwell voted him out.
Robinson dismissed him, saying, "Uuugh - You are the weakest link. Goodbye."
Ever-cheerful, Jeremy said offstage that he had met the actress, he just got tongue-tied.
The eventual winner of the show was Rockwell, who won $43,500 for his charity.
Win or lose, each contestant got a donation for their charity so Jeremy's appearance earned $10,000, split between AIM Healthcare and the Wildlife Waystation.
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