I was a contestant and I need a tape

I was a contestant on the first season in an episode where Lincoln Center was stolen. I am SERIOUSLY in need of a tape of this episode. If anyone can help me, my e-mail is [email protected]

I won this due to my participation and triumph on "Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego," a game show which ran on PBS in the early 90's. I was selected to be a competitor on this show after a written test and casting was done in my middle school.

The show was taped in NYC. There were two other people on my episode -- Ilan, this tall snobby kid from a private school in Jersey and Prema, this shy Indian girl who went to school with me. We ran over the rules before the episode taped. Then they asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up.

These answers were revealed at about the five minute mark into the show. Ilan said he wanted to be a lawyer who would return to his native Israel to help solve the political conflicts in that region. Prema studied Indian dance and had a dream of being a brain surgeon.

My answer was two-fold. I either wanted to be a baseball manager or a stand up comedian. Before the show began, the PA asked me if I had any jokes to tell the crowd. Being that I was 12 years old, I didn't really have any of my material perfected. So they wrote a joke for me, which I then performed on national television.

"Knock knock." "Who's there?" "Humpty." "Humpty Who?" "My name is Humpty, say it with an umpty, I really would like to funk thee."

I recieved polite applause and a smattering of boos from the live audience for this joke.

I was also repeatedly scolded on-air for leaning into the microphone.

Later on in the episode, after a production snafu, Ilan's mom (watching in the green room) accused me of cheating, right in front of my parents. My parents rushed to my defense, claiming that I would never cheat.

It took me years to confess to them that, yes, I had cheated on a nationally taped game show.

I had completely and thoroughly kicked ass on the show. I had close to a perfect score headed into the final question and was in front by a large margin. I got cocky. In the final round, you had to wager points ala Final Jeopardy. I wagered waaaay too many points than I should have.

Our answers came from a multiple choice pool of questions out of Boston, Newark or Philadelphia. I chose Newark from the information given to us.

Ilan went first. He said Boston. He was correct.

I completely panicked. I was now going to lose on this stupid show if I didn't come up with something. I proudly helped up my placcard which read Newark and said "BOSTON." I tried to cheat... and got caught. It didn't matter, though. I was still enough in the lead even with the point loss to go on to the next round.

I won that round (a simple guessing game) and then went to the final round. If I put 7 flags on a map of Africa in under 45 seconds, I would recieve a trip to anywhere in the continental United States. I got the first 5 right and then bombed on Malawi.

The show was on PBS, and in the North Jersey viewing area, there were roughly 9 PBS channels available on our cable system. Channel 13, a bunch of New Jersey Network affiliates, PBS channels from Long Island and a few others. The show was on all different times. So for a good three years, you could consistently see me on your television set. This put an even bigger target on my back for people who liked to beat me up (i.e., my entire high school.)

Unfortunately, I lost the lone tape of my appearance in college.