Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Host with the most: Former Las Vegan making millionaires at Disney World

Joseph Bauer didn't need to phone a friend, ask an audience or narrow his choices by half to help him decide whether to accept a job offer earlier this year.

When the folks at Florida's Walt Disney World asked, Bauer's final answer was yes.

Since April the former Las Vegas resident has served as one of six hosts of the wildly popular "Who Wants to be a Millionaire Play It!" attraction at the Disney-MGM Studios in Orlando, Fla.

It's based on the ABC hit game show of the same name, hosted by the monochromatically dressed Regis Philbin.

The TV show's premise (in case you've been under a rock for the past few years): Contestants answer trivia questions in an effort to win up to $1 million.

A sister "Millionaire" attraction is scheduled to open Aug. 27 at Disney's California Adventure in Anaheim.

Bauer, who lived in Las Vegas for two decades, is a documentary maker who also hosts the travel-related radio program "Assignment Adventure," which airs locally at 5 p.m. Mondays on KLAV 1230-AM (broadcasts can also be heard on the Internet at lasvegas-nv.com/bauer).

He has extensive television and commercial credits, having been the voice heard on countless ads in Las Vegas (Desert Inn, Cat Bus, Jerry's Nugget, Benson, Bertoldo and Baker law firm) and nationally (American Express, McDonalds). For more than a decade his voice welcomed visitors to the now-defunt Omnimax theater at Caesars Palace.

Bauer (who declines to give his age) for several years taught courses in special events production/promotion and radio broadcasting at UNLV. A world traveler, he also coordinates and hosts tours of foreign lands and ocean cruises for groups.

"Actually, the last few years I had been traveling so much (producing) documentaries," including stops in Russia, China, Romania and Bulgaria, "I had gotten to the point where Vegas was a place to go back to, but it wasn't my primary place of business," Bauer explains of his decision to accept the "Millionaire" job.

Tryouts for potential "Millionaire" hosts were held in several cities. But Bauer, who in 1999 portrayed the late Walt Disney at a convention of Disney memorabilia collectors, was asked by Disney execs to attend a "special" audition.

"The reason I think that they had (me) on their mind was because I had done Walt the year before ... I worked with the same casting director, who wanted me to take a look at 'Millionaire.' "

Bauer's contract with Disney allows him to continue his work on "Assignment Adventure," as well as lead the travel tours and produce documentaries.

"When an opportunity came along like this," he says, "I didn't want to let it go by."

Playing by the rules

Unlike the TV show, which awards dollars for correctly answering questions, the "Millionaire" theme-park attraction awards points. Nevertheless, Bauer says, contestants aren't any less enthusiastic about climbing into the coveted "hot seat" to play the game.

While the set for the 30-minute attraction (that runs up to 15 times per day) practically mirrors its TV sister, the game itself operates a bit differently.

On the tube, only a small group of contestants are selected from around the country to participate in the game. At the theme park, all 600-plus audience members compete (via individual keypads) for the chance to play.

The audience member who answers a trivia question first (aka the "fastest-finger question") is brought onstage to play, answering queries posed by Bauer and the other hosts.

Bauer recalls a time when two audience members' fastest-finger times tied, resulting in a runoff.

"We did seven (runoffs) before we could break the tie, which was really an unusual situation," he said.

Once in the seat players notice other differences from the TV show, namely the time limit imposed (15-45 seconds) to answer questions, as well as the "Phone a Total Stranger" lifeline.

Instead of asking AT&T for help, as Philbin does on the show, Bauer and the other hosts direct players to phone a stranger -- anyone who happens to be at the park and standing by a phone at the nearby "tour corridor" or "Mickey Avenue."

"Sometimes it's fine," Bauer says, "but sometimes you get someone (to help you) who hardly speaks English, or is a young person. Sometimes you get a lot of help and someone says, 'I'm a hundred percent sure that this is the answer,' and sometimes you get someone who says, 'I don't know anything about it.' "

Also different in the prize structure.

When players reach 1,000 points, they're awarded collectible "Millionaire" pins and a baseball cap; at 32,000 points a player takes home 10 pins, the cap, a "Millionaire" polo shirt, as well as the CD-ROM home-game version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire."

Players who score 1 million points (more than a dozen have done it since the attraction opened) win, as well as the other prizes and a "Millionaire" jacket, an all-expense paid trip for two to New York City, where the TV show is taped, to meet Philbin and sit in the show's audience.

Bauer warns, "It's much tougher when you're in the hot seat," as opposed to being at home playing along with the television show. Audience members at the attraction are warned not to shout answers to players in the hot seat.

"And they're pretty good about that," he says. Every once in a while, if a player misses a particularly easy question, "and they blow it, (the player will) say, 'The answer is C, final answer,' and the whole audience goes, 'Awwwww.'

"It is probably the only show at Walt Disney World that, in a sense, is interactive with the people," Bauer says. "It's the only show (at the park) where you can win stuff and go away a big winner."

Fan club

Timothy Hamilton, manager of entertainment for Disney-MGM Studios, calls Bauer "the model 'Millionaire' host.

"The reaction he gets from guests are the magical moment-type memories that guests come here (for) and they expect. He can somehow touch a person's personality just by smiling at them."

As Hamilton spoke by telephone on a recent afternoon, he watched Bauer on a monitor questioning a young girl in the hot seat.

"Right now (Bauer is) making her laugh. She's up to 500 points already. He's just like Santa Claus to her," Hamilton says.

The "Millionaire" attraction already has a steady following and "groupies" who sit in the audience several times per day, Bauer says.

"As soon as the show's over they run out and get in line and come back for the next show," he explains.

Bauer, who dons ensembles similar to Philbin's stylish wardrobe (which birthed new trends in men's wear) met the TV personality prior to the attraction's opening.

Bauer and the other hosts were flown to New York and were introduced by Philbin during an installment of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire."

"Then he came down (to Orlando) for our grand opening," Bauer says. "One of the things that Regis enjoyed was that fact that (the attraction and the TV show) have several differences."

Philbin does have a cameo at the attraction: A taped bit features him, supposedly sitting in a backstage dressing room at the theme park. It plays for audience members prior to the game's start.

Bauer says the audience generally isn't disappointed when he and the other hosts -- not Philbin -- appear onstage to lead the game.

"When they introduce us, they say, 'Ladies and gentlemen, welcome your host -- we like to call him him 'Regis, the Next Generation' -- a warm welcome for Joseph Bauer,' and I come walking out just like he does."

"I'm greatly enjoying it," Bauer says of his hosting duties. "At this point in my career to do something so different and so unusual (that is) such a big hit with the people, I'm just really having a ball."

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