It didn’t take a rocket scientist to win the online pop-culture game Gold Rush, but the Tennessee man who claimed the grand prize of $1 million in gold comes close.
Michael Kearney, 22, of Nashville, with a resume that includes a college degree before he became a teenager and two master’s degrees by age 18, emerged as the winner Thursday after 18 finalists were brought to Los Angeles to compete face-to-face.
“Life has always been weird for me,” Kearney said in a statement. “I graduated college at 10, so I was always the weird kid. Now I’m the weird kid with money.”
Twelve players, including Kearney, won $100,000 in early rounds that led them to gold bars. Six wild-card players joined in the final rounds.
Kearney, who is pursuing a doctorate in chemistry at Middle Tennessee State University, participated in a media experiment: Gold Rush, created by reality TV king Mark Burnett (“Survivor”) and AOL, is part of the quest to meld the Internet and television.
The game required players to answer questions about music, movies and other elements of popular culture using clues scattered throughout CBS programming, as well as in magazines, radio and on AOL.com.
The Gold Rush finale taped Tuesday was to air Thursday on “Entertainment Tonight” and be shown on the Gold Rush site throughout November. The game that started in September was hosted by “Entertainment Tonight” co-anchor Mark Steines.
To play Gold Rush check out the link on the left side of this page….but watch out….it’s highly addicting!
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.