Two UA Students Win Thousands on NBC Game Show

Minute to Win It Group

During the "Minute to Win It" filming, members of both Juliana Campbell and Haley Caldwell's family attended the show, which is hosted by Guy Fieri. (Photo courtesy of Haley Caldwell)

Minute to Win It

UA students Juliana Campbell and Haley Caldwell received a list of more than 30 games to practice in advance of competing in the NBC game show, "Minute to Win It." Both attended the network's bootcamp in Studio City, Calif. and spent time on their own practicing before the filming.

By La Monica Everett-Haynes, University Communications July 29, 2010

Juliana Campbell and Haley Caldwell completed a series of challenges in NBC's "Minute to Win It" game show, walking away with a $50,000 prize.

What started out as a study break distraction has resulted in University of Arizona students Juliana Campbell and Haley Caldwell winning $50,000. 

The two responded to a casting call on Facebook.com for NBC's "Minute to Win It," which was held just off campus in May. After the audition, the the two were handpicked to compete during the game show in June.

"I never thought anything of it. We went spur of the moment," said Campbell, a psychology junior and Honors College student.

"It was the week before finals. Classes were winding down, and we didn't have anything else to do," she said. "We thought, 'We have nothing to lose.'" 

During the show, filmed in Los Angeles and hosted by cook and restaurateur Guy Fieri, participants must successfully complete a series of minute-long challenges for a chance to win $1 million.

In the episode, which aired Wednesday, Campbell and Caldwell had to toss hula hoops and land them around soda bottles, keep a kite in flight while running in a circle and use a grill top to navigate four ping pong balls into the vent holes, among other things.

"The whole competition was a very fun difficult. It was so stressful, and the games were deceptively easy," said Campbell, whose parents attended the taping. "You'd look at them and think, 'This looks so easy.' But it was unbelievably hard."

The duo advanced to the fifth round, which required that they use scuba flippers to bounce ping pong balls back and fourth while side stepping across the stage, then tossing the balls into a cooler.

Campbell intends to use her portion of the winnings to study abroad in Italy, a desire she has long had. 

"Most of this really solves the issue for me in having to save up. Now, I'm guaranteed to go abroad," she said.

Caldwell, whose family also attended the filming, said she plans to spend a portion of her funds on leisure while saving the bulk for the future, perhaps to buy a house.

"It was just something different and fun to do," said Caldwell, a UA journalism sophmore who, like Campbell, is a member of Alpha Phi. "It was just amazing. The whole thing. In one word, it was fun."