Seven months of anticipation will come to an end on Friday.
Pistol City Restaurant and Saloon general manager and Steeleville resident Kyle Hinnerichs will have a viewing party of his August taping of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" starting at 8 p.m.
Hinnerichs' appearance, which spilled over onto a second show, will air Thursday and Friday (March 16 and 17) from 11 a.m. to noon on WSIL TV 3, the local ABC station.
"The plan is to have a party, tentatively looking at 8 p.m.," Hinnerichs said. "I'm going to have a DVD with the show on it and split the signal to four different TVs."
Hinnerichs has stayed mum on the results of his appearance for a big reason - the Coulterville restaurant has been running a contest in which a customer can win 1 percent of Hinnerichs' winnings.
Entries are being accepted until Friday.
"Literally thousands," Hinnerichs said on how many entries the contest has had. "We've emptied the drum twice.
"I have an enormous trash bag full of receipts that I have to reach my hand in and draw one out. The response has been tremendous."
During an interview with the Herald Tribune in August, Hinnerichs said that, theoretically, someone could win $10,000 if he won the grand prize of $1 million.
"Theoretically, it could also only be $10," he said in August. "But someone's going to win more than that."
Hinnerichs was asked if he has thought much about his performance in the time since the taping.
"I've had a ton of time to reflect," he said. "There's a few things I would have perhaps done differently; I don't know if it would have changed my result.
"I can say I'm happy with how it turned out and am looking forward to my next adventure."
Hinnerichs is hoping that next adventure is an appearance on "Jeopardy!," which has been a long-time goal of his. He has previously passed the "Jeopardy!" qualification test three times.
"All network game shows have a stipulation in their rules and regulations where if you're on one, you have to wait a year," Hinnerichs said, adding that the year wait begins when his appearance airs on television, not when it was taped.
Keeping a secret for seven months is a hard thing to do and Hinnerichs acknowledged that.
"I will say regardless of how I did on the show, this has absolutely been one of the hardest things I've had to go through because every day in the past seven months, I've had somebody ask me about the show," he said. "We're just really appreciative for everybody taking an interest and seeing this thing through."
