Kelly Bruce is making the kind of money that makes Silicon Valley executive salaries look like chump change. The 23-year-old Bruce answered her way to $460,000 in one hour playing NBC's new high-stakes game show "21."
Bruce, a 1993 Los Gatos High School graduate, fended off the defending champion, winning herself a cool $160,000, and then went on to grab another $200,000 in a second game before finally being ousted in her third game of the show.
According to Bruce, who currently resides in Sherman Oaks, the winnings shattered all expectations she had going into the game. After calling a hotline number, taking a written test, playing a mock game, and then meeting with the producers, Bruce was selected for the game, guaranteeing her $1,000.
"I was just nervous about being picked," the aspiring actress said. "After winning the first game, everything else was just gravy."
In "21," a trivia-based game show, two contestants square off against one another and the first to reach 21 points wins. Contestants are given categories, and they then select a number from one to 11, which corresponds to the question's difficulty. Questions range from politics to pop culture. If the contestant misses a question, she gets a strike--after three strikes, she's out.
"It was tricky because, of course, when you're sitting there watching, you know the answer," Bruce said. "But when I was up there I started second-guessing myself."
Luckily for Bruce, she wasn't alone. Contestants are allowed to enlist the help of one friend, and for Bruce, it was her "daddy." Kevin Bruce came through for her, helping her answer a question on the World Trade Center bombing and former President George Bush's appointment as ambassador to the United Nations.
Bruce's mother, Pauline, was almost as thrilled as her daughter. "It was so exciting," Pauline Bruce said. "I just kept rewatching it."
Bruce recently graduated from the University of Southern California with a theater arts degree, following a two-year stint at West Valley College. She said she was not planning to quit her job as a marketing manager for California Pensions, but looked forward to pursuing her acting career.
"This will give me a little more flexibility as far as taking time off of work," she said, adding that she was auditioning constantly.
As for the remainder of the $460,000, Bruce said that she was hoping to take whatever was left after taxes and make a down payment on a house.
Still, Bruce is just trying to come to grips with her game show success. She said she invited a number of friends over to watch the episode on TV, and that that made it slightly more real. "I think it's finally starting to sink in," Bruce said.
Los Gatos, California Since 1881
