These two title MTV cartoon guys thought the band KISS was pretty cool…
Who is Beavis and Butt-Head?
- Ben? - Who are Beavis and Butt-Head?
- Yup! - TV character for 400.
I'm not good at meeting people for the first time.
- Hey. Nice to meet you. Nathan. - Pleased to meet you. How are you? Kor.
- Door city over here. - Yes.
So, this is basically, it's like a portal, I guess, on some levels.
Yeah.
I have been told my personality can make people uncomfortable,
so I have to work to offset that.
Humor is my go-to instinct, but every joke is a gamble.
- Shoes off or… - Please walk as is.
- And… - Okay. Shirt off? Or? Just kidding.
- I'll leave my shirt on. - It's not that…
- No, it's not that kind of place. - No, it's not, I'm just kidding.
So far it was going well, and it had to,
because I was about to ask this man to trust me with his life.
Kor Skeet is a 50-year-old teacher from Brooklyn, New York,
and there is nothing he loves more than trivia.
I'm very good at television trivia.
Who is the youngest person to ever be inducted
into the Television Hall of Fame?
It's a female.
- Who? - Oprah Winfrey.
A few months ago,
Kor responded to a vague Craigslist post I put on the internet,
sharing a story about a lie he told his bar trivia team over 12 years ago.
I told my friends that I had an advanced degree,
and I didn't. I play trivia with them often,
and the problem was that I…
wanted to seem like I was smarter than I was.
My teammates all had advanced degrees.
I decided to let them think I had a master's degree
when I was just getting my bachelor's.
- You've quite a collection. - Yeah, I'm a bibliophile.
How to Make Love All Night and Drive a Woman Wild?
Well, you know?
I think we're gonna get along pretty well.
- I don't know about that. I… - Yeah.
And now it's gotten to the point where he's lying to them every day.
I have a friend on the team that keeps sending me,
jobs that require a master's degree.
So now, it's being shoved back in my face again,
and I'm running out of excuses.
I understand his dilemma. This trivia team is his life.
And when you reveal your true self, people don't always like what they see.
But I wanted to show him that if you plan for every variable,
a happy outcome doesn't have to be left to chance.
I assume you've seen some of my previous work? Or…
- I'm afraid I haven't. - Okay.
It's… I made a show called Nathan For You.
Okay.
Didn't you say your trivia specialty is television shows?
It is, but there's even a limitation on that.
- Okay. - Yeah.
- I mean, you should check it out. - I mean, definitely.
But a lot of it involved working with real people…
…so I'd have to put myself in all these
uncertain environments and I became really good at
predicting how people would act in a future situation.
- Okay, okay. - For example.
Like this conversation's going pretty well, right?
- Okay, I'd like to continue it. - I mean, do you think so? I don't know.
- Yeah. I'm… So far, so good. - I mean, we've been having fun.
I assume we have been sharing some laughs so far.
Yeah. I hope to continue that way.
So, that's no accident.
Everything that's happened so far today, I have rehearsed it dozens of times.
These exact words, in a replica of your home, with an actor playing you.
Okay.
Remember a couple of weeks ago, when the gas company came by
because of a leak in your building?
Yes…
Well, there wasn't a leak in your building, that was my team.
Gotta check the stove…
Ehen you gave them access,
they secretly made a digital map of your entire home.
We then recreated every detail of this space
as a physical set in a warehouse a few miles from here.
And with the help of a fake you,
I could practice every single permutation of this interaction
and have a plan for it.
I mean, do you think I should say something about the doors?
The actor I hired analyzed your submission video
to mimic your speech patterns and psychology.
Well, it's me with my… my parents, I was…
I can't remember, maybe I was about ten?
How to Make Love All Night and Drive a Woman Wild?
Yeah, that was a…
I feel like we're going to get along pretty well.
And we tried over and over.
- Hi. Nathan. - Hey.
- Hi. Nathan. - Hi. Hey, hi.
- Hi. Nathan. - Hi. Hi.
Door city over here.
And I'd adjust each time until I perfected it.
- Or shoes off? - No, you can leave them on, it's fine.
All right. What about shirt off?
Leave it on, please.
Yeah, so that will probably make him laugh.
So everything that's happened so far today,
I have rehearsed it dozens of times.
These exact words, in a replica of your home, with an actor playing you.
Wow!
This is what we can do for your lie with your friends.
Your trivia, like, this is the potential is what I am saying.
I see. Like a person,
if I had the ability to know… if I knew what… how the other person
or other people are going to react, or how the situation is going to go…
- You'll know. - Yeah.
You'll know what exactly to say for every possible way.
Then that would be extremely appealing, yes.
But as we kept talking, I began to understand
the real reason he had been putting this off for so long.
Well, it's good except for one thing.
Suppose one of my friends might give a reaction
that's very, very violent on some people,
even beyond the several predictions you can make.
What do you mean by violent?
Like, you know, call me names and saying things that are so unforgivable
that I couldn't be their friend after that.
Who are you worried about specifically?
I'd rather not reveal the name, not at this point, but…
it's definitely someone that's on the team.
I found myself in an odd situation.
Kor was willing to point out his friend in a photo,
but he wouldn't tell me anything else about her.
She looks so nice, what is it about her?
She's a nice person, very nice, but…
How do I put it?
If she… depending on her mood, you don't want to cross her too much.
Oh, my God! Okay.
It was frustrating. My rehearsal for today
was designed to get him to open up about this stuff,
but perhaps I had done something to put him off.
Thinking back, there was a somewhat off-color joke I tried
after a trip to the bathroom.
Oh, my gosh, I should start traveling with a plunger.
- You think he'd find that funny? Or… - Yeah.
But when I did it with the real Kor, it didn't land.
Oh my God, I should start traveling with a plunger.
Well, well, well.
I should invest in them.
- Are they expensive? - No. No.
Could that joke have been it?
I'd intended the joke to be self-deprecating
about my unpredictable bowel movements,
but reflecting on it later,
I realized he could have interpreted it as a criticism
that his bathroom was under-equipped.
Whatever the reason,
I couldn't stage a rehearsal for Kor with no details about his friend.
So, I planned a day trip for us upstate,
that was strategically designed to endear me to him
and hopefully, get him to open up.
- Have you ever been? - Never.
- You've never? - Never in my entire life.
So, your last name is Skeet and you've never been skeet shooting?
No, no.
Pull.
I didn't tell Kor,
but I had arranged ahead of time to have the guns loaded with blanks,
in the hopes that it would create a moment of bonding,
because we were both bad at this.
- You fired too early, man. - I fired too early.
Wow, we are not good at this.
- But it's nice to have a new experience. - Yeah.
But this was just laying the groundwork for the main event.
The mutual disclosure of personal information in a heated pool.
- You mentioned you were married. - Yes, I was married for five years.
- I was married for three years. - Didn't know that.
Is it sad for you?
I consider it one of my…
one of the bigger failures of my life.
- One of the what? - Biggest failures of my life.
I didn't want to go too deep into my private life,
so I'd pre-planned for an elderly swimmer to interrupt us,
in the hopes that it would convince Kor
I was ready to share more had the moment not been ruined.
I wasn't sure if my portrayal of vulnerability was convincing,
but on the ride home, Kor finally told me the name of his trivia friend, Tricia,
and what she did for a living.
She's been mostly a freelance writer and she has a blog,
gives information about things you could do to save money and have fun.
- What's the blog called? - Cheap Chick in the City.
- Cheap Chick in the City? - Cheap Chick in the City.
- Cheap Check in the City. - Cheap Chick in the City.
Cheap Chick in the City seemed to be a bare-bones website
dedicated to low-cost activities in New York.
I was hoping it would be a window into Tricia's psyche,
but it seemed like the majority of posts were just apologies
for not having anything to post that day.
I understand that. Sometimes you don't want to say anything,
but you do want people to know you exist.
Regardless, I was hopeful this blog would be enough
for the rehearsal actress we'd hire to base her performance on,
in addition to Kor's insights.
She has an appeal for an actor named Vincent… Karth… Karthreiser.
But unfortunately, it wasn't enough.
I think it's really useful to get a sense of what their reactions might be,
and the kinds of words that they might use.
So, to get her better access,
I decided to create a blog of my own called Thrifty Boy,
and offered Tricia the opportunity to write an article for us.
And luckily, she took the gig.
Her article would entail interviewing a professional bird watcher for our site,
because bird watching is a thrifty thing to do.
But what Tricia didn't know
is that she'd be interviewing her own doppelgänger,
who would be studying her every move.
- Nice to meet you. - You look all dressed up for birdwatching.
Tricia? That's my daughter's name.
Funny. There's not very many other Tricias or Patricia's ever.
So, do you have any favorite birds?
I do love hummingbirds.
At first glance, this woman didn't seem frightening at all,
but she did like to talk.
But you know my dad is really into birds.
- Oh, yeah? - He seriously has like…
He lives in North Carolina, which I guess,
apparently, there's a very big bird show there.
A really good book called The Huntress, and I do recommend it. It's World War II.
But otherwise, I mean, aside from my roommates,
I'm pretty happy with the way things are, but my roommate's definitely…
You know, like, "Hey, I'm running late,"
like, but maybe he found a payphone, maybe, but like…
One time, like, the plane started plunging, so after that, like…
I still get kind of nervous when I'm in a plane and…
Over the course of the 30-minute encounter,
our actress had trouble getting a single word in,
even though she was the one being interviewed.
So, I have all the apps, you know, for the different,
airlines, on my phone, ready to go, whenever I need to fly.
American Airlines, Delta, Gogo inflight entertainment.
But before it was over,
I wanted to get a sense of how Tricia would respond to being lied to.
Data that would be crucial for our rehearsal.
There's actually something I need to come clean about.
Okay.
I said early on that my daughter's name is Tricia but that was actually a lie.
- Okay. - I don't have a daughter.
Okay.
I guess I should have guessed when you said you were 39,
because it's a little young to have a daughter these days.
That's okay, that's funny, because I was like, I mean, like I said,
you don't meet too many other Tricias, so I was a little surprised, but you know,
that's… yeah, that's interesting, but I understand.
- I'm sorry that I… - It's fine, don't worry.
Do you have any funny moments that you had with a bird?
With birds? Or any fun stories about birds?
I was surprised by how not mad Tricia was.
Was Kor worried for nothing,
or was Tricia just able to bottle up her rage because it was a stranger?
Kor was so convinced she would have an extreme reaction
that he insisted the confession could only go down one-on-one,
in a public place.
Trivia would be, I think, the only place that would not arouse suspicion,
because that's something we do out of habit already.
I can probably get her in a trivia event, by ourselves, just between she and I.
But when I saw the trivia bar Kor frequents,
I was overwhelmed by the chaos of the environment.
This is footage I collected from the Alligator Lounge in Brooklyn,
and it seemed like any aspect of this space
could radically transform the tone of his big moment.
I had learned this firsthand when I met Kor.
I thought I would look cool,
but due to just a slight difference in chairs, I looked like a fool.
It's hard to say what about this place could affect Kor's confession,
but I did notice there were a lot of chairs,
and I didn't want to leave anything to chance.
Kor had messaged Tricia to play trivia with him
in just under two weeks' time. This is where it would happen.
The place where he would finally come clean.
So with the clock now ticking,
I invited Kor into my secret warehouse to begin his rehearsal.
Wow, this is… the perfect replica.
That's not even a funhouse version of it. It has… It looks… Wow!
Every detail was meticulously replicated this time.
Oh, my gosh!
This spice rack, it's the exact spices they have, the garlic, the basil.
This chair is an exact… This… These rips…
Yeah, and that, even that's exactly the way it is. The portrait kind of tilts.
You see that balloon there? That's in the real bar.
It'll be like walking in, in a normal level,
and then being able to know my bearings.
When you show up on the actual night, it'll feel just like this.
- Yes. - No surprises.
No.
You know everything that's gonna happen.
There's something strange about entering a space
that's indistinguishable from another.
In moments, you can forget where you are.
To me, it's like… It's a little surreal at times because…
I mean it's like… You're the…
you're Willy Wonka in the Chocolate Factory
and I'm Charlie Bucket, trying to get the…
I don't remember the plot fully, what did Willy Wonka do?
- Was he good? - Well, he created…
- Wasn't he a bad guy? - He had some questionable things.
He was this mysterious… factory full of candy, basically.
But I'm Willy…
- I'm the bad guy in the story? - Well, but he's a dream maker.
And you're doing… you're making some dreams happen for me.
But kids died in the factory.
Well, they supposedly died, I don't know for sure if they actually…
But they didn't get some good fate out of it.
I'll read the book again just to… to look into it.
Yeah.
It's good.
We started with basic blocking,
and the first choice Kor would have to make is where to sit.
- What's yours? This one? - Yep. Yes.
- Yeah. - Good?
Kor proposed that on the night, he would arrive early,
and secure his favorite table using his hat
while he went to grab their trivia sheet
and drinks for the two of them from the bar.
Hi, can I help you?
Can I have an orange juice, no pulp, and a margarita, please?
Coming right up.
Is that a margarita? What is it?
- What did you put in it? - I don't know… Just make…
I don't know how to make a margarita.
He thought that greeting Tricia with a drink
would help put her in a good mood,
since she normally shows up at trivia complaining about something.
My roommates are driving me crazy,
and just, it's one of those days where you're like, "You don't need to be rude."
I think it's just, like, we're all human beings here.
And he suggested trying to joke with her to lighten her spirits.
I would guess I would say…
I'm going to probably give you a little buzz tonight
because I'm sure someone's plucking your nerves today.
Okay, is that a joke? Or just a line…
- It'll be more of a joke. - Okay.
For every way Tricia could react, I would input a planned response
from Kor into specialized flowchart software.
- Hey. - Hi, Trish the dish.
How you doing?
This would allow us to chart the optimal path through the evening.
- Are you starting with presidents? - No, I'm starting with twins.
You went twins and then go to presidents?
I started with twins and I connected to…
- And then go to the presidents? - Yeah.
A decision tree that would guide us towards key milestones
and help us avoid pitfalls.
- Hey. Hi, man. - Hi. Trish the dish.
Kor had told me there was a chance Tricia could misinterpret his invitation
as a sign of romantic interest.
She's a single person and I guess…
that after all these years, I'm inviting her by myself.
Right.
You know I don't drink very much, you trying to get me drunk?
But when we ran that simulation, he gave confusing signals.
You're leaving your hand touching hers right there.
Well, if I move it then it's going to bring more suspicion to it.
How as a woman, how would you take that?
If you touched a guy's hand and he just left it there.
- She could read that as you flirting back. - Right.
So, I had Kor practice some standard defenses
to any advance she might make.
I think it's really nice of you to get me a drink.
I feel like it's… just, yeah, it's nice to go like, come and…
But, of course, all this was designed
to lay the perfect foundation for him to confess his lie.
Did I tell you what happened with my laptop?
No, no idea.
The other day I went to switch it on
and it just didn't switch on, and like, it was, you know that thing of…
I was in the middle of writing something,
so I'm thinking I'm going to lose the pictures that are in there…
Well, it's funny that you think about losing, I wanted.
It sounds heavy, but actually, don't worry because I…
This story turned around,
like, I didn't actually end up losing the photos and the stuff,
but I did have to take it to get it fixed.
Kor, I think you need to take control of the conversation,
she's not going to give you an opening.
If you just let her talk she's just gonna keep talking, right?
I'll try just one more time.
To see if I can find another pattern into breaking into the conversation.
Okay. Try it.
Like, he just couldn't make any kind of conversation
and like, he suddenly said like, something about, like,
pineapple being a member of the citrus family, and like…
My educational situation is a fraud.
What?
But just starting his confession wasn't the only challenge.
Kor was most worried about the aftermath.
So, our entire approach
had to be planned around the format of this particular trivia night.
There's usually six questions per round, it's about four rounds.
After round two, they usually have a ten to 15-minute break.
We're going to take a ten-minute break, and I'm going to add up all your scores.
And then during that time, sometimes we would order some pizza.
Here are your two tickets for pizza.
The ideal thing would be to talk about it for five minutes
and then, yeah, move on.
I don't want to linger, I just want to say it and then pretty much have it dropped.
So, you don't have a master's degree?
No. I just don't want you to send me any more information
about jobs that have a master's degree…
I really want to understand like, why… how did we end up here?
So, you just want to shut it down.
I want to shut it down. So, at least if I do it toward the end,
then the benefit is I can leave if I think, "Okay, too hairy,"
and say, "Oops, I have an appointment to go to, sorry, I have to go."
I don't owe you an explanation for that, I really don't.
I owe you an apology for putting you through that,
but I don't feel I owe you an explanation.
All right, well, can we like, discuss it after the trivia?
I don't want to discuss it any longer about the situation.
So, I'd rather say it at least after the last round, but before the scores.
All right, start finishing up your ballots
and bring them up to score when you're ready, all right?
But as soon as we started incorporating full rounds of trivia into our rehearsal,
it revealed a problem.
What is the number on the roof of the bus in Speed?
Kor became entranced by the game, and when he didn't know an answer,
he couldn't focus on anything else.
That's right, I'm gonna lose some points on this one.
I thought I would have known,
who hosted Wheel of Fortune before Pat Sajak.
And I had 10,000 names in my head but I couldn't pinpoint anybody.
Sure. Okay, well, do you want to go into the confession?
Or do you want to try that or…
It's the option…
And he grew frustrated that the stress of having to confess this lie
was affecting his trivia game.
I'm not gonna take the chance to miss good questions
because I'm having this burden,
because we can actually just lose points because the concentration is off…
Right, but who cares if you lose the game?
You got this off your chest, It's just one night of bar trivia.
No. One night of bar trivia is sacrosanct to us.
And that's when he told me
that if it wasn't going well on the actual trivia night,
he might bail on the confession entirely.
No, I would not… I'm not sacrificing trivia night.
- Not for that, no. - Isn't it just for fun?
- Like everyone's drunk, right? - No.
Then, I'm going to have two things against me,
I mess up a good trivia night and I lied to her.
So, to me, I got to take one of them out of the equation.
Okay.
I had gone to incredible lengths to eliminate all uncertainty from the night.
But the only way to know the actual trivia questions
that the real host would be asking would involve some sort of cheating,
and that would be unethical.
But maybe it's more unethical to leave things to chance
when there's something you could have done.
So, posing as the founder of the popular blog Thrifty Boy,
I arranged an interview with the real trivia host
at one of the other bars he hosts at
under the pretense of doing a Thrifty Boy trivia night feature.
Now, is it mandatory to buy drinks?
Because our readers really don't like to spend money.
We have not had a problem with having people forced to buy drinks or food.
And does the bar charge for seltzer water, or is that free?
That's up to each individual establishment.
- And to… I think… - Very cool, okay.
I told him we wanted the profile to include an interactive video component
in which he would read the questions
for the Alligator Lounge's upcoming trivia night to camera,
so our readers could play along at home for free.
What conflict began in 1789 and led to the beheading of Louis XVI?
It was one thing to get the trivia questions for the big night,
but making sure Kor knew the answers would be its own challenge.
So, I don't know why Archie had trouble choosing them
except for the personality cause they look physically the same.
I knew that cheating at trivia was something Kor doesn't tangle with.
- Have you ever cheated at trivia? - No.
So we started going on daily walks just to chat about life,
but I was actually using these casual strolls
to covertly implant every single trivia answer
into Kor's brain without him knowing.
If you ever need to get in, the code is 1789.
Okay.
Like the year the French Revolution started in 1789.
I'm not a big summer person.
- And I'm not a big… - Oh, shit!
- …spring person. - It's all over my DKNY pants.
- Donna Karan New York, DKNY. - Only in New York.
Building's looking pretty tall.
It is tall but it's not the tallest building in the world.
That'll be the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
- The Burj Khalifa? - Yup. The Burj Khalifa. Tallest building.
What's going on here?
It's a hostage situation, guy has four people at gunpoint.
Shot someone in the head on his way in.
- Oh, my God! That's nuts. - Oh, my gosh.
It's days like these that I curse the Chinese for inventing gunpowder.
That's crazy. Oh, my God.
Good luck to you, sir. Good luck with the whole process.
- Oh, my God. - Prayers for the family.
With just three days to go
until Kor would meet up with Tricia at the real Alligator Lounge,
I had over 30 actors occupy the space, playing customers, servers.
We had real beer on tap and even a working simulation of their pizza oven.
Each time we ran through the night,
new variables were introduced that he would have to adapt to.
With a special focus on the moment when he'd be confessing.
I got to tell you something, and it's been eating at me for years.
- Oh, yeah? - Hey guys, how we doing over here?
- Good. - I'm fine, thank you.
Can we get you another drink? Can I get you a drink?
I think we're good.
Kor, you don't want the interruption happening during the confession,
so maybe you make sure your drink isn't empty at this point in the night.
- Right? So, maybe tiny sips. - Right.
- Can you just take tinier sips? - I got it, take tiny sips.
We ran through the entire night 13 times.
But unlike real life,
in here, you can always hit the reset button and start over.
It was the one place on earth you couldn't fail.
Orange juice, no pulp.
Hope you don't mind? I decided to give you a little buzz.
It's something that's been eating at me for a long time.
Oh, yeah?
It's been eating at me for this… forever, and I want to…
I just want to tell you.
- No pulp. - Okay.
I got to tell you something. This has been eating at me for years.
My whole educational status has been a scam.
Just based after my childhood, I guess there's some issues there.
Some insecurities I haven't been able to face until now.
As we neared the end, Kor seemed to be testing new approaches,
but that didn't mean Tricia always took it well.
I don't understand why you felt the need to lie about your education.
I mean, it's really messed up.
For years, we were trying to help you get a job
because you said you had a master's degree, and that was all bullshit!
Is this what you think a friendship is?
Like, you have no respect for me, no respect for my time.
I don't give a crap about your education.
But… but 12 years of deception, that's… 12 years!
It's unforgivable. I don't want to talk to you again.
Please don't go.
He lied about having a master's degree. I just heard their conversation.
- No master's degree? - This guy is such a fraud.
- Who doesn't have a master's degree? - And the loser of tonight's trivia is…
Kor Skeet.
Are you sure you want to do this? For sure?
Well, it still felt good that I got it off my chest,
even if it means I might lose a friendship in the process.
Like… I don't think it'll go that bad.
But…
I'm literally going into the unknown, the pit of the alligator, and…
he's going to swallow me up or let me go free.
We had planned for Kor to get there early to secure his chosen table.
But when he arrived, there was a problem. The table was taken.
Fortunately, we had rehearsed for this exact scenario.
Sorry to bother you, my grandmother died of like, brain cancer recently…
…and this, terrible thing.
This table here is like a sentimental thing.
I know you're all settled here but would you consider to moving to another area?
- I know it sounds outrageous. - We can go one table over.
- Yeah, if you want. - That'd be nice of you.
- Thank you so much. - No worries.
My grandmother very recently died of something very similar…
I'm so sorry about that.
- Do you have any orange juice? - Yes.
Do you have it with no pulp? Thank you so much.
You just take the tickets up there for your pizza.
Thank you so much.
Hello!
- Hey! - Trish the dish.
- Gosh! - Now what?
I decided to get you a rum and coke, a little buzz.
Because I'm sure everyone's been plucking on your nerves,
or someone you know…
Oh my God! Yes, today has been pretty awful.
As expected, Tricia showed up not in the best of spirits,
but Kor knew exactly what to talk about to cheer her up.
The Bush twins. Yeah, Jenna and Laura.
They're the only two children of a president, that are twins.
With all the presidents, sometimes having eight or nine kids.
And none of them had twins within that range.
Not even stillborn twins, not even like in that situation.
- So he's the only one. - That's very… that is very interesting.
Kor was sticking to the script, and it was working.
He's the earliest president we have
that had like… has grandchildren still living from that generation.
That is so crazy.
And before long, it was time for trivia.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,
the moment you all have been waiting for, we're going to start playing trivia.
What mode of transportation places the rider in a laid-back, reclining position,
distributing the rider's weight comfortably over a large area?
These freaking recumbent bikes are everywhere.
What mode of transportation
places the rider in a laid-back reclining position,
distributing the rider's weight comfortably over a large area?
Probably a train. I think Amtrak did that but I'm not sure.
Or it could be a bike, or something like that, one of those reclining bikes?
But you don't really, recline the seat of a bike.
Yeah.
Kor was slightly off on the first question,
and I was worried these answers weren't fully absorbed into his brain.
The correct answer to that is a recumbent bike.
- This is like, really… - Yeah, I knew it was a bike.
But I… I know… I've seen it, but I couldn't imagine the name.
- I've heard the name. - I wouldn't know the name.
But then, things started to turn around.
The correct answer is the French Revolution.
Look at you!
The correct answer, gunpowder.
And the correct answer to that is called Burj Khalifa.
Good!
It was an amazing streak that continued until the end of round four,
and he seemed to be brimming with confidence
by the time he got up to hand in his score sheet,
marking the start of his window to come clean.
Thank you. I'll be right back.
In our fake bar, we had practiced an option
where he would get pizza for both of them right after the fourth round,
so it would be easier for him to initiate the confession while her mouth was full,
and since she was in a chatty mood, it seemed like he had decided to go for it.
- Two cheese pizzas, please. - Two cheese? Okay, ten minutes.
- Okay. - But then, something happened.
When he returned to the table to wait for his pizzas, Tricia wasn't talking.
It was the perfect opportunity to begin his confession, but for some reason,
he wasn't doing it.
- Yeah. Yeah. - Okay.
The pizza tastes better after a certain period of time,
the pizza's good but then, after a couple of rounds, it really hits it in…
Hits it to the last spot. Especially after a couple rums and cokes.
And as the clock kept ticking, he just sat there.
In this case, ask over the lady who'd take the pizza, the faster it comes.
Oh, my gosh.
There's been, something on my mind I've had to deal with and…
you know, maybe it's there?
Is it this one?
Hang on a second.
Okay. Okay.
Almost around the corner.
What's up?
They ring the bell, they're getting closer to making the pizza.
Well, I guess so. Now what were you saying before?
I feel bad that… this has been bothering me a long time to tell you this.
What's that?
My whole educational life has been, kind of a fraud.
- Really? - Yeah.
Remember when I was showing pictures of my graduation a couple years ago?
In front of the gang and everything like that?
Yeah.
And then you asked at the time, said that I got a master's degree.
- And I kind of went along with it. - Really?
Yeah.
I felt kind of bad because I didn't want to level with you about that.
Okay. Well…
I was only going for my bachelor's degree at the time.
It's still pretty impressive.
I mean, you know, lots of people don't have master's degrees.
It's cool, I'm not surprised, because I thought you had a master's but…
Hang on a second, one second.
Yeah, thank you.
- Two cheese? - Yes. Thank you.
I didn't realize you didn't have your master's degree, cause I thought you did.
That's what you said before.
Yeah, yeah, I've… see the thing is that, what made it worse was
I came into the group, the trivia group,
I was, like, the last person that even had a college degree.
And I kind of felt like inferior about that.
That's so silly, don't you feel upset about that.
Lots of people barely even finish high school.
My sister only got her GED like two years ago. You know?
Well, I just, you know, and I kept that lie going on all that time.
And it kind of ate at me and then, you helped me, you know, apply for jobs,
so it actually went that far to even send my résumé just to appease you.
I appreciate that so much, I had no idea.
And I feel you know? I just…
My friendship with you means a great deal.
Me too.
And I don't want you to think that I would even continue lying to you.
But I've been living this lie all this time and I kind of felt bad about that.
Well, it's so sweet to finally tell me about it. I had no idea.
Iyt's very brave of you to tell me this, and I really had no clue.
Instead of trying to move on to another topic,
Kor sat with her for the next hour-and-a-half
and began sharing things that he had never told Tricia
in their nearly 20 years of friendship.
And my father used the situation where he sent the child support,
which could be for my college education, for me and my sister.
And by the time we came of age, he doesn't want to pay for it.
That's rough. I'm sorry to hear that. I really am.
And what made it worse was when I was graduating…
While we were practicing,
I also had Kor rehearse the aftermath of his confession beyond the actual night.
Whether it be the torment of a friendship lost…
or the joy of a friendship strengthened.
Where his confession opens the floodgates
to actually talking for the first time.
This is so nice, it's like, like such a difference from just normally
when we're hanging out in the city in a bar, just playing trivia and…
Maybe it's easiest to choose a path when you can live the future first.
To free yourself from doubt and regret,
to always know the answers.
As a symbol of support for those living with AIDS and HIV.
So, what is a ribbon?
- Oh, yeah. - Red ribbons.
I would have lost a point on the color.
- So, how are you feeling? - Fantastic.
We actually did better than expected, when we actually won.
Well, congrats.
Yeah. There were questions that were in my wheelhouse.
The questions that were in my wheelhouse,
I was able to answer those particular questions correctly.
You got everything off your chest, and it must feel good.
I got it off my chest, and I still won that night.
- Trivia… - Which is an ex…
I won a trivia night, and that's the extra cherry on the sundae, I guess.
There's something I need to…
come clean about.
So, I knew what the trivia answers were going to be tonight
and I taught you them in advance without you knowing,
and I know you're against cheating
and this isn't cheating because you actually didn't know I was doing it,
but I was just… wanted you to focus on the confession,
and I wanted your confidence to be up, but I feel terrible about it, and I just..
I'm sorry. I want to say I'm sorry.
Yeah.
Okay, I understand what you're saying and…
I appreciate your motivation, but…
you've tainted, you've ruined the whole thing for me,
because I knew the answers, I knew the answers and I'm on TV now,
and everybody now is going to think that I didn't know them,
that I'm a fake and you…
You know how important this was for me?
This is a mistake. It was a huge mistake, and you fucked this all up.
You're an awful…
awful person.
I think you're… a great guy.
Like you're a great person.
- Well, thank you for the compliment. - Yeah, just…
I don't give compliments a lot,
so I wanted to come clean about just kind of saying the compliment.
I don't affirm people enough. Yeah, so…
- It's just kind of like… Yeah. - That's nice of you to say.
- Thank you, - You are, you are.
- That's very touching. - Of course.