Colleen Demark of Collegeville, Penn., won $100,000 as the 10th round winner of Gold Rush (www.aol.com/goldrush), the groundbreaking seven-week interactive game from AOL and Mark Burnett, where players can literally turn their pop culture know-how into gold. Demark won the gold at Graceland in Memphis, Tenn., and will travel to Los Angeles for the finale round to compete for an additional $1 million. Demark, the wife of round four finalist Tony Demark, is only the second woman to win a round and secure a place in the finale.
Demark, 32, is an electrical estimator with a degree in mineral engineering from Pennsylvania State University. She is a native of Phillipsburg, New Jersey, and currently resides in Collegeville, Penn. with her husband Tony and their two sons, Cooper, age 2 ½ and newborn Casey. She plans to use her winnings to take the family on a vacation, make some structural improvements to their home, and start a college fund for the boys.
"Tony is the driving force behind my win," said Demark. "Not only did I want to win for him, but also for all the ladies that have been playing this game."
In a Gold Rush first, Demark competed against two other women, Kim Carlsen of Weedsport, N.Y., and Sally Singles of Manchester, Tenn.
For round one, filmed at the Elvis Presley Automobile Museum, players had to answer pop culture trivia questions, including identifying Tom Cruise as the celebrity who jumped up on Oprah Winfrey's couch and declared his love for Katie Holmes. Demark emerged as the winner and won an advantage in the next round. For round 2, filmed on the front lawn of Graceland, The Private Dancers (a group of six Gold Rush dancers dressed in military fatigues), performed a series of dances rooted in pop culture, including Madonna's "Vogue," and The Bangles' "Walk Like an Egyptian." Demark was the first to identify three dances and secured a spot in the final round. The two remaining contestants fought for the one open spot with Carlsen emerging as the victor, and eliminating Sally Singles from the game.
For the final round filming returned to the car museum where Demark and Carlsen had to unscramble letters to reveal the names of three celebrities that were associated with Elvis Presley. Demark was the first to reveal the names of Ann-Margret, Ed Sullivan, and Jerry Lee Lewis. She was then asked how many times Elvis appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. She called her husband Tony "" her Gold Buddy - and armed with the answer "3" Demark unlocked the vault, and won the $100,000 round prize.
"I remember seeing Mark Burnett and Mark Steines chatting about the game on The Early Show back in September, and thought that the game sounded fun. Never did I imagine that I would make it this far, much less win a round and have a shot at the million," said Demark.
The 10th round Gold Competition featuring Colleen Demark begins airing today (Tuesday, 10/24/06), free on demand, on AOL.COM/GOLDRUSH (http://www.aol.com/goldrush) through November.
"The last two rounds will be like nothing we've seen in this game before," promised Gold Rush producer Mark Burnett, "Fans of this show will be thrilled to see what we've got up our sleeves."
Gold Rush, hosted by Entertainment Tonight Co-Anchor Mark Steines, asks players to answer a series of pop culture challenges using clues scattered throughout the world of media and pop culture "" in CBS Television Network programming, popular magazines, radio shows, and on AOL.com.
The first three players in each of the first 12 rounds to answer the questions correctly are whisked away to a specially selected location to compete in a fast-paced, pop culture-focused battle for $100,000 in gold. In the 13th round, the first 12 winners return, along with 6 new contestants, to vie for the $1 million grand prize. New players can join with each new round.
Log onto www.aol.com/goldrush for more details and rules on how to play and win.
About Mark Burnett
Mark Burnett is the leading producer of reality content for both primetime television and the Internet. Mark Burnett has revolutionized television with hits such as Eco-Challenge, Survivor, The Apprentice, The Contender, Rock Star, Martha Stewart in syndication and On the Lot. Mark Burnett has also partnered with AOL on the eagerly anticipated adventure Gold Rush, the first-ever unscripted project to be produced exclusively for the Internet. Mark Burnett has also successfully reintroduced product placement as an integral part of each of his shows and his companies have garnered a total of 43 Emmy® nominations since 2001. Mark Burnett was listed as the #1 Most Valuable Player by TV Guide and in Time Magazine's Top 100 most influential people in the world today.
About AOL
AOL is a global Web services company that operates some of the most popular Web destinations, offers a comprehensive suite of free software and services, runs the country's largest Internet access business, and provides a full set of advertising solutions. A majority-owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., AOL LLC is based in Dulles, Virginia. AOL and its subsidiaries also have operations in Europe, Canada and Asia. Learn more at AOL.com.
For free hi-res stills of Colleen Demark, and all previous Gold Rush winners, please log onto www.aolepk.com/goldrush.