'Millionaire' contestant told to change outfit

Gayle Takasaki, a state environmental engineer, is the second Hawai‘i contestant to make it to the "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" hot seat. The segment airs at 8 tonight on KITV-4.

Gayle Takasaki is the second Island contestant to make it to the hot seat on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” ABC

Because red is her good-luck color, Takasaki bought a new Anne Namba outfit to wear on the ABC-TV game show in which Regis Philbin is host. The show was taped last Thursday.

Producers, however, nixed the outfit as too colorful and "cultural," so Takasaki opted for a business suit. (Contestants are routinely required to bring in their on-air clothes for review.)

"They were very conservative," said Takasaki, who paid more than $200 for the Namba jacket, which was predominantly red with gold calligraphy.

"I wanted to show off a little bit of Hawai‘i, but I guess I can wear it to other events," said Takasaki, who tucked bits of a red scarf in her pocket for good luck instead.

A "Millionaire" publicist said what happened to Takasaki was standard operating procedure. "We explain to our contestants that clothing with small prints, checks, narrow stripes or sometimes bold color can cause images on television to appear to be moving, which presents an issue," publicist Trisha Miller said. "We even ask Regis to change his clothes occasionally."

Diversity has been an issue for "Millionaire," however. Producers took note of the preponderance of white male contestants and recently began supplementing the contestant pool with telephone qualifiers who are females or members of minority groups.

Ironically, Takasaki isn’t a big "Millionaire" fan: "I hardly watch at home," she said."

Takasaki is the ninth Island contestant and the first woman to give her "final answers" and only the second to talk story with Regis. She was contractually bound not to reveal the show’s outcome.

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