Millionaire contestant deals with new fame

Fifth graders sat at their desks in awe as they watched their teacher, Ms. Johnson, grace the television screen.

Kristin Johnson was on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? playing for $1 million.

"They think they have a TV star in their classroom," said Kristin Johnson, senior elementary education major.

Others have also considered Johnson to be a star. Since she appeared on the show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? on Feb. 5, Johnson has received Facebook messages from strangers.

Several of the messages were from a man that graduated a year after Johnson from the same high school, she said.

Johnson said the man recognized her on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and sent her a message begging her to be his friend on Facebook. Never having ever met the man, Johnson declined his friend request.

The man continued to pursue her with countless messages and friend requests, Johnson said.

She continued to decline and ignore his efforts. At least she did until her friends informed her that her name began appearing in the man's Facebook status. 

In his status, he asked if anyone knew her or her fiancé, and if anyone had Johnson's contact information.

Her friends were Facebook friends with the man because he was a high school acquaintance, allowing them to see his status.

Johnson polled her friends using her status to find out if they thought the situation was serious enough to change her name on Facebook.

Her status read: "Should I change my name on Facebook to avoid crazy stalkers?"

She received a unanimous "yes" from her friends and for three days Johnson could be found on Facebook only as "Kristin J-son."

Johnson did not like her new name.

"That's not me," she said.

She decided the man was determined enough to probably find her anyway. She changed her name back and his messages stopped flooding her inbox.

Johnson's fiancé, Ben Gamble said he considered Johnson's fan a stalker.

"Somebody saw [the show] on TV and then they went on Facebook to try and find out because he recognized us and started sending messages," Gamble said.

But the stalker didn't upset him.

"He was just being weird," Gamble said. "It didn't bother me." 

Johnson said it didn't frighten her because the man lives more than two hours away and her current address is not posted on her Facebook profile.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? publicist Tracy Miller said the show does not generally give any training to its contestants before the show airs on how to deal with their new found fame, but if a contestant should encounter a problem the publicists are available to give advice. 

"[The contestants] have all of our contact information so they can be in touch with us afterward if they do have questions about how to handle a certain situation," Miller said.

The show did not give a crash course on how to handle this type of situation, but Gamble's father warned the couple that things like this may happen.

Still, Johnson never thought anything like this would happen to her.

"It's not like I won a million dollars," Johnson said. "Leave me alone."

Johnson does not like to advertise that she was on the show. She said she doesn't like to talk about her experience much, especially to people she doesn't know.

Johnson has received a few other friend requests from strangers, but unlike the man from her high school, their efforts ended when Johnson declined their first requests. 

Johnson's follower seems to have put his pursuit on hold, she said.

The man still has not contacted Johnson or sent her a friend request since she first changed her Facebook name.

Now Johnson can focus on her wedding plans and her internship at a local elementary school.

Johnson will graduate in May with a degree in elementary education.