-Making it to final contest means guaranteed cash-

OSOYOOS TIMES-January 14, 2009-

By Paul EverestrnOsoyoos Times

When Ron Trottier of Osoyoos received a phone call on Jan. 7 telling him he had won an all-expenses-paid trip to Winnipeg to take a shot at winning $1 million, he figured he was being scammed.
I thought this was a con job, he said.
It quickly became clear, however, that Trottier had been chosen as a semi-finalist for the Capital One Million Dollar Button contest which will take place, live on CBC, in Winnipeg on Jan. 25.
Airline tickets were booked, a hotel was reserved and $500 in spending money was waiting for him.
It was all on the up and up, Trottier said.
Last fall, Trottier had entered his name in an online contest put on by Capital One Financial Corp.
He was selected at random from thousands of online entries to compete for the money with four other Canadians in a competition to follow the BDO Classic Canadian Open, which is the third leg of the men's 2008-09 Capital One Grand Slam of Curling series.
The five national semi-finalists will first compete against each other on Jan. 24 and the semi-finalist who throws the rock closest to the button will earn the right to compete for $1 million in the finals the following day.
That person will have a chance to throw one rock in the competition and if it covers the hole in the centre of the button, he or she will win $1 million.
Trottier said that at this point, he hasn't come up with a strategy for the contest.
I'll be so bloody nervous I don't think I'll be able to throw a rock, he said.
But Trottier has been curling for 25 years, although he's taken this season off, and he knows his way across the ice as he is the custodian for the Osoyoos International Curling Club.
He said he's been practising since he was told he was a semi-finalist and he has been timing the shots of curlers he watches on television.
Even if the finalist doesn't make the million-dollar shot, he or she could still be coming home with money.
Should the contestant's rock miss covering the hole in the centre of the button, but be touching a part of the button, the person will receive $100,000.
And if the rock is touching the four-foot circle, the contestant will receive $25,000.
A prize of $10,000 will be awarded if the rock is touching the eight-foot circle while a rock that touches the 12-foot circle will earn $5,000.
Should the finalist's rock not touch any of the circles, the contestant will receive $1,000.
Trottier will be heading to Winnipeg with his wife Louise on Jan. 23 and he said even if he doesn't capture the million dollars, he has nothing to lose.
The worst that can happen is we get an all-expenses paid trip, he said.
[email protected]rn