“Not bad for a day’s work.” This is what NIU student Darryl Silver said about winning $1,000 during Christmas break on NBC’s game show Win, Lose or Draw.

Silver, a member of Delta Upsilon, appears on Channel 5 at 10:30 a.m. today with celebrities Dr. Ruth, Joel Brooks, Leslie Esterbrook, Ian “Duke” Buchar (from General Hospital) and with Vicky Lawrence as host.

Before he was able to play the show, Silver went through four hours of training. He said they encouraged the contestants to be “super-personable” and to always keep guessing no matter what. Because they tape five shows a day, it was late afternoon before Silver was on. Even so he said it was a great experience and he would strongly encourage anyone to try out. “It’s something fun to do for a day,” he said matter-of-factly.

He ended up doing well on the show. The men’s team didn’t win that day, but Silver won his round, and for this he received $1,000 and, of course, the home version of the game. When asked what was the puzzle he solved, he couldn’t remember because he said the game happens so fast.

Another show Silver will be appearing on is Sweethearts, which is about three off-beat couples. Silver plays one of the husbands and will be doing more acting than he did on the game show. Sweethearts is hosted by Charles Nelson Reilly and will air Aug. 27 on cable channel WOR.

How did he wind up on television? While in California this summer, Silver and some of his friends were flipping through the L.A. Times when they ran across ads for these open auditions. Silver decided he would try out for all the shows that he would have a chance at getting on during his stay. He was chosen to be on both, but there was a catch. He would have to make a return trip over Christmas Break to shoot them.

Besides shooting these shows during break, Silver was also working on another production. This time he was behind the scenes in a comedy called “The Shooters.” According to Silver it’s somewhat similiar to the movie “Stripes.” As assistant to the production manager, he was in charge of market product placement, location scheduling and equipment.

“Working on this film was a good way to meet people in the industry,” he said. He would often walk around the studio to see if he could make any business contacts. The exact date of release hasn’t been set for this film, but it should come out this fall.

Silver is a Radio/Television/Film major here at NIU and said he would like to pursue a career in production, directing, or possibly even acting. He plans on moving to Los Angeles after graduation. As for working on the three shows, Silver commented “you really can’t go wrong. The whole time I was meeting new and interesting people.”