Ex-Senate staffer wins big on 'Millionaire'

He didn’t win a million big ones, but a former Senate staffer is $100,000 richer after appearing on “Who Wants to be a Millionaire.”

Chris Jacobs, who until recently worked as a policy analyst for former Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), won the dough by answering more than 10 questions correctly on the Meredith Vieira-hosted TV game show, which aired Thursday.

He walked away — with loads more Benjamins in his pocket — when he was out of lifelines and didn’t know the answer to the $250,000 question: “Confusingly, the edible bird we call “turkey” is known in the country Turkey by what other culturally-based name?” (The answer is Hindi, by the way). 

But Jacobs tells us the quarter-million-dollar question won't haunt him, writing in an email, "I didn't know it, and betting that much money on a guess would have been very risky ... A lot of contestants on 'Millionaire' walk away [with] less money than I won, so I consider myself very fortunate in every respect."

While he believes DeMint is traveling and hasn't had a chance to talk to him since the show aired, Jacobs has been busy making other plans, such as how to spend all that cash. "I plan on donating some of [it] to American University, my alma mater," he says.

"I also plan on using the money to travel — I'm not quite sure where yet, but I'm going to have fun figuring it out!"