National

Local man gets his chance to race against the clock on '$100,000 Pyramid'

ATLANTA — You may see a familiar face when you tune in for the $100,000 Pyramid on Sunday evening.

Archith Sheshadri recently moved back to Atlanta after spending the last 2 years working as a news anchor for a global news network in India. He grew up in Alpharetta and is currently working as a freelance journalist.

Sheshadri said he stumbled across the casting call and decided to try out for the show on a whim.

"I got a few calls with the casting producers, did some practice rounds and a few weeks before we taped, I found out I was selected," Sheshadri told Channel 2 Action News.

Sheshadri said once he found out he was chosen for the show, he came up with several ways to get ready to play.

SNOOPDOG, ARCHITH SESHADRI (ABC/Lou Rocco)

“I practiced by making lists of lots of categories, watched old versions of the show, played the old board games and studied old topics,” Sheshadri said.

Sheshadri said he found out that they would be taping the show over Mother’s Day weekend, so he asked his mother to join him for the trip to New York City to celebrate.

He also said he didn’t know which celebrity he was going to be paired with. In his case, Sheshadri said he was paired with Snoop Dogg and Questlove.

QUESTLOVE, ARCHITH SESHADRI (ABC/Lou Rocco)

“We don't find out who the celebrities are until moments before we tape. QuestLove and Snoop Dogg were both very kind and really fun to interact with,” he said.

Sheshadri said taping took about 45 minutes and they taped four episodes that day.

“My taping was the last episode, so we didn't get called in until about 8 p.m.,” he said. “Once you are on the set, it goes by really fast.”

SNOOPDOG, ARCHITH SESHADRI, QUESTLOVE, MELANIE LEGRANDE (ABC/Lou Rocco)

Sheshadri walked away victoriously winning $61,500.

Despite missing a dinner reservation, Sheshadri said he and his mother went out to dinner after the taping to help celebrate Mother’s Day.

Sheshadri said he believes he's the first person of Indian decent to be a contestant on the show. He also told the crew that he wants to be a game show host and would like to come back to host Pyramid one day.

$100,000 Pyramid is hosted by Good Morning America's Michael Strahan and airs at 9 p.m. on Sunday nights on Channel 2.