'Money Drop' Goof Couple: Lost Cash, But Not Love

Dec. 27, 2010 — -- The couple that lost $800,000 when a game show mistakenly booted them for giving the correct answer to a trivia question said that while losing the cash was devastating, it revealed to them just how rich they already were to have each other.

"We really came together and really knew how much we loved each other," contestant Brittany Mayti said today on "Good Morning America," sitting by her boyfriend, Gabe Okoye. "Because losing that much money and staying together is a big accomplishment."

Okoye and Mayti were just three questions from walking away with nearly a million dollars on the Fox game show "Million Dollar Money Drop" when they were asked the fifth question in the seven-question game.

Host Kevin Pollak asked the young couple from Los Angeles: "Which of these was sold in stores first?"

The choices: the Macintosh Computer, Sony Walkman or the Post-it note.

The couple agonized over how to gamble the $880,000 they'd earned to that point -- money they had planned to spend on their wedding.

Mayti thought the Walkman was the correct answer. Okoye was convinced that the Post-it note was the correct answer. The two argued for their choices, all while piling heaps of cash on the blocks representing the answers.

Mayti caved and decided to go with her boyfriend and wager more on the Post-it.

"I did know that I had the answer correct," Okoye said today. "I was actually very sure."

As the clock wound down, the couple bet $80,000 on the Walkman and $800,000 on the Post-it. They fell to their knees when they heard the answer: the Walkman.

After missing the question and losing nearly a million dollars in a matter of seconds, they blew the rest of the game.

"We walked away with nothing," Mayti said days after the episode aired.

"What you didn't see was about 15 minutes of everyone trying to get Gabe back into playing the rest of the game," she said today. "I've never seen him cry before. It was the worst thing ever."

Okoye said he went home immediately after the taping -- which took place months before the show first aired -- and discovered after some research online that he was right all along. The Post-it did come out first. But he didn't tell Mayti.

"I wanted to bring it up to Brittany, but I was afraid because I didn't want to go through that," he said.

Fox Admits Mistake

Soon after the episode aired, however, the blogging world began buzzing that Fox had stiffed the couple, arguing with Okoye that the Post-it is the correct answer.

After days of arguing over when exactly the Post-it hit stores, the show's producers admitted they made a mistake.

"Unfortunately, the information our research department originally obtained from 3M regarding when Post-it notes were first sold was incomplete," Fox said in a statement. "We feel it is only fair to give our contestants Gabe and Brittany another shot to play 'Million Dollar Money Drop.'"

The couple acknowledged they had been invited to come back on the show, but said they haven't made up their minds yet.

"It's a very tough decision ... it's hard to recreate the momentum we had," Okoye said.

If they do go back, the couple said they would likely still use any money they won for their wedding, which is very much still on.

"I was angry at first, but seeing him [Okoye] so hurt and remorseful about it, I was like, 'I love him more than his money,'" Mayti said.