I remember seeing an interview with one of them and he claimed that he never wanted to do that announcement. Rather, he was pushed into it by the University and was probably more responsible for ruining his career than the experiment not working.

As for the experiment, as I recall it did produce neutrons, an expected byproduct of fusion. There was certainly an interesting reaction going on but it turned out that it wasn't fusion.

I remember being so excited that my brother and I skipped school and "snuck in" to the ACS meeting in Dallas. This was after their first announcement, but they came and gave a big talk to a packed hall. I seem to recall it was hurriedly put together because of all the interest. At the time I thought I was witnessing a huge historical event. I guess I was in the history-of-science sense at least.