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Television game shows are supposed to have a shelf life. The way things usually go with a hit game show is that they attract a big audience when they’re brand new, they stay hot for a few years, and then over time the audience gradually dwindles away. When the viewing figures drop, the show gets canceled, and everyone moves on to something new. While it’s true that viewing figures for ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’ aren’t what they used to be, it’s the one quiz show that doesn’t seem to know how to die.
The very first series of ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’ in the United States of America started in 1999, and was hosted by Regis Philbin. For more than twenty years since then, the show has continued to be made with a variety of different hosts including Terry Crews and Cedric the Entertainer. It wasn’t until May 2019 that the show finally appeared to be canceled – but the cancellation was a false alarm. ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’ will return in April 2020 for a special celebrity season presented by Jimmy Kimmel.
Very few TV game shows have ever had as significant a cultural impact as ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.’ It’s from this show that the phrases ‘is that your final answer?’ and ‘would you like to phone a friend?’ came. In celebration of the fact that it’s managed to stay alive into a third decade, here are five crazy facts about the world’s best-loved television quiz!
It Inspired An Oscar-Winning Movie
Although ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’ has been a massive hit in the USA, it started as a British show, and has been successfully exported all over the world. One of the countries that had an exceptionally successful version of the show is India, and the Indian version became the inspiration for a hugely successful film in 2009. The Bollywood-style movie ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ is set inside the studio of ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire,’ where a contestant tells their life story to explain how they know the answer to each of the questions posed to them by the host. It was one of the biggest films of 2008 and almost swept the board at the following year’s Oscars. By the end of the night, the film had won Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director, Best Picture, Best Original Score, Best Cinematography, Best Original Song, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Film Editing. That’s eight Academy Awards in total. Most movie-makers dream of winning just one in their whole career!
It’s A Big Hit At Casinos
When a game show becomes a big hit on television, it’s reasonable to assume that at some point, somebody will make a video game version of it. It’s less common that the game ends up appearing on an online slots website, but such is the universal appeal of ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’ that it’s crossed boundaries. There have been three separate online slots based on the game show, with the most recent having been released within the past twelve months. While it’s not uncommon for popular entertainment properties to become mobile slots – many movies and TV shows have official casino products – game shows are used as inspiration less frequently because the format is hard to copy across into a slot game format. From what we’re told, the more recent ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’ slot is a fair approximation of the show and has been popular with players!
Someone Once Won It By Cheating
You probably wonder how it’s even possible to cheat at ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire,’ but someone once found a way to do it on the British show. They made it all the way through to the final question and won, and might even have got away with it if it weren’t for an eagle-eyed producer. Charles Ingram – a former Major in the British Army, found his way into the contestant’s chair in 2001, and became only the second person in the show’s history to become a millionaire – but he didn’t get to keep his prize for long. Ingram had two allies in the audience – his wife, and an old friend who was an excellent quizzer. As Ingram read the possible answers out one at a time, one of the two would cough to indicate the correct one. The coughs weren’t noticed at the time but were picked up during the editing process. Ingram was ordered to hand back the money and narrowly avoided jail time. Ever since then, he’s been known as ‘the coughing Major,’ and claims his life has been a living Hell.
The First Winner Did It In Style
As we all know, players who attempt to conquer ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’ don’t have to go through the process on their own. They can phone a friend, ask the audience, or ask the computer to take away two of the incorrect answers on the screen. In some versions, they can even ask an expert or ask the host for help. These potential pieces of assistance are called ‘lifelines,’ and it’s expected that even the most successful players will use at least one of them over the course of a game. John Carpenter, who became the show’s first-ever million-dollar winner in 1999, didn’t. He answered the first fourteen questions without hesitation, and only decided to use a lifeline when he got to the very last question. When prompted, he asked to call his father. He didn’t really need his father’s help, though – he just wanted to tell him that he knew the answer to the final question, and he was about to become a millionaire!
Millionaire Winners Don’t Actually Become Millionaires
That’s right – the whole premise of the show is built on a lie. Even though you’ve seen the hosts of the show present large novelty checks to big winners, the checks don’t represent what the winners actually receive into their bank accounts. The maximum lump sum any winner receives in one payment is $250,000, which is paid one calendar month after their victory. For the lucky and smart players who have won more than that, the remainder of the balance is paid in annual installments over the following ten or even twenty years. In a way, it must be nice to have a substantial guaranteed yearly income, but it makes something of a mockery of the show’s name!