what channel is who wants to be a millionaire?

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"Is that your final answer?"

Boob tube Game Show, originating in the United Kingdom in 1998 and now sold to multiple countries. Celador, its quondam product visitor, claims that the format has been aired in 100 countries worldwide.

The game more often than not starts with a "Fastest Finger First" (or but "Fastest Finger" in the United States) round, wherein virtually ten contestants have to place iv answers in club; (e.g., "Listing these U.South. Presidents in chronological club, starting with the earliest"). The contestant who gives the correct club in the fastest time moves to the main game.

In the principal game, the contestant must respond 15 (xiv in the U.S. version, and later series of the UK version changed information technology to 12 although the original 15-question money tree was reinstated in the revival) multiple-selection questions, worth increasing amounts of money to win upwardly to £ane million (or local currency equivalent). They start with 3 "Lifelines", which are 1-time-only helps they tin use if they're unsure about a question.

Under the classic rules, the contestant can terminate at any time and go along whatever coin they've earned upwards to that point. If they pass the five- or 10-question mark (2- and 7- mark in the UK version from 2007-14), they are guaranteed to get that corporeality of money, fifty-fifty if they respond wrong on a later question. If they get an answer incorrect, they lose their coin, except for whatever was guaranteed. The 2018 British revival added a twist to the 2nd prophylactic net by letting the contestant cull from the sixth question onwards whether they want to set the prophylactic internet at the side by side question or proceed (the beginning still remains at the five-question mark). See beneath for the changes in the US Shuffle format.

Britain has had half-dozen tiptop-prize winners to date; 5 during the original 1998-2014 run, and one so far from the 2018 revival. A seventh, Charles Ingram, lost his money after it was proved that a friend gave him the answers by "strategic coughing" in a very famous case (a documentary most how the scam went downwardly drew huge viewing figures, and the story was afterward the basis for a successful stage play which was adapted for boob tube in 2020). Ironically, the first-always winner was a heart-anile woman who was already quite wealthy. The first American winner famously did information technology without using a unmarried lifeline in the procedure, with the exception of Telephone-A-Friend — which he only used to inform his father that he was near to win the Million. He also got a little good natured ribbing over the fact that he worked for the taxation agency.

The American version ^notation which officially lacks a question mark in its title was a massive hit in the starting time, spawning a huge revival in game shows in general and big money, prime fourth dimension quiz shows in particular (including many other imported shows). Ratings eventually tanked, however, with most people pointing their fastest fingers at ABC for milking the evidence to the point of overexposure (at one indicate, information technology was aired four nights a week). It still lived, notwithstanding, in a more normal (for a game show) weekday afternoon syndication format, but the testify'south popularity and viewership has dipped quite a bit since and so. The U.Southward. syndicated version was cancelled on May 31, 2019 after 17 seasons. On Apr 8, 2020, ABC premiered a new primetime version of the series hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.

In Republic of hungary, after the departure of the original host (the new ane was a well-known humorist, turning the whole show into a sort of comedy), the format was temporarily changed to a fast-paced version: Vi players played a unmarried series of 15 questions, there were no lifelines and there was a time limit of 15 seconds for questions ane-five, 30 seconds for questions 6-10 and 45 seconds for questions eleven-xv. Each player could "pass" once a game, which rotated the next thespian into the same question, and that player couldn't pass that one fifty-fifty if he/she hadn't passed yet. Giving a wrong reply eliminated the player and chosen in the next 1 with a new question at the same level. The total number of questions couldn't exceed 15, meaning the highest possible prize decreased also. This version ran one time a month with one normal and one Celebrity Edition game per show. The Australian Millionaire Hot Seat has a similar format. However Hungary later abandoned this comedy version in favor of going back to the original set-up, though once more with a new host, a former talk show presenter. Subsequently years of being off the air, the show was renewed over again in 2019, keeping its original format with a well known TV quiz show host taking over the reins.

The US version underwent a massive alteration of its format for its ninth syndicated season. The first ten questions were played for amounts ranging from $100 to $25,000, except that the value of each question was randomized, was but revealed once the question is answered correctly, and was added to a bank. Additionally, question difficulties and categories were likewise randomized. Missing a question drops the player downwards to $1000, and bailing out forfeits half the banked money. The final questions in the 2d round, named Classic Millionaire (worth $100K, $250K, $500K, and $1,000,000 of course), were played in the traditional way, including walking away with whatever they've earned upward to that indicate. The lifelines were besides changed for this, merely Ask the Audition remains alongside two instances of a new lifeline called Bound the Question which lets the player skip over a question, at the expense of not being able to collect the coin behind it. For its 2014-15 season, i of the Jumps were replaced by "Plus Ane", which is basically Phone-a-Friend except you have to bring the friend with you. In an deed of desperation, the 2015-16 flavour returned to the classic structure, using a 14-question progression and reviving l:50 in identify of the jump.

The Brazilian version was originally chosen "Jogo exercise Milhão" (One thousand thousand Game), hosted by the legendary Silvio Santos. However, the Brazilian network dissemination it (SBT) had to rename it because the word 'Jogo' suggested gambling. (Many presume it was an exaggeration from Moral Watchdogs) The Brazilian version became known as "Show do Milhão" (Meg Show) ever since. In that version, each contestant who got the chance to answer the million real (Brazilian currency) question was traditionally given twenty seconds before deciding betwixt risking all the coin they've got and so far (R$ 500,000.00) or playing it prophylactic past keeping the money and not answering the final question. The player could stop at any time they desire and those who practice then go along all the money they earned to that point. Missing a question sends the player dwelling house with half of their current winnings. The prize was usually (if non ever) delivered as gold bars. Nowadays another Brazilian network (Globo) broadcasts a version more faithful to the original work, named "Quem Quer Ser Um Milionário" and hosted by Luciano Huck. (In September 2021, Testify Practice Milhão returned to SBT as "Show Do Milhão Moving picture Pay", sponsored by Pic Pay and hosted past Celso Portiolli.)

The Russian version was originally called "О, Счастливчик!" (Oh, lucky man!), but was renamed to a literal translation of its English proper name later on Channel Hop from NTV to Channel I (known as ORT at that fourth dimension). Since 2001 it was hosted by a Russian parodist Maxim Galkin, merely Dmitry Dibrov - the original host of the show - returned in 2008 and nonetheless hosts it ever since. The Russian version also was notorious in that the prize was ₽i,000,000, which was, like, 30 times less than $i,000,000 at that fourth dimension. Later the prize was increased to the electric current sum of ₽iii,000,000, but information technology's yet a lot less than international equivalents.

Later on Chris Tarrant decided to get out the original UK version in 2013, ITV announced its cancellation and the final prove aired in January 2014, although a revival with a new host (Jeremy Clarkson of The K Tour and Summit Gear fame) began to air in May 2018.

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Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is the Trope Namer for:

• Lifelines:
  • "Inquire The Audience": The audience votes for the correct answer. Audiences of the Russian version are infamous for deliberately giving the wrong answer out of spite, especially to certain aggravating celebrities. In the original Brazilian version, the audience consisted of people waiting for their turns to play. Temporarily abolished in 2020 for a few versions (including Russia, U.s. and the United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland) due to the absenteeism of said audience thanks to the COVID-xix pandemic, with diverse replacements (the UK version gave players a 2d Phone-A-Friend lifeline instead).
  • "Phone-A-Friend": The contestant is given thirty seconds to speak to someone (whom they chose beforehand) on the phone. Discontinued in Jan 2010, since it had become "Phone-A-Google-User" in do (the residue of that season had the "Inquire The Expert" lifeline replace it from the start of the game). The British version fixed this problem by bringing in the contestant's three friends backstage and isolated them in Audio Proof Booths until they were called. The video games had something similar to "Enquire the Expert" (although it was notwithstanding referred to as "Phone-a-Friend"), due to the limitation of video games at the fourth dimension.
  • "50:fifty": Two wrong answers are eliminated; originally, this removed the two about obviously-wrong answers, but later changed to removing two incorrect answers at random... well, maybe random. Replaced past Double Dip in 2008 with the introduction of the Clock format simply later reintroduced in 2015, replacing the remaining Spring the Question from the now-retired Shuffle format.
  • "Switch The Question": Allowed contestants to change a question that baffled them for a new question of the same value. The UK version featured this lifeline (known as "Flip") on some select special shows but required the contestant to trade one of their remaining lifelines for it ^notation and thus could be used for upwardly to three times (even on a flipped question). When this version adopted the Clock format (2010-2014), the lifeline became bachelor afterwards the seventh question (£50,000). On the American version from 2004 to 2008, information technology became available provided the player had answered the 10th question (so reduced to $25,000 from $32,000) correctly. Any lifelines that are used on the question earlier the switch do not carry over to the replacement question. This lifeline was first used on the original Brazilian version (and was known as a "pass", which could be used upwards to three times in the game). It was removed when the show moved on to the Timed format, simply it returned for the special kids games in the revival of the Classic format, known as "Cut The Question" and was merely available for the first 10 questions. This lifeline was as well added into the Russian version from December 1st, 2018 onwards.
  • "Double Dip": Used just on Super Millionaire at first, just afterwards replaced l:50 in the American version in 2008. Contestants are allowed to make two guesses at the aforementioned question, but once this lifeline is used, they are locked into answering the question and cannot walk away, nor can they use any further lifelines on that question. It was removed when the show moved on to the Shuffle format.
  • "Ask The Expert": Later on winning $1,000 (afterwards $5,000) on the Usa version, the contestant earned this lifeline. Ask the Expert was basically an enhanced Telephone-A-Friend, but with a (sometimes) genuinely-smarter person. In early 2010, this lifeline replaced Telephone-A-Friend and was bachelor from the beginning. It was removed when the show moved on to the Shuffle format.
  • "3 Wise Men": Used just on Super Millionaire, this immune a panel of three experts (one of whom was a former Millionaire contestant) to deliberate and provide an answer within 30 seconds. Was a precursor to Ask the Good, noted above. In the Brazilian version, the console was made of three college students.
  • "Jump the Question": Used just on the new shuffle format implemented on the American version in September 2010, the histrion skips to the side by side question and does not earn its resulting payout (the payout goes out of play in the start round [the shuffle round] and the question value is simply passed up in the second round [Classic Millionaire]). The Jumps are useless on the $ane,000,000 question since it's the concluding question on the ladder. A contestant received two Jumps up until the 2014-15 season, when one was removed and replaced with the Plus One. The remaining Jump was removed in the 2015-sixteen flavor when the Shuffle format was discontinued and the bear witness returned to the "classic" format.
  • "The Cards": Instead of the "fifty:50", the original Brazilian version had each player being allowed to inquire for help from cards. iv cards were left face up down for the actor to pick one. If the picked menu was a King, no wrong answer would exist removed; if the card was an Ace, one wrong answer would be removed; if it was a Two, two wrong answers would be removed and; if the card was a Three, all 3 incorrect answers would exist removed.
  • "Crystal Brawl": Allows the contestant to reveal the greenbacks value of i question in the shuffled portion of the game. It first appeared during the 2012 Halloween Week episodes in America, and returned several times throughout the rest of the Shuffle format. The lifeline is but expert for the first 9 questions out of 14, as the player would know the value of the concluding shuffled question and the final four questions are set amounts; if the Crystal Ball was not used prior to Question x, it was removed automatically for the concluding 5 questions.
  • "+ane": Replaces the second Jump in the 2014-15 flavour. Allows a player to call down a friend that came with them from the audience to help them out on a question—basically, a mix of Inquire The Expert and Telephone-A-Friend.
  • "Inquire an Audience Fellow member": Introduced in 2007 on the High german version and exported to a myriad of other versions since, this lifeline is bachelor to any contestant who chooses to play the "risky" variant of the game, at the price of the 10th question "prophylactic net". When used, all audience members who are sure that they know the reply are asked to stand up and the contestant picks one of them to give their answer. To incentivize help, if the respond the audition member provides is correct, they are awarded a small cash bonus.
  • "Ask the Host": Introduced in the 2018 revival of the British version, ^notation It was originally intended to be one of the lifelines when the show first started and was mentioned in promotional material, simply was replaced with 50:l before the show began the contestant is given the take chances to ask the host what they remember the answer is (the answers to all of the questions are not revealed in advance to the host). The host cannot give whatsoever more than assistance in one case they have given their own "terminal answer" and is forced to let the computer reveal the reply once it is locked in past the contestant. Also used on the U.S. 2020 revival, in lieu of Ask the Audience due to the COVID-19 pandemic necessitating the show be filmed behind closed doors.
  • "Ask A Friend": Different from Phone-A-Friend, similar to +1. For the 2020 U.S. celebrities-and-first-responders revival, contestants are allowed one friend to sit backside them (notably, Catherine O'Hara brought legendary Jeopardy! champion Brad Rutter). Together, they can work as a team through the first ten questions, since there's a business firm minimum of $32,000 (the concluding safe oasis) for the clemency. In one case $32,000 is secured and five questions remain, the teammate can no longer freely help the contestant, simply can be used as this lifeline for any remaining question in exchange for any remaining lifeline, though this must exist decided earlier play resumes. Note that this does not replace Phone-A-Friend; it's common for contestants to take both this and Phone-A-Friend in their lifeline inventory.
• Who Wants to Be "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?": The testify's success revived the Game Evidence genre and inspired a boatload of imitators, including an accommodation of fellow Celador product Winning Lines and somewhen Philbin's own follow-upwards 1000000 Dollar Password.

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Provides examples of:

• Abandoned Catchphrase: The showtime flavour had the host recite the catchphrase "Is that your concluding answer?" after every single question. This was later shortened to "Final answer?", then to just "Final?". Two possible reasons for doing away with the original catchphrase: (1) Viewers got a niggling fatigued hearing the same phrase over and over once again, (2) Regis Philbin, the original host, was getting more than a little sick of having people say the phrase to him everywhere — see also Never Heard That One Before.
• Absurdly High-Stakes Game: In 2004, later the end of the U.S. primetime version, ABC aired a brief, ramped-upwards revival equally Who Wants to Exist a Super Millionaire for Feb and May sweeps. The format stayed like, except that the prize money was ramped up considerably (with the final five questions being $500,000, $one,000,000, $ii,500,000, $5,000,000, and $10,000,000). In addition, once the contestant reached the 2nd safe haven (now $100,000), 2 new lifelines were unlocked — Double Dip (which allows contestants to make a 2d guess on a question, except they forfeit their right to walk away, or use any further lifelines on that question), and Three Wise Men (which allows the contestant to converse with a panel of three experts (including a by contestant) for thirty seconds.
• Thespian Innuendo: As seen in the showtime trailer for the 2018 United kingdom revival, which starts off with new host Jeremy Clarkson in a fast auto talking about excitement and adventure equally he's doing one of his machine reviews on The One thousand Bout or Top Gear, only to reveal that he was actually referring to the experience that a contestant gets being on WWTBAM.
• All Gays Dear Theater: In the Celebrity Millionaire episode with Norm MacDonald, the $500,000 question was about a play Samuel Beckett wrote. Afterward seeing the choices, Norm said:

  Norm: Well, I'm not gay, so I don't know that much about Broadway musicals... (audition laughs)

• All or Nothing:
  • In classic editions, the first 2 or five questions. In these editions, the questions are more often than not going from easiest to hardest, and the kickoff question about always has one reply that is hilariously wrong (and since it'southward e'er the terminal choice that'due south the joke respond, the lack of such an obvious wrong reply is a expressionless giveaway that the final choice is correct).
  • Averted birthday in the shuffle format, where missing whatever of the first ten questions drops the contestant downwardly to $ane,000, and the difficulties are randomized in the first round (hence the universal minimum payout).
• Artifact Title:
  • After the switch to the Euro, a few countries in Europe concluded up with only 6-effigy top prize amounts (Greece and Portugal changed their top prizes to €250,000; for example), but the titles weren't always modified to reflect this change.
  • Inverted in Belgium where the show originally was chosen "Who wants to be a multi-millionaire?". The original top prize was fr.twenty,000,000 ^note The states$1 was worth nearly fr.35. After the switch to the Euro, information technology became "Who wants to be a Euro-millionaire?".
  • In France, the original pinnacle prize of Qui veut gagner des millions? ("Who wants to win millions?") was ₣4,000,000 ^note With US$1 existence roughly ₣five-₣6. It was increased to €1,000,000, or ₣6,559,570.
  • This really became a point of controversy in some countries. It was the popularity of the American version that inspired other countries to start doing the bear witness themselves. "Becoming a Millionaire" meant winning ane million of that country'due south currency. Converting 1 one thousand thousand into United states dollars (or even British Pounds) oft resulted in a relatively very modest amount, and contestants demanded that they be given the equivalent to US$1M.
  • The German language version did change from DM1M to €1M and even capitalised on this with the slogan "The million is now worth twice as much" (the charge per unit was DM1.95 = €ane).
• Ascended Extra:
• Badass Boast: John Carpenter, the first e'er Millionaire on the franchise, is the trope codifier for game shows when he used his Phone-a-Friend to tell his father he was going to win the million. A few other international Millionaires would practise the same thing when they reached the terminal question with Phone-a-Friend available.
• Bunko: Until the terminate of the clock format, the commencement question always gave D a joke respond. 1 month into Chris Harrison's tenure, a contestant got tripped upwardly by a suspected joke respond for D and guessed something else... simply to find that the D answer in this case was correct.
  • Norm Macdonald did i for comedy purposes in his Celebrity Millionaire advent, on a question about which channel Larry Rex Live appears on (CNN).

  Norm: Well I know The O'Reilly Factor is, uh, Trick News Channel.
  Regis: Uh-huh.
  Norm: I know that Hardball With Chris Matthews is MSNBC.
  Regis: You lot sure?
  Norm: Aye. I know that, uh, Sportscenter is ESPN...
  (Regis looks bored)
  Norm: I know Larry King Live is on The WB.

• Blinking Lights of Victory:
  • When a contestant successfully answers the elevation-prize question, in adult countries (such as the United States, Germany, Russia, or Japan, for example), the studio lights brighten up, sweep effectually, and strobe, along with the Confetti Driblet. Sometimes averted in countries that cannot afford the flashy furnishings.
  • Although, in an inversion, if the contestant gets any of the answers incorrect, only the correct answer on the contestant'south screen blinks.
• Bribing Your Way to Victory: Attempted in the Russian version at the end of 2018.
  • To elaborate: Famous quiz show player and resident Magister of the Chto? Gde? Kogda? ("What? Where? When?") intellectual gild, 63-year-old Aleksandr Abramovich Drouz conspired with KHSM'southward chief editor Ilya Ber to pay him some coin from the tiptop prize in commutation for the correct answers. Ber decided to give him answers anyway, but he secretly changed several questions to compromise Drouz. On the actual run, which occured on December 22nd, 2018, Drouz - along with fellow Magister Viktor Sidnev - got all the style up to the final question despite the noticeable change in the questions themselves. Yet, the contestants gave the wrong respond and lost a whopping ₽one,300,000 every bit a result.
  • As the recordings of chat between Ber and Drouz were leaked online on February twelfth, 2019, Drouz answered Ber'due south accusations by proverb that the chief editor himself decided to strike this bargain with him in the first place, and Drouz merely decided to "stick around" and come across "how far Ber will continue with it". Also, he decided to deliberately give the incorrect answer to spite Ber - even though he himself knew what the correct answer was.
  • This act got Ber banned from his position on the prove, and Drouz's membership in the Chto? Gde? Kogda? club being revoked for an indefinite amount of time. Needless to say, the amount of money Drouz and Sidnev won on that mean solar day - ₽200,000 - was stripped from them.
    • A similar situation too once happened on the Croatian version of the testify.
• Cap: Present in the Russian version since December 2018. Thank you to the addition of "Switch the Question" lifeline - and thus bringing the total corporeality of lifelines to 5, the contestants are allowed to use only 4 of them throughout the game.
• Catchphrase: "Is that your last answer?". This is used as "insurance" to preclude any legal dispute if someone says an answer, gets it wrong, and and so claims they were just deliberating out loud as the hosts try to encourage.
  • During the first episode of the short-lived Irish version presented by Gay Byrne (that's his real name, and he was such a well-loved glory that nobody seems to take fabricated a joke nigh it — now that is respect), he said "Is that your final answer?", "Are you sure?", "No regrets?" in that social club after every. Single. Question. Every single one. Even the commencement five (aka "piss-piece of cake") questions. It was unbelievably annoying, but luckily he packed it in by the second episode.
    • After a few American episodes, Regis' "Concluding Answer" insurances were edited out during the initial questions (because they usually were "piss-piece of cake" and oft included joke answers) to relieve fourth dimension and go on the beginning of the game flowing.
  • From Tarrant, "Merely we don't want to give you that!"...which managed to mutate itself into the public consciousness.
    • He also had a habit of saying "If y'all went with that reply, I'd take that bank check...rip it into fiddling pieces...", particularly during the higher questions or when the contestant decides to walk away.
  • Chris also had a trend to ask a variation of, "Why are y'all so sure?", when the contestant shows a lot of confidence on an obscure question.
• Celebrity Edition: Most (if not all) of the versions of Millionaire accept had episodes prepare aside for celebrities to play the game, ordinarily for charity. In the Australian version, the celebrity splits the greenbacks with a designated home viewer, and they were too done alive. Towards the end of the UK show's original run, information technology was predominantly made up of celebrity editions, with the civilian editions becoming less mutual. The Russian version, still, is full with celebrity editions since at to the lowest degree 2014.
• Cheaters Never Prosper:
  • The UK version had a rather infamous case with then-Major Charles Ingram, who conspired with his wife and fellow contestant Tecwen Whittock to cheat their mode to winning £ane,000,000 in 2001 via strategic cough. Needless to say, they didn't go the prize (a hold was placed on the cheque, which was dated for the planned transmission engagement) and subsequently ended up being prosecuted for deception. All three were constitute guilty and received suspended jail terms - this in turn led to Ingram existence thrown out of the Army and bankrupted. He did manage to eke out a career equally a Z-list glory for a short while afterwards, but even that didn't terminal long (although as mentioned in the introduction, the story remains well-known and a TV documentary, a book, stageplay and drama series based on the scandal take all had success). A Concerned Citizen delves into this disaster farther.
  • Subverted with Martin Inundation on the Australian version. He was accused of cheating his mode to his $ane,000,000 win in a like style that Charles Ingram did, only he was exonerated and got to proceed the prize coin.
  • See Bribing Your Way to Victory in a higher place.
• Commercial Pause Bewilderment: Played direct in the UK, Commonwealth of australia and Japan; averted in the United states until Kimmel's tenure, in which it was likewise played direct. The closest the United states of america came to playing this straight was on the rare occasion when a contestant switched out a high-level question and the replacement was only shown after commercials, merely even and so, the answer to the kickoff question was shown before the break.
• Composite Character: A rather odd version of this trope are the 2021 Australian specials: they combine the lifelines used in Hot Seat (Enquire the Host - a replacement for Ask a Friend due to COVID, Switch the Question and 50:50 - the but lifeline to appear in both Hot Seat and the original version of Millionaire from 1999 to 2007) with the general atmosphere of prime-time Millionaire and the archetype moneytree. Some aspects betoken out that hastily reprogrammed Hot Seat software was used in production (the lifelines were only the most obvious): the music during questions 1 to v gets interrupted later on a correct answer similar in Hot Seat and unlike in classic Millionaire and the lifeline icon strap shows up with a feature "boom" sound which in Hot Seat signals the stopping of the question timer so a lifeline could be used.
• Confetti Drop: A snowstorm of confetti is released when someone wins the top prize.
  • For the start two seasons of the UK version and the first season of the Australian version, Confetti dropped at the end of the concluding episode respectively. This is besides common on many of the UK celebrity episodes using the Clock format.
  • The Australian version sometimes dropped Confetti on $250,000 and $500,000 winners, in improver to Million Dollar winners, every bit well as other random occasions.
    • Spin-Off Millionaire Hot Seat does something like, although every $250,000 winner gets showered. The evidence's 1,000 episode also dropped confetti at the end.
  • The Syndicated US version dropped confetti at the cease of the on the milestone 1,000 and 1,500 episodes.
  • On the occasion of the first millionaire in the UK edition, the confetti cannons jammed and it had to be done at the end of the show instead.
  • The German language and Hungarian didn't just drop Confetti on winners, Fireworks were even set off on-phase! The Ecuador version uses Balloons in addition to Confetti.
  • On the 2019 Apr Fool episode in the German version, Confetti dropped when the starting time contestant of the twenty-four hour period won €500, every bit part of a joke on the host.
  • Averted in the Ireland, Iceland, Russian, Georgian, Ukrainian, Kazakhstan and the Islamic republic of iran versions, which drop nothing on big winners.
• Consolation Prize:
  • Most editions offer a smaller corporeality if ane fails on a question past a checkpoint (usually questions five and ten, or two and seven in the United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland's newer format).
  • The 2010 US version offers $1,000 for missing any of the ten first questions, and $25,000 for missing any of the last four.
    • The filming of episodes tin can't be properly structured. They take to wait for the current question to stop upward earlier they're allowed to go to a commercial break (though there are a few very farthermost exceptions.) Every now and then, this results in a commercial break correct subsequently a contestant finished their run, but there wouldn't exist enough time left in the episode to bring out the adjacent contestant. Meredith (as well her successors) normally takes the terminal few minutes to call a selected member of the audience and give them a hazard to answer the adjacent question that would have been asked to the former contestant. Whether they guessed correctly or not, they walked abroad with a copy of the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire video game for the Nintendo Wii, but would also earn $chiliad if they got it correct.
  • During the original run of the Brazilian version, players who gave an incorrect answer to any question (other than the meg real one) got half the money won from the previous question. The Brazilian version at present follows the rules of the original UK format.
• Couch Gag: The showtime question near always has a gag answer for D. Subverted in that, if information technology isn't an obvious gag, it's probably the correct answer. And if that's the example, usually it would occur in the second question.
• Crowd Chant:
  • Cedric's debut was met with chants of "CED-RIC! CED-RIC! CED-RIC!"
  • Robert "Bob-O" Essig received one of these after he answered his $ane,000,000 question correctly on Super Millionaire.
  • Regis got two on the tenth Anniversary finale: i when he institute out that he would be playing his own charity question (see below) and some other during the question when he exclaimed, "I don't need any assistance! I DON'T NEED!"
• A Day in the Limelight: Regis really played a charity question to wrap-upwards the tenth-Anniversary specials. Meredith took the hosting duties for this occasion — the chairs were reversed, Meredith hosting in the usual contestant position. Inverted in the syndicated version, when Regis came back to host the week after Thanksgiving 2009. Regis won the money by answering which of four answers was NOT a million-dollar winning answer on the US version of Millionaire. This episode was as well famous for existence the outset time on the American bear witness when a contestant attempted the million-dollar answer and missed information technology.
• Difficulty by Region: A question valued at £20,000 on the British version subsequently showed upwards on the American version valued at $500,000. Justified, in that the question specifically refers to something pertaining to Uk, something a British contestant is more than likely to know than an American one. The inverse too applies with several £1,000,000 questions from the British version dealing with American culture, making them easier for American contestants.
  • A million-ruble question from Russian edition showed up in the Kazakh Russian-linguistic communication version as the question number six.
• Downer Ending: How the 10th Anniversary Celebration ended; Ken Bowl is the concluding contestant in the serial of special episodes. After answering the starting time 14 questions, he locks in his final reply for the $1,000,000 question (making him the first contestant to do so since Nancy Christy in 2003). Despite the applause from the audience, he ends upwards condign the first US contestant to get the final question wrong, leaving him with only $25,000. As Regis says, "No, it's non the concluding reply; you've but lost a lot of money."
• Early Installment Weirdness: Information technology took a while earlier the original British version worked out the few minor kinks in the organisation:
  • In the get-go 3 series, each episode was merely half an hour long (although at to the lowest degree ane episode in the second series was an hour long)
  • Virtually notably in the first episodes, the Fastest Finger Start round consisted of answering a normal question rather than a 'put these in club' question. (This was changed when a contestant discovered a flaw with the machines used for the circular: simultaneously pressing all iv buttons at once would be accepted as a correct answer. The contestant in question later confessed what he'd washed to a fellow member of the production team and the round was changed to the 'put these in order' version as an Obvious Rule Patch.)
  • In the first series, the sound used to lock in an answer on at least the outset upper tier question was a different, much more ominous audio effect. By series ii, the "iii downward tones" used for the final answer in the middle tier were used in the upper tier, too.
  • A Hint Arrangement was in place on the lower tier of questions in the first serial; Chris Tarrant could come across what the correct answer was on his screen and would try to divert a struggling histrion towards that answer, suggesting things like "B looks good". By the next series, Chris could no longer see the answers and whatsoever hapless contestant stuck on the first 5 questions was left to burn their lifelines.
  • On the first episode, Phone-a-Friend used an actual phone, although all indications signal to the usual studio speakerphone effect already beingness used. By the second episode, the pretense was dropped.
  • The 1999 episodes had Regis inquire "Final answer?" for the $100-$1,000 questions as well as the afterward rounds; in subsequent seasons they'd edit that out unless a contestant used a lifeline that early on. He also explained the lifelines and rules more thoroughly, which would also exist dropped as players got familiar with the game.
  • Virtually all episodes from 1999 through fall 2000 began with the opening narration, "Last fourth dimension on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire...", followed by clips from the previous episode. This was dropped when the new intro sequence was created for the fall 2000 season (though clips from the previous episode remained). And speaking of that intro, Regis sounded more than excited in his reading of it for the 1999 episodes; starting in the 2000 episodes, his tone was more than measured.
• Epic Fail:
  • 2000: A contestant named Kati Knudsen was hell-bent on being the first woman to win the 1000000. This resolve never wavered, despite burning off all her Lifelines at the $8,000 level. She even managed to hook her way to the $500,000 question. She and then spent over an hour on the question (who was the most recently added member of the Un), saying "I'g pretty certain it's ___" on three of the iv answer choices. Even Regis looked uncomfortable, and was practically begging her to stop (and probably would've physically removed her from the Hot Seat if he could have). Kati, not to exist denied, plays the question, locks in an answer, and gets it incorrect, dropping her to $32,000. Viewers could hear Kati cursing herself out as she left the phase.
  • Rudy Reber was another contestant who whiffed on the $500,000 question. His Telephone-A-Friend seemed 100% sure that John Landis directed Michael Jackson'due south "Bad" video, then he went with his respond and lost $218,000. It turned out the correct answer was Martin Scorsese, and his friend actually gave him the manager of "Thriller" instead.

    Rudy: Aw, Durst, you lot dog!

  • Celebrity Huey Lewis decides to ask the audience if the answer is A or B...resulting in EXACTLY 50% voting for each one.
  • Several contestants have whiffed on the $100 question of the original money ladder. The starting time such example (which was also the beginning fourth dimension someone won $0 on the American version), a contestant who answered "What animal did Hannibal cross the alps on?" with "Llama" instead of "Elephant", was a subversion — it but happened to be more of a $1,000 or $2,000 level question. This still led to the fan term "Llama" for any such failure, though.
  • And then there's this fastest finger where everybody gets it wrong. They actually should know information technology too.
  • In this memorable event from Celebrity Millionaire, Kevin Nealon gets a question on himself wrong.
• Flawless Victory: John Carpenter's run to a million dollars was done without any aid whatever (no lifelines). When he gets to the 1000000 dollar question, he uses his Phone-A-Friend lifeline to call his dad not for assist, but to tell him that he's almost to win a million dollars.
  • Donald Fear, the beginning jackpot winner in the revived version of the United kingdom series, comes very close. The only lifeline he ever used in his run was 50:fifty.
• Game Show Host:
  • In the UK, Chris Tarrant hosted the original run (1998-2014) and Jeremy Clarkson currently hosts the 2018 revival.
  • In the US, Regis Philbin hosted the ABC version (1999-2002 and 2009 tenth Ceremony specials) and the syndicated version has been hosted in plow past Meredith Viera (2002-13), Cedric the Entertainer (2013-fourteen), Terry Crews (2014-15), Chris Harrison (2015-2019), and Jimmy Kimmel (2020-present).

• Genre Savvy: Celebrity contestants on the U.S. version who are sitting on a l:50 lifeline are especially wise that whatsoever verbalized guesses or eliminations would influence what the estimator will take abroad if used and tread advisedly most what is said on a tough question. They volition definitely hang a lampshade on it in the Hot Seat when prodded to talk out their thoughts.
• Golden Snitch: The amount of money won in the Australian Hot Seat version depends entirely upon the terminal question. You tin can't walk away, so you take 45 seconds to answer a question. If you get it incorrect, you only go $1,000.
• Heads I Win, Tails You Lose: In the revised 2010 US edition, no matter what happens, the contestant will walk away with money. For the poor saps who miss the first question, or aren't able to accrue more than $1,000 for losing, they come out ahead of the game by walking away with $ane,000. Winning more than than $two,000 just means they walk away with more than.
• Heartbeat Soundtrack:
  • Gradual, but the background music fades away as the contestant goes up the money ladder; the sole audio (bated from a held low chord) remaining at the last question is, every bit you might have guessed, the heartbeat.
  • The pattern is inverted in the US retooled seasons for syndication, which had to use new music for legal reasons. The percussion maintains the heartbeat-like rhythm for all iii forms of the Round 1 music and the $100K question, but more than instruments are added for the $250K, $500K and $i 1000000 questions, making this motif less noticeable. The original soundtrack returned for the 2020 U.Due south. revival.
• Hint System:
  • In the glory versions of the Regis run, if a contestant was stuck on a question valued at $32,000 or below, the remaining contestants in the Fastest Finger seats were allowed to aid the thespian out, usually of the comedic *Coughing* Snark *Cough* diversity. Co-ordinate to the Celebrity Edition rules, any player who fabricated it to the Hot Seat was guaranteed at least $32,000 for his or her charity, so this playful hinting immune the contestant to play his or her way upward to that level while keeping all three lifelines for the terminal 5 questions. Afterwards that point, the game would be played straight.
  • Used early in the British version'southward history - if a contestant got stuck in the showtime tier of questions, Chris would have the respond on his screen, leading him to give hints forth the lines of "I don't know, but B looks good."
  • The 2020 ABC revival allows the celebrity to bring in someone (i.due east. a family member, friend, etc.) to assist them; they can confer on the first 10 questions, just after that they become a Lifeline.
• Habitation Game:
  • Board and video, the latter developed by Jellyvision (now Jackbox Games), creators of You lot Don't Know Jack. Coincidentally, the latter was the get-go video game to accomplish a meg sales in the United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland.
  • ABC besides offered an interactive component through its "Enhanced TV" service, which allowed users to play along with the show live on the cyberspace. The 2020 revival will follow suit, albeit in app form.
  • The prove as well had a Facebook game during its latter half of its syndication run.
  • The 2020 U.Southward. revival has a live game after every ambulation through the official Millionaire mobile game.
• Info Dump: More than common in the earlier episodes, plain. Information technology sometimes occurred in the later questions when Regis had to remind the contestant how much they stood to win or lose if they succeeded or failed:

  Regis: Y'all'll lose $218,000 if you get information technology incorrect, dorsum down to $32(000). No lifelines. Got $250(000). $500(000) if you get this.

  • Occurs frequently in the U.k. version (with both hosts).
• Instant-Win Condition:
  • If you fabricated it to the top tier of questions in Super Millionaire with your 50:50 still intact, yous could employ information technology in conjunction with the Double Dip to guarantee yourself a correct answer. Several contestants lampshaded this strategy, though none were able to use it.
  • The Russian version'southward contestants, even so, use fifty:50 + Double Dip philharmonic quite oft.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: What most (smart) players eventually exercise: as if you get a question wrong you don't get a cent, but you can quit at whatever point and keep whatsoever money yous've accrued so far. Most people either quit or lost long before the million dollar question.
• Let's Only See What WOULD Accept Happened: Usually done if a contestant decides to walk away. In most cases, the contestant made the correct decision by walking away. On the other manus, if done on the last question and the guess was right... A notable case was on the Celebrities Week, when everyone was playing for charity. This happened to Norm Macdonald, who was solemnly told that he would've gotten the Million for his charity.
• Loophole Corruption:
  • I contestant during the timer era constantly interrupted Vieira's reading of the answers, so that he could bank up more time for later questions. This pull a fast one on could have been averted entirely if they rejiggered the clock to beginning later on she's read the "D" answer...
  • For a little while, ain't no dominion saying you tin can't telephone a friend and have them wait up the answer on the internet. This got fixed in an Obvious Rule Patch.
• Losing Horns: Blazon A, in a sense, whenever y'all go for a question worth at to the lowest degree $one,000 and miss. The piece played for a $32,000 loss is particularly jarring, and should you lot be unfortunate enough to miss the $1,000,000 question, the show takes this Trope up to virtually thirteen, resulting in an ominous shortened version of the theme song. Starting in 2010, the U.s.a. version had to use new music for legal reasons, and now uses the same theme no matter what question in the stack is answered incorrectly, fifty-fifty the terminal question.
• Luck-Based Mission:
  • Australia'due south Millionaire Hot Seat, which is the same format as the Hungarian version mentioned above.
  • The US shuffle format to a bottom extent, since the first ten questions and their values are separately randomized.
• Majorly Crawly: Subverted with Major Charles Ingram. He won the summit prize... but so it turned out he was cheating.
• Manipulative Editing: When a contestant walked away with fourth dimension remaining on the clock, you lot could sometimes run across for a split-second how much time the contestant really had left (a jump in the music also signified an edit). This was most notable during the Tournament Of Ten.
• Mind Screwdriver: Cedric the Entertainer will joke around a lot before he tells contestants that they're right.
• Moon Logic Puzzle: A bad trend in American episodes: questions that ask what celebrities did before they became famous (or which of four celebrities had a specific task). These are almost always the hardest in Round ane and frequently jumped or walked away from, and none take been answered correctly.
• Negated Moment of Awesome: During the US Glory Millionaire, Norm MacDonald was going for the 1000000 and near answered correctly, but was talked out of information technology by a nervous Regis, who was concerned Norm was merely recklessly guessing (he kinda was) and might potentially lose $468,000 to Paul Newman's clemency. Nonetheless, how awesome would it have been to meet Norm win the Million, particularly since it would've been a great Accept That! at everyone who had picked on Norm all week (Norm was the last contestant in the batch of shows) for supposedly being dumb?
• Nintendo Difficult:
  • The top tier of questions, as they should be.
  • Taken Upward to Eleven on the Australian Hot Seat version of the game. Even the American version, with the fourth dimension limit, gave you your unused time dorsum for the final question. The Australian version gives you a apartment 45 seconds, no lifelines, and you cannot walk abroad with the amount you have. Similarly, if yous become the reply incorrect, you drop dorsum down to $ane,000, regardless of how much the final question is worth. Aye, if you get the million-dollar question wrong, you merely receive $1,000.
  • The Academy Awards special that aired in 2000. Hoo boy, even if you lot consider yourself a flick buff, these were tough questions. To give an idea, the first contestant left with nothing after getting the $200 question wrong, the second walked away with $4,000, and the third walked abroad with $sixteen,000. That's right, none of the three made it to the $32,000 level.
• Non Standard Game Over:
  • In the American version's clock format, running out of fourth dimension commonly meant you automatically walked with whatever you lot had. If in the midst of a Double Dip, running out of fourth dimension was treated as a wrong answer because of the inability to walk away.
  • In the original video game, repeatedly failing the Fastest Finger question resulted in Regis leaving in disgust, causing the game to finish.
• Obvious Rule Patch:
  • The removal of Telephone-a-Friend in the US version. Past the time the clock format started, it had get obvious that these friends were using search engines to try to discover the reply in the 30 seconds allowed. They often didn't fifty-fifty try to hide it. Neither did the show when they invoked said Obvious Rule Patch and replaced it with giving the Ask the Expert lifeline throughout the game. The U.k. version at to the lowest degree fixed this problem by changing how this lifeline worked. Instead of the contestant having all three people on the phone line, the contestant chose helpers alee of time, who were brought backstage and isolated in Sound Proof Booths until they were called. Since the audience can encounter them when this lifeline is used, it pretty much eliminated any chance to Google the answer, likewise as sorting the occasional problem where the friend didn't pick up or say anything. (For the 2018 revival, they had a fellow member of the production team sitting with them to ensure they didn't cheat.) The U.S. version followed accommodate, except under the name "Plus One".
  • On Super Millionaire, the Double Dip lifeline was given to contestants for answering the tenth question correctly. This brought up the possibility of a contestant using 50:50 and then that to guarantee moving ane step upward on the prize ladder. To correct that, the syndicated version merely replaced 50:50 with Double Dip when the clock format was introduced.
  • Setting the Cap for Russian version. With a total of five lifelines at contestants' disposal, it would exist much easier to progress through money ladder; thus, they are allowed to pick merely iv of them.
• Orbital Shot: Done in Super Millionaire when a contestant reaches the $100,000 level.
• Poor, Anticipated Rock: During Celebrity Week 2012, a question came up well-nigh which choices would win against a certain design in Rock, Paper, Pair of scissors. One of the (incorrect) choices was rock, rock, rock.
• Production Placement: Those 15 Majuscule I checks, Netflix Movie Calendar week, and Enquire The Skillful'due south Skype service. AT&T sponsored Phone-A-Friend during the ABC era, and AOL sponsored a secondary Ask the Audience poll conducted through an AIM bot. There was besides a "tax free" calendar week sponsored by H&R Cake, where prize values were adapted so that their advertised winnings would actually be what they win afterward taxes. In the Great britain, Barclays Bank's logo appeared on the 15 cheques, something which disappeared about immediately after a rival bank started sponsoring the program. (For what it'south worth, production placement in the UK was entirely forbidden until 2011.)
• Progressive Jackpot: On one occasion during Regis's era on the American version, the 1000 prize would increment by $10,000 for every episode where the meg dollars wasn't given abroad (retroactive to the last time it was won, thus it started at $1,710,000 on the episode where it was introduced). The prize reached $ii,180,000 until information technology was won, although 1 other contestant during the jackpot phase came back due to a faulty question and went on to win the jackpot of $one,860,000 he was playing for the showtime time.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: The Ask the Audience lifeline was (for the first time ever) not used during the 2020 U.Southward. revival (with Ask the Host from the UK version replacing information technology), every bit the episodes were taped without ane due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.
  • Similarly for the United kingdom version, Ask the Audience was replaced by a second Phone-A-Friend lifeline due to the pandemic.
• Replaced the Theme Tune: The British version remixed its ain music in 2007, although information technology did not replace some of the shorter themes (like the "final winnings" melody) or the sound effects. The original music was restored in 2018. The American version kept the same music through the clock format of 2008-2010, but replaced all music and sound effects with the 2010-2011 flavour for legal reasons.
• Retired Game Bear witness Element: Several of the lifelines in the United states version, along with the clock.
• Contrary Psychology: One of Meredith's hosting trademarks is trying to psych out contestants who just gave a concluding respond earlier telling them they're right. She never does this when the contestant gets a question incorrect, however. Cedric the Entertainer puts more effort into it. Of course, feigning disappointment earlier telling a contestant they were correct was as well a Regis trademark, to the point of parody.
• Revisiting the Roots: The 2018 revival of the UK version made civilian editions the norm again, reinstated the Fastest Finger Commencement round and returned to the 15-question format (as opposed to the 12-question one used in later years).
• Right for the Wrong Reasons:
  • Occurs a few times, such as in this $100,000 question. ^note For starters, krypton is not fictional, simply she could take merely misspoken when she said neon "doesn't audio like a gas" (peradventure she meant to say information technology didn't audio like the correct answer?).
  • The Brazilian version circulate on Globo provided another example on November 10th, 2018. ^annotation A contestant was asked how many prime number numbers there are between one and xx. The contestant gave the correct reply (8) but arrived at it past assuming number 1 counts as a prime number and number 2 doesn't.
• Scare Chord: The "out of time" chord that chimes if a contestant is still playing when the episode is finished is pretty unsettling-sounding and seems to come out of nowhere. In subsequently American seasons, it more closely resembles a buzzer from a sporting arena.
• Scenery Porn: Some international versions tend to have sets that qualify, such as the French version'due south set since 2014. Taken Upwards to Eleven on the Indian version since 2013, which uses every single rupee in the upkeep to make elaborate, detailed, plain and merely breathtaking sets which tend to intermission the norm completely - the 2013/14 set wasn't even round and the 2020 and 2021 sets look similar something out of a sci-fi moving-picture show with numerous spotlights flashing and converging towards the contestant.
• Spiral This, I'chiliad Outta Here!: In the original video game, if you lot incorrectly answer the "fastest finger" question too often, Regis volition chew you out and leave in disgust, causing the game to immediately end.

  Regis: You know, I'm totally disgusted. How did I get hooked into this? It'due south over. I'll see you lot afterwards.

• Studio Audience: Actively used when a contestant uses Inquire The Audition.
• Subverted Catchphrase: Terry Crews will sometimes ask contestants "Is that your terminal decision?"
  • Commonly, Regis will denote the next episode's contestants by saying they've flown in from all over the land. Only in the 1/28/01 episode, Regis introduces the contestants by saying they're not The Mole.
• Take That!:
  • Regis shouted "Peanuts!" when Ken Basin answered how much he won on Jeopardy!.
  • A like cleft by Meredith can exist found here, aimed at the Telephone-a-Friend rather than the contestant.
• Tempting Fate: In a 2001 episode of the UK version, a contestant won £32,000, the highest "safe" corporeality on that version. Chris Tarrant handed him a bank check for that amount, as he often does in that situation — which the contestant immediately crumpled up and tossed away, maxim he intended to win a lot more. Said contestant promptly blew the side by side question, and Tarrant refused to write him another cheque, forcing the contestant to get looking on the studio flooring for the original ane.
• That Came Out Wrong: In one of his beginning episodes, Cedric quipped to a female contestant that "this is the furthest anyone has gone with me." Cue the audience laughing while quickly clarifying that he meant furthest into the game.
• The Smurfette Principle: Judith Keppel was (and remains) the merely female Top Prize winner in the UK version.
• Fourth dimension Keeps On Ticking: Under the Us clock and previous UK formats, the clock starts ticking downwardly after each question is read, but while the four choices are read. Most contestants waited until Meredith or Regis was washed reading the choices before speaking (see Loophole Abuse above for an exception), which about cost some players. Averted with the Turkish version, which lets the host read the answer choices before the clock starts.
• Trailers Ever Spoil: When three contestants concluded up winning the top prize within a month of each other in Summer 2000, network executives idea information technology would be a skilful idea to tell people alee of time that a glut of millionaires was coming. In truth, the ratings weren't really affected either way, but it set up a precedent for many other game shows in after years to do the verbal same thing.
  • The UK version also tends to hype up top prize winners in advance. Notably, the circulate of the episode with the first millionaire was heavily publicised as such, so information technology could human activity as a spoiler for another big TV result on the opposite channel — namely, the final ever episode of the enormously popular One Foot in the Grave. Later on millionaires had various tactics, such as trailers strongly implying the million was about to be given away again, whilst the start win of the revived series announced that information technology would happen without specifying which episode in the forthcoming run would feature it.
• Up to Xi: A special alive episode of the Uk series inverse "Ask the Audience" to "Ask the Nation", with the public able to give their answer by telephone vote.
• Useless Useful Spell: The "Ask the Host" lifeline in the 2018 revival of the UK version has get notable for the number of times Clarkson has had no clue whatsoever what the reply is, fifty-fifty on subjects that the contestant might reasonably accept expected him to take some knowledge of, to the indicate that he celebrated in genuine joy when a contestant used the lifeline on a question he knew the respond to.
• What the Hell, Player?: In the original video game, if you effort Regis' patience past doing nothing at the player selection screen or repeatedly failing the "Fastest Finger" question, he'll chew you out for your incompetence. Do it enough times, and he'll decide enough's plenty and get out, causing the game to finish.

  Regis: "Come on, people! How many times tin we practice this? You're pathetic! This game is over. It's over! I mean, I'grand getting outta here."

• You Are Better Than You Call up You Are: Subverted. Earlier Ken Basin's penultimate question (for $500,000), former million-dollar winner Nancy Christy said to him from the audition, "You know more than you recall you do. Trust yourself." He became the first person to accident the $1,000,000 question in American Millionaire history.

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Source: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire

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