Greed (game show)

Broadcast history

Greed premiered on November 4, 1999 and was widely considered as 20th Century Fox Television's response to the success of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. After renewing the show for the summer of 2000 with a possible return the following season, Fox abruptly canceled the program on July 14, 2000. Repeats of Greed have broadcast on GSN in January 2002.

Qualifying round

Six contestants were asked a question with a numerical answer between 10–999. Each contestant locked-in their answers using a keypad in front of them. After all six contestants submitted a guess, the answer was revealed and the contestant with the guess farthest from the correct answer was eliminated. The surviving contestants were stationed at podiums based upon the closeness of their guess to the correct answer, with the contestant who had the closest guess becoming the team's captain. If two or more contestants gave the same guess or guesses that were of equal distance from the correct answer, the contestant who entered their guess before the other(s) received the higher ranking.

Toward the end of the run, the qualifying round was eliminated. Five contestants were introduced and sent to their positions, which had been determined by a random drawing backstage.

Question round

The team then attempted to answer a series of eight questions worth successively higher amounts, from $25,000 up to $2,000,000.

Each of the first four questions had one correct answer to be chosen from several options (four for questions 1 and 2, five for questions 3 and 4). The host Woolery reads the question and answers to one contestant, who would choose one of them. The captain could either accept that answer or replace it with a different one. If the final choice was correct, the team's winnings were increased to the value of that question; the captain could then choose to either quit the game or risk the money on the next question. If the captain quit after any of these four questions, the money was split evenly among all five team members. Giving/accepting a wrong answer ended the game and forfeited all winnings. The team member in the lowest position (farthest from the correct answer when a qualifying question was played) gave the answer to question 1, and each question after that was answered by the member in the next higher position.

The remaining four questions each had four correct answers to be chosen from several options, starting with six for question 5 and increasing by one for each question after that. The host would reveal the category of the upcoming question to the captain and offer a chance to end the game, with the prize money being split among the remaining players according to their shares. If the captain chose to continue, a "Terminator" round was played (see below) prior to the question being asked. The captain was given a "Freebie" prior to question 5 and could use it to eliminate a wrong answer from any one question.

For questions 5 through 7, answers were given by the players in the positions below the captain, one each from lowest to highest. With four or fewer players left in the game, the captain answered last, then (if necessary) chose to either give enough additional answers to make four or delegate the choices to other members. Once all the answers were in, the captain could change one of them if desired. Answers were revealed individually as correct or incorrect; if three correct answers were found, the host offered a buyout to quit the game. Cash was offered on questions 5 and 6 ($20,000 and $50,000, respectively), to be split evenly among the remaining players, and the decision rested with the captain. On question 7, each individual team member could choose to take a buyout consisting of a 2000 Jaguar XK-8 Convertible and $25,000 cash (approximately $100,000 total value).

If the captain (questions 5 and 6) or at least one team member (question 7) chose to continue with the game, the fourth answer was revealed. If it was correct, the team split the cash award for that level's question. If an incorrect answer was revealed at any point, the game ended and the team left with nothing.

Terminator

A Terminator challenge was played before each of the fifth, sixth, and seventh questions. One contestant was chosen at random and given the option to challenge a teammate to a one-question showdown for their share of the team's collective winnings. If the selected contestant issued a challenge, he/she collected $10,000 to keep risk-free, regardless of the outcome of the challenge or the overall game.

The two contestants faced each other across podiums at center stage, and the host read a toss-up question. The first contestant to buzz-in and answer correctly eliminated the other contestant from the game and claimed their share of the collective winnings. If a contestant buzzed-in and provided an incorrect response or did not immediately respond, their opponent won by default. If the team captain was eliminated, the contestant who won the challenge became the new captain; otherwise, the challenge winner kept their original position within the team.

Contestants were originally required to wait for the question to be read completely before buzzing-in. Buzzing-in too early immediately eliminated the contestant, regardless of whether their answer was correct or incorrect. This was later changed to allow contestants to buzz-in at any time if they knew the answer, though the host would immediately stop reading the question at that point.

$2 million question

Prior to the $2 million question, each team member again individually decided to quit with their share of the team's collective winnings or continue playing. If any team members chose to continue, a question with nine possible answers was presented, of which four were correct.

In the only instance in which a contestant chose to play the $2 million question, the remaining contestant was given 30 seconds to select four answers and was warned that if four answers were not selected within the time limit, the game would end and the contestant would leave with nothing. Following the selection of answers, correct responses were revealed individually. None of the answers could be changed and no buyout was offered following the reveal of the third correct answer. If all four chosen answers were correct, the contestant (or team) won $2 million.

Daniel Avila was the only contestant to reach this level, risking $200,000 to go on and play for $2.2 million (this was during Greed's climbing jackpot era) on the episode that aired November 18, 1999. However, Avila missed the question based on a Yale University study about the four smells most recognizable to the human nose (peanut butter, coffee, Vicks Vaporub, and chocolate). Avila correctly guessed peanut butter, coffee, and Vicks Vaporub but incorrectly guessed tuna instead of chocolate, and left with nothing.

Rule changes

In the first month of Greed's run, the top prize was worth $2 million plus an additional $50,000 for each game where the top prize was not won. As no team had reached the jackpot question and provided the necessary correct answers, the jackpot reached $2,550,000 in the first month. When the program became a permanent series, the top prize was changed to a flat $2,000,000. During the time where the jackpot could increase by $50,000 each episode, the program was called "Greed". When it became permanent, it was, from that point on, called Greed: The Series, that is, except for the time it was "Super Greed".

In February 2000, eight previous Greed contestants were brought back for a "Million-Dollar Moment," with one taking place at the end of each of four episodes. Two contestants faced off with a Terminator-style sudden-death question, and the winner was given a $1 million question with eight possible choices.

The contestant had 30 seconds to study the question, then 10 seconds to lock-in the four correct answers to win the money. Correct answers were revealed one at a time, and if all four were chosen, the contestant won an additional $1 million. However, if any of the answers were wrong, the contestant won no additional money but kept any money won on previous episodes.

Curtis Warren became Greed's only Million Dollar Moment winner when he successfully answered a question about movies based on television shows on the episode that aired February 11, 2000. Warren was the program's biggest winner and briefly held the title of biggest U.S. game show winner of all time with $1,410,000, but his record was beaten within a week as David Legler won $1,765,000 on NBC's Twenty One. Warren has since been surpassed by others.

Greed became Super Greed for a month in May 2000. The qualifying question was eliminated, and the values for the top three questions were doubled, making the eighth question worth a potential $4 million. The cash buyout on the sixth question was increased to $100,000, and any team that got this question right and continued past it was guaranteed $200,000 regardless of the outcome of the game.

Two teams reached the seventh question during this time. The first team was offered the same car consolation prize that was offered to the first team, with the cash prize increased to $75,000 (bringing the total value to $150,000), and all the remaining members elected to take the offer. When the second team made it, they were offered the usual cash bailout option, with $150,000 to divide. This team elected to continue, and won the $2 million prize.

International versions

These are the international versions of "Greed", All the international variants of the show was produced by FremantleMedia (formerly known as Pearson Television). It has the different music, graphics and the same concept based on the U.S. version. All fictional countries had shown first in 2016 on their YouTube channels and not been modernised or licensed by Dick Clark Productions, 20th Century Fox Television or FremantleMedia.