Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (Australian game show)

History

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? debuted in Australia on 18 April 1999 on the Nine Network and was hosted by Eddie McGuire.

Beginning with an eleven question format starting at $1,000, this was later changed to 15 and offered a top prize of $1 million. However, in the 2007 revision of the show, the new maximum prize money on offer is $5 million; however, in the 2009 revision the top prize reverted to $1 million. The show ran in the Monday 8:30 pm time slot between 1999 and 2006 except for a brief two-week period in 2004 where a shortened half-hour edition was put up against Seven's Deal or No Deal in the 5:30 pm time slot leading into the 6:00 pm evening news. This incarnation turned out to be a ratings failure, and it lasted for only one week.

This was the very first country to have a fastest finger round where two people answered the fastest at the same time. As a result, another question was asked but neither of them got it right, so another question was asked. The fastest finger later on, instead of giving out one answer, two answers had to be given out to avoid any random guessing from happening. Later still, the contestants playing the fastest finger had to rank the four options in the correct order (as per the question), to avoid people winning Fastest Finger on a guess.

In the first few seasons, some questions often had a joke answer for the D choice (as with the US version of the show), for example, the question "The 80s band with the hit song 'Relax' was Frankie goes to ..... where?" had Collingwood offered as a D joke (this being a reference to Eddie McGuire being president of the Collingwood Football Club). As well, the Fastest Finger First segment from 1999 until 2003 required the ten contestants to give a correct answer as quickly as possible before reverting to the international standard of rules in 2004 where contestants had to order the four options in a row.

The 11 March 2002 episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? scored a national audience of 1.51 million, just under 200,000 more than what The Weakest Link: The Mole Special achieved on the same night.

In April 2003, a British episode in which Charles Ingram cheated all the way to the top prize was aired on the Nine Network, featuring Ingram's run in its entirety, and watched by over two million Australians. At the time, the Australian version did not yet have a top prize winner. In 2001, an episode featuring Survivor winner Richard Hatch incorrectly answering his fourth question (see below) was also shown in the United States.

On 9 February 2006, it was announced that McGuire would become the new CEO of the Nine Network, filling a vacancy created by the departure of David Gyngell in May 2005. As a result of this, McGuire had to sacrifice his on-air commitments. However, unlike The AFL Footy Show where McGuire was replaced with Garry Lyon and James Brayshaw, the network could not find a suitable replacement. The final episode aired on 3 April 2006. The last contestant was Mr. Tony Egan of Wagga Wagga, NSW, who won $32,000.

Spin-offs

On 29 January 2007, McGuire returned to working in front of the camera, hosting the Australian version of the quiz show, 1 vs. 100. This was followed up with McGuire announcing on 18 May 2007 that he would be resigning as CEO of the Nine Network, and would be taking on a new position in programming services, as well as more on-screen roles. With the resignation officially taking effect on 30 June 2007, McGuire continued hosting 1 vs. 100 until poor ratings forced the hiatus of the program in October 2007.

On 20 August, it was announced that Nine's nightly quiz show Temptation would be rested for the remainder of the year and replaced with nightly half-hour editions of Millionaire to be aired between 7:00 and 7:30 pm However, with the return of David Gyngell to the CEO role in September he immediately announced that a new version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? would be broadcast live to air from 7:00 pm for 90 minutes on Monday night and that Temptation would be run on Tuesday to Friday nights from 7:00 pm.

2007 format

While this version is very similar to the original, with the program's return comes an additional lifeline which is obtained once a contestant reaches the second safe level of $32,000. The lifeline is called "Switch the Question" (also known as a "Flip"), where the contestant may dismiss the current question, see the answer, and to play a new one worth the same dollar amount. However, they will not have any lifelines used on the discarded question returned to them.

The lifeline first appeared in the UK program in a number of celebrity editions, and most recently in its 300th episode in 2002. It was also used the US version from 2004–2008. The idea was taken from the UK show The People Versus.

The most notable change to the format is the addition of a bonus 16th question, which is worth $5 million. After answering question 15 correctly, they have the option of going for the bonus question. If the contestant gives the correct answer, he or she will win $5 million (the largest top prize in the history of Australian TV game shows). However, if an incorrect answer is given, then his or her winnings will plummet down to only $32,000; a devastating $968,000 loss.

In the past, contestants that use the Phone a Friend lifeline had to give out three phone numbers to choose from. However, in some cases, their friends sometimes were ready to look up the answers (such as asking people around for them, or going online for the answers). In the 2007 version, since the show was live, whenever a contestant was in the studio, their three friends would be seated in another studio room (in a Channel 9 studio in their nearby city) and not see or hear any questions or answers. This prevented any unfair advantage as they can watch the show live and look up the answers online.

Also, if McGuire believes that the contestant is taking too long to make a decision, the contestant may be put on a shot clock of 60 seconds. If the shot clock expires, the contestant is forced to walk away with their current winnings. This rule was introduced because the format was live. The previous format was pre-recorded where the producers could edit the contestant's deliberations in case they were longer than the producers preferred. The host has to make the decision, which is unlike the US version, which adopted a fixed 15 second (first five), 30 seconds (second five), 45 seconds (questions 11–14) and total time saved plus 45 seconds (15th question) clock in 2008.

Another notable change is the elimination of the preliminary Fastest Finger First rounds, similar to the syndicated US show. McGuire simply calls out the contestant's name and he or she comes into the set and immediately sits in the hot seat, as opposed to before when 10 contestants had to answer a question correctly in the fastest time to get into the hot seat.

The series ran for its scheduled 6 episodes from 22 October to 26 November 2007.

2010 specials

On 27 February 2010, a prime time special called Whizz Kids: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? was broadcast in which teams of students tried to win up to $1,000,000 for their school. Another episode was broadcast on 6 March 2010.

The special used the original format. Two lifelines also changed slightly. The Phone a Friend lifeline was called Phone the Teacher, students being able to call a teacher from their school. Also, as the show was prerecorded, the teachers had to be in a room where they could not see or hear the questions and answers in the studio to prevent them from looking up the answers through books or online or asking other teachers for the answer. The second lifeline change was that the Ask the Audience lifeline was called Ask the School, in which students from the contestants' school could vote using electronic keypads while they were watching the show being recorded. In addition, the "Switch the Question" lifeline was no longer available.

In total, the three schools, Engadine High School in NSW, Blackburn High School in Victoria and Frankston High School, also in Victoria, won $258,000 (the latter walked away with $8,000 whilst the remaining two schools won $125,000). The answers to the questions in which they walked away wounded up being wrong. Also, joke answers were introduced in these specials (most notably for the D choice), such as in a question about what attracts magnets in the second episode, a D) choice was offered as All the single ladies. For the record, the answer was 'iron' (but only after the Blackburn students asked the school).

Tony and John Koutsonikolas' $125,000 question, 6 March 2010 (used the 50:50 lifeline on the question)

Tony and John Koutsonikolas' $250,000 question

The boys chose not to answer, and left with $125,000, not wanting to risk $93,000.

Hot Seat (2009 format)

An abbreviated format of the show, Millionaire Hot Seat began production in 2009. Like the original Millionaire, it is hosted by Eddie McGuire. Airing daily at 5:30pm, it is currently in its seventh season.

Celebrities

Millionaires

To date there have only been 3 millionaires, two on the regular version and 1 on Millionaire Hot Seat:

$500,000 question incorrect

Only one contestant, Red Symons, in a celebrity special, has answered the 14th ($500,000) question incorrectly, losing $218,000 and leaving with only $32,000.

Red Symons, question:

$250,000 question incorrect

$500,000 winners

↑ Would have won $1,000,000 had they chosen to answer the question.

$250,000 winners

McDonald chose not to answer, winning $250,000. (He passed away in a car crash 5 months later after his appearance)

The Valendas chose not to answer, winning $250,000.

Fare chose not to answer, winning $250,000, but had he been brave enough, could have played for the million.

Copland chose not to answer, winning $250,000, but had he been brave enough, could have played for the million.

Barber chose not to answer, winning $250,000.

Evans chose not to answer, winning $250,000, but had he been brave enough, could have played for the million.

Serisier chose not to answer, winning $250,000, but had he been brave enough, could have played for the million.

Morgan chose not to answer, winning $250,000, but had he been brave enough, could have played for the million.

Kiss chose not to answer, winning $250,000.

Controversies and other notable events

He was later the subject of an article in the Northampton Chronicle and Echo. The article stated that a syndicate, understood to have been run by quiz buff Paddy Spooner, aimed to exploit the selection procedure and increase the chances of beating 100,000 others in the race to appear on the show. The Chronicle & Echo had learned the syndicate accused of fast-tracking contestants on to the show managed to get hold of tie-breaker style questions likely to be used on phone lines rung by members of the public. Potential contestants were then told possible answers in return for a percentage of any future cash winnings.

Martin Flood cheating allegation

In November 2005, Martin Flood became the show's second jackpot winner. However, it was alleged that he may have cheated in his first appearance of the show (similar to that of British cheat Charles Ingram); a suggestion Flood himself was unaware of until his jackpot win in the following episode. This investigation by A Current Affair helped to boost the ratings for the episode of his top prize win; however, after this, Flood was cleared by the Nine Network of any wrongdoing.

DVD

On 27 October 2004, a Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? interactive multiplayer DVD game was released. Also a picture edition was also released offering the choice of either adult and junior questions.