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Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
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On 4 September 1998, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? began. Since then the format has been exported around the globe, with 80 countries and an estimated 100 million viewers regularly giving their final answer, with some unexpected results...
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YES, THIS IS HUGE AROUND THE GLOBE
Asking Russian audiences can be risky, as they have been known to give deliberately wrong answers just to prevent some people reaching the top prize.
Indian contestants have been known to ignore their cheques in favour of meeting the show's host and Bollywood film legend Amitabh Bachchan. He was also the first host to be immortalised at Madame Tussauds, swiftly followed by Chris Tarrant.
Excluding Judith Keppel in the UK there have been 20 winners of the top prize: six in the USA, four in Japan, two in France and a single contestant in Israel, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, India, Germany, Belgium and Holland. Most recently, Igor Saveez took home Russia's top prize on 12 March, followed by Italy's Francesa Cinelli six days later.
At current exchange rates one million Italian lire is just ?321, and one million Turkish liras is 71p.
Faced with the question "Which of these US presidents appeared on the television series 'Laugh-In'?", American John Carpenter used his phone a friend lifeline to call his father, tell him the answer was Richard Nixon and take home $1 million.
In April 2000, the Russians hosted a one-off election special on the eve of the presidential elections, inviting each of the six candidates to play for charity. Four of them (not including President Putin) participated.
Charity versions of the show, with celebrity contestants, have also proved popular. Previous big names include Chaka Khan, KISS frontman Gene Simmons, actor Michael J. Fox and former Batman star Adam West.
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? is the only Western game show ever to be sold to Japan.
Venezuela, Malaysia, Slovakia, Australia, Russia, Greece, Poland, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Holland, Denmark and Colombia are some of the territories in which the show is screened.
The first Chinese language version of the show is set to launch in Singapore in the summer of 2001.
There are only two female hosts of the show around the world: Pamela Wallin in Canada and Barbara Stoekl in Austria.
In the USA, more than 35 million people tuned into the first ever celebrity version - the biggest audience for the ABC network since 1983.
In India the programme has broken all known audience records, bringing the country to a virtual standstill on the evenings it is broadcast.
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Not only was America the frist to buy our format, but they also had the first millionaire. He used his last lifeline phone a friend to call his dad to tell him he knew the answer to the final question.
More on this story to come!
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This is the Hot Seat in America
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