All the excitement of the 10th anniversary edition of Who Wants to be a Millionaire is getting close to the big payoff as Regis Philbin returns to the Hot Seat on August 9th at 8:00PM ET on ABC. As press releases are saying, this was truly a great year for the format. The movie Slumdog Millionaire, a movie essentially based around arguably the world’s most popular quiz show, won the Oscar for Best Picture and the daytime edition of the show, hosted by Meredith Vieira, will be entering its eight season soon after a large number of changes to the format last year. The show’s still standing very strong around the world, and ABC plans to celebrate the anniversary with style.
As we’ve previously discussed, the format will largely be from the syndicated edition, including the clock. A celebrity will be featured at the end of each episode playing one question, only allowed to use one lifeline, for $50,000. If they miss, they get $25,000. The lifelines “Phone a Friend” and “Ask the Audience” return along with daytime Millionaire’s “Double Dip” and “Ask the Expert”. Basically one of the only complaints I’ve had about “ATE” is that getting a decent expert on the show seems like a 50/50 chance. You’ll be happy to know that they’ve lined up a fantastic group who should really be able to help greatly during those big money questions. The Experts are…
* ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos
* ABC News’ Sam Donaldson
* ABC News’ Cokie Roberts
* NPR’s Mo Rocca
* Wolf Blitzer (CNN’s “The Situation Room”)
* Activist and radio host Rev. Al Sharpton
* Bestselling author Jodi Picoult
* Bill Nye, the Science Guy
* Journalist, newscaster and author Gwen Ifill
* Journalist Connie Chung
* Game show legend Ken Jennings
I can’t really pick a bad one out of the group. That’s not all, though. The show will be bringing back some memorable and famous contestants to join in the celebration from the audience…
Sunday, August 9
Note: Much of the studio audience is comprised of former contestants
Robert Essig, Ashtabula, OH – nicknamed Bob-O by his mother-in-law, won $1 million
Joe Trela, Gilroy, CA – third contestant to win $1 million
Ed Toutant, Austin, TX – won $1.86 million escalating jackpot
Monday, August 10
Robby Roseman, Las Vegas, NV – first person to lose on the first question, winning nothing
Tuesday, August 11
Kevin Olmstead, Ann Arbor, MI – the show’s biggest winner; won the escalating jackpot totaling $2.18 million
Wednesday, August 12
Jason Block, Brooklyn, NY – one of the show’s most memorable contestants; won $125,000
Thursday, August 13
No former contestants this night
Sunday, August 16
John Carpenter, Hamden, CT & dad – the series’ first-ever contestant to win $1 million; phoned his dad on the last question for his “Phone a Friend,” just to inform him he knew the answer and was about to win $1 million
Monday, August 17
Brian Fodera, Los Angeles, CA – second person to get the first question wrong, winning nothing
Tuesday, August 18
Doug Van Gundy, Elkins, WV – West Virginia fiddler won $250,000 in 1999 which, at that time, was the largest amount of money won in a single network game show appearance
Wednesday, August 19
Dan Doody, Seattle, WA – nicknamed “Doody” by Regis, he won $1,000
Thursday August 20
No former contestants this night
Sunday, August 23
Nancy Christy, Tulsa, OK – first woman to win $1 million on the show (happened on syndicated version)
While some of those are great, I’m looking forward to Doug Van Gundy the most. He’s the contestant I remember more than anyone else from the show for the reaction to the $250,000 he had, and we haven’t heard much from him since. It’s going to be an incredibly entertaining and exciting 11 episode series that you really shouldn’t miss. The 10th anniversary edition of Who Wants to be a Millionaire starts August 9th at 8:00PM ET. Following that is another show to really check out, Shark Tank.
We will be on the set of the show August 3rd. Are you going to be there any day? Be sure to let us know.
Popularity: 1% [?]
