"Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" aired for the first time on 4 September 1998 in the United Kingdom. The UK show is hosted by Chris Tarrant. It had its biggest ratings in March 1999 when more than 19 million were watching the show. The first millionaire on the show was Judith Keppel who appeared on 20 November 2000.
More than 100 countries around the world have bought the license and air local versions of the show, including Australia, Bulgaria, Germany, Poland, Russia, United States. The United States version became a big hit when Regis Philbin started hosting it in 1999. John Carpenter, a man who worked for the IRS, became the first person to win the grand prize of $1,000,000 in 1999. Philbin hosted the show until 2002. A syndicated version of the show has aired since 2002. It is hosted by Meredith Vieira.
Each country airs the show under the same rules. They all have the same studio design.
In Australia, a spin-off called "Millionaire Hot Seat" has aired since 2009.
Danny Saucedo
Danny Saucedo (born Daniel Gabriel Alessandro Saucedo Grzechowski on 25 February 1986 in Stockholm, Stockholms Län, Sweden) is a Swedish singer who competed as one of the finalists in Pop Idol — the Swedish version of Idol. His two songs charted on the official Swedish singles chart. '"Öppna Din Dörr"' (Tommy Nilsson cover) peaked at No. 24 in 2006 and "Tokyo" (credit to Danny) was two weeks at No. 1 in 2007.
Agnes Carlsson
Agnes Carlsson (born March 6 1988 in Vänersborg), (better known by her stage name Agnes) is a Swedish singer who rose to popularity after winning "Idol 2005", the Swedish version of "Pop Idol", shown by TV4. The October 10th 2006 SVT confirmed that Agnes would participate in the Swedish Melodifestivalen 2007 with her song "More than a girl", but she got disqualified because she talked about the song in an interview with Aftonbladet. She is the third only Idol winner who was previously a "Wildcard" on the show, next to Canada's Ryan Malcolm and Kazakhstan's Almas Kishkenbayev. Agnes advanced to the finals as the jury's choice. She has released a song called "Release Me", which became a huge hit for Agnes.
Daniel Lindström
Daniel Lindström (born January 30, 1978) is a Swedish singer from Umeå. He won the Swedish Idol 2004 contest against Darin Zanyar. His first single, "Coming True", sold double platinum, and his self-titled album, released in December 2004, topped the Swedish pop charts. The new album "Nån slags verklighet" ("Some kind of reality") contains songs written in Swedish by the singer himself. Daniel Lindström was the first winner of the Swedish Idol series.
Destiny's Child
Destiny's Child was a three-time Grammy Award-winning American R&B girl group. They were founded in Houston, Texas. They formed in 1997. Originally a quartet called Girl's Tyme, the group eventually became a trio whose members were Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams. According to the World Music Awards, Destiny's Child is the best selling female group of all time. On June 12, 2005, they announced on tour in Barcelona that they would no longer be performing together, but pursuing individual careers in music, theatre, television and film.
They disbanded in 2006. Destiny's Child has sold in total 75 million worldwide including albums, video albums and singles; its leader Beyoncé as a solo and featured artist has sold the same million of copies; Kelly Rowland has sold as a solo and featured artist 20 albums and singles million worldwide.
With Michelle Williams as the lineup destiny's child sold about 35 million copies. By herself Michelle has had several albums amongst them are: heart to you and unexpected.
Destiny's Child has sold 170 million worldwide.
Destiny's Child released their first album, "Destiny's Child", in 1998. Their second album "The Writing's on the Wall" was released in 1999. It was the band's last album with four members.
In 2001 "Survivor" was released. All of the album's four singles reached number one.
The band released their last album "Destiny Fulfilled" in 2004. Four singles were released from the album.
Kelly Rowland
Kelendria Trene "Kelly" Rowland (born February 11, 1981) is a Grammy Award-winning American R&B singer, songwriter, dancer, and occasional actress, who rose to fame as one of the founding members of the successful R&B girl group Destiny's Child, the world's best-selling female group of all time.
Her total sales (LP, EP, compilation, video album and singles) surpassed 100 million worldwide (60 with the group e 40 as solo and featured artist). Rowland has released four solo albums. Her first album "Simply Deep" is her most successful album. Rowland had her only number one on the album, "Dilemma".
Rowland's parents separated when she was seven. She and her mother moved to Houston when she was eight.
Pop Idol
Pop Idol was a British television series that was first shown on ITV on October 5, 2001. The show was a talent contest to decide the best new young pop singer, or 'pop idol', in the United Kingdom, based on viewer voting and participation. There were two series of "Pop Idol". The first was from October 2001 - February 2002. The winner was Will Young; the runner-up was Gareth Gates. The second series was in 2003. It was won by Michelle McManus.
The "Idol" series has become an international franchise. It has spun off many successful shows such as "Idol", "American Idol", "Idols", "Canadian Idol", "Australian Idol", "Idols West Africa", "Indian Idol", "Indonesian Idol", "New Zealand Idol", "Philippine Idol", "Pinoy Idol", Hay superstar, "Nouvelle Star", "Deutschland sucht den SuperStar", "Singapore Idol", "Malaysian Idol", "Music Idol", "Idols South Africa", "Ídolos Brazil", "Ídolos Portugal", and others.
Rachel Smith
Rachel Renee Smith (born April 18, 1985 in Panama) is a beauty queen from Clarksville, Tennessee. She won the Miss USA contest in 2007. She had previously competed in the Miss Teen USA contest. She represented the USA in the Miss Universe pageant in 2007.
Natalie Glebova
Natalie Glebova, (born November 11 1981) is a Russian Canadian beauty queen who has held the title Miss Universe 2005.
Michelle Williams (singer)
Tenitra Michelle Williams (born July 23, 1979) is an American gospel and R&B singer, songwriter, and actress. She was a background singer for Monica, before rising to fame as one-third of the successful Grammy Award-winning musical group Destiny's Child, the world's best-selling female group of all time, selling over 100 million records worldwide.
Williams played the character Shug Avery in the play "The Color Purple". She was a contestant in the 2010 series of British reality television show "Strictly Come Dancing".
In 2013, she made a return to inspirational music with the lead single, "If We Had Your Eyes" from her upcoming fourth studio album titled "Journey to Freedom".
Simon Cowell
Simon Phillip Cowell (born 7 October 1959) is a British businessman, music talent show judge, actor, and entrepreneur. Cowell is the A&R executive for Syco in the United Kingdom and the son of estate agent and and music industry executive Eric Cowell Sr. and socialite Julie Brett. He was born in Lambeth, London and raised in Elstree, Hertfordshire. He is well known as a judge on television programmes "Pop Idol", "The X Factor", "American Idol" and "Britain's Got Talent". On these shows, Cowell is known for saying that most of the contestants on the shows are not talented. He is known for joining activities in the television and music industries, having made singles and records for many television characters.
Cowell has been in a relationship with Lauren Silverman since 2013. The couple's son, Eric, was born in February 2014. Silverman's husband divorced her for alleged adultery with Cowell.
Reality television