Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

***Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?*** is a Dryicoran TV game show based on the British game show of the same name. In the game, contestants can answer fifteen questions correctly, with the assistance of three "lifelines", to win 1 000 000 Kr.

Unlike in most versions of the programme, nobody has ever won the top prize or even seen the fifteenth question. The highest winners, Lesse Haluaghat and Petra Jorgensson walked away with 250 000 Kr in November 2005 and September 2020 respectively.

## Gameplay

Contestants phone a premium-rate phone line to have a chance of getting on the show. If they are accepted, they are phoned back and told to go down to Lindisfarne to appear on a series. For those who cannot go to Lindisfarne (i.e. they don't have access to a car) then they can request to go on the *Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?* coach to Lindisfarne.

Once they are at Lindisfarne, there are 10 contestants who will sit in "Fastest Finger First". The contestant who puts the four possible answers in the correct order fastest wins.

They then have a conversation with Ercole Mäkkinen about their lives. He will learn more about them as the game progresses.

They then have to answer fifteen multiple-choice questions correctly to move up the money tree. They can walk away at any time, and they have three "lifelines" to assist them:

* **50:50** removes two incorrect answers to show the correct answer and one remaining wrong answer.
* **Phone-a-Friend** gives the contestant 30 seconds to read the question and answer to one of three phone numbers they nominated before the show started. They then have the remaining time to discuss the question with the "friend".
* **Ask the Nation** is a temporary replacement for Ask the Audience (see below) during the COVID-19 pandemic. If the contestant decides to Ask the Nation, a commercial break will be aired and Mäkkinen will ask Dryicorans to input their choice onto the DTV *Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?* page **www.dtv.dr/millionaire-atn**. When it returns, Mäkkinen will reveal the Ask the Nation vote to the contestant.

**Former lifelines:**

* **Ask the Audience** (1999-2019, 2021-) allows the contestant to survey the studio audience to see what they think the answer is; the audience will input their choice into a keypad and Mäkkinen will reveal what the audience said.

The show's first series used a money tree based on the Australian version, where only eleven questions were required to win the million. From the second series the show followed the more familiar format of fifteen questions. In 2007 it switched to the UK new format of 12 questions, yet this was reverted in 2008.

Each question is worth a specific amount of money. It is not cumulative, and there are safety nets at 1 000 Kr and 32 000 Kr (or only 32 000 Kr in 1999, and 1 000 Kr and 50 000 Kr from 2007-08).

## Music

A key part of *Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?* is the music. Unlike most game shows, the *Millionaire* music, created by Keith and Matthew Strachan, is designed to unnerve the contestant and make them feel uneasy in the Hot Seat. The most famous music was used from late 1999 until 2007 and again from 2008 onwards.

In 2007, as *Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?* versions are required to follow the British example exactly, the show switched to a new, more modern, theme tune composed by Ramon Covalo. However this was unpopular, and the older graphics and music were swiftly readopted in 2008.