Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?: Originally Called ‘cash Mountain’!

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? Originally called ‘Cash Mountain’!

By Tom, Annie and Jamie

1990! • The ban was lifted on the limit of cash prizes and prizes were allowed to be obscene i.e win a million! • The BBC couldn’t compete with ITV’s big prizes for quiz shows so they launched popular comedy panel shows like: • Have I Got News For You (1990) • They Think It’s All Over (1995) • Never Mind The Buzz Cocks (1996) • The 1990’s was an era of technological advancement. Most people hadn’t heard of the internet but that year Tim Berners-Lee started the WorldWideWeb browser. • The 1990’s saw the launch of: • The first Gulf War • The collapse of the Soviet Union • The first cloned sheep – Dolly. • The launch of Google.

Facts! • Produced by Celador for ITV. • It took 2 years to develop. • It was launched in 1998. • The presenter is Chris Tarrant. • The quiz show format has been sold successfully around the world.

•Computer, console, board and DVD games have also been produced.

Mise-En-Scène! • Millionaire is up to date with the technological age. • Contestants sit behind computer displays as well as the main contestant and the host. • The show takes place in an arena surrounded by the audience, with the host and the main contestant in the middle.

Format! • Contestants phone in to be on the show. • Contestants play “Fastest Finger First” to be entitled to sit in the hot seat. • The contestant is offered multiple choice questions which become more difficult as the cash prize increases. • It is thought that the prize doubling idea was taken from the show ‘Double Your Money’. • Contestants have 3 lifelines: Phone a friend, Ask the audience and 50/50. • Originally it was 15 questions to 1 million but now it’s 12. • Some people wanted the questions to be harder the higher the money rose.

Target Audience! • The target audience is 18-80. • The demographics for the audience are: people who want to win so much money it would result in a life changing experience. • 19 Million people watched ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’! • Also 19 Million watched ‘Coronation Street’ but by 2007 the peak audience had slipped to 13 Million.

Still Images!

Money Spinner! • Contestants paid to appear on the show by ringing the premium rate phone line. • The show had 19 million viewers at its peak so ITV could charge premium rate for advertising. • The “role-over” nature of the quiz (it finished at the top of the hour and continued where it left off next time) also guaranteed returning viewers.

Winners! • Everybody was looking forward to the first million pound winner which was Judith Keppel on the 20th November 2000. After she won only 5 others had won the top prize. However, nobody has won it since September 2006.

The Scandal! • Out of the five, one person (Charles Ingram) cheated by having a family member in the audience coughing to the right answer. • Suspicion was raised by a man in the audience noticing coughing patterns at each question. • He won the cash prize in 2001 but the show wasn’t broadcast until April 2003. • Charles Ingram 

Thank you for listening! Does anyone have any questions?