I want to be a Millionaire! (Who Wants to be a Millionaire?)

Member Name: i_am_joy

Product:	Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
Date:	27/11/08 (129 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Brilliant general knowledge format, Chris Tarrant is a good host, egging the contestants on

Disadvantages: I am not keen on the Celebrity spin offs

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire is my very favourite quiz show of all time, not only is it a good old fashioned general knowledge quiz but it also has the added bonus of watching real people playing for money which will probably change their lives.

The format of the quiz is simple, the person who has qualified for the chance to win £1 million has to answer a series of twelve questions which gradually get harder. They come in with nothing and each question they answer will win them a set amount of money, but if they get the question wrong they can lose a lot of cash. The questions are multiple choice and on screen the question will be shown first, followed by the answer choices which are revealed one at a time from choice A through to choice D.

The contestant has three lifelines which can be used at any point in the game if they are stuck on a question; these are 50/50 (where the computer removes two of the four answers, supposedly narrowing down your choices), Ask the Audience (where the studio audience uses a handheld keypad to select what they think is the correct answer) and Phone a Friend (the contestant phones someone who will hopefully have the answer to the question they are stuck on).

The host of Millionaire is Chris Tarrant, who I think is absolutely excellent in this role even though I am not usually a fan of his. He is very personable and I can tell he puts the contestants at their ease, he is a bit of a bugger when he keeps them waiting to find out if their answer was right but this really adds to the suspense of the quiz.

I love to see people win the big money prizes (with the possible exception of the already rich relation of Camilla) and sit there rooting for the contestants, the worst thing for me is if someone loses a large amount of money as however cockily they act there is a crushing disappointment etched on their face. I remember seeing someone lose over £200,000 once and I honestly could have cried for them.

The thing is, this is a general knowledge show and every single question basically depends on whether you know the answer or not. It's as simple as that, you could know how to split an atom but if you don't know the annual rainfall of Cambodia then you might lose out on becoming a millionaire! I play along with the contestant and have not known the 'easier' £1000 question, but have known straightaway the correct answer to win £250,000 - it's the luck on the draw as to whether questions come out relating to your particular knowledge base.

I like the fact that the contestants are not given a space of time to answer their questions and are encouraged to take their time and really think about the answer they are about to give. Obviously most of the time you'll either know the answer or you won't, but sometimes a contestant will come on who is keen to give a certain answer but can't make up their mind and it's at these times that I'm glad the show gives them time to think about it properly - and also to consider the wedge of cash they could lose if they give the wrong answer!

The contestant can choose not to answer a question and will then be given a cheque corresponding to the amount of money they eventually ended up with. This is great because it means that they are not gambling their winnings on the hope that a question will come out that they know the answer to, I think ITV are very fair doing it like this - although many contestants still gamble even if they're not sure of the answer and it's awful to watch them lose so much money on a gut instinct!

Oh, I nearly forgot. To be a contestant in the Millionaire hotseat you need to answer a multiple choice question faster than another nine hopefuls. This fastest finger round is so hard, and how some of them manage to answer the question so quickly is beyond me! Questions like 'put these four Eurovision song contest winners in the order that they won the competition', followed by choice which are not at all obvious. I doubt very much if I'd pass this round.

There have been a few Celebrity versions of Millionaire where celebrities will pit their wits against the computer, with the money acrued being donated to a charity of their choosing. Now, I hate to sound cynical but I personally feel the questions are much easier for the celebrities than the public and this irritates me. I know the money is for charity, and the questions are still terribly hard, but this doesn't seem very fair at all to me.

I love this show anyway and hope I have given you a brief insight into it if you're not already a fan. I hope to buy a copy of the game for the computer soon as it's such good fun and has got to be more interesting and educational than watching blooming Golden Balls!

Summary: A great quiz show that does not rely on tacky ideas to be fun.