Who Wants To Lose Some Money On A Premium Rate Phone Call? (Who Wants to be a Millionaire?)

Member Name: eyedo6789

Product:	Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
Date:	17/03/09 (67 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A Million Pounds

Disadvantages: Will You Ever Get On The Show & How Much Will It Cost In Phone Calls?

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire is a television game show where general knowledge questions are asked and big cash prize money can be won. Such is its popularity that it is now has its own versions in many different countries world wide.

The format is of about 10 contestants first having to put 4 things in the right order in the quickest possible time, known as "fastest finger first".

Whoever wins this gets to go into the proper contestant's chair for the chance to win big money. They are then asked a series of potentially 12 questions.

Every time they answer a question correctly they progress up the cash prize ladder up to a maximum win of one million pounds. The questions are all multiple choice and have 4 possible answers to choose from.

The sequence on the cash ladder goes:
£500, £1000, £2000, £5000, £10000, £20000, £50000, £75000, £150000, £250000, £500000, £1000000.

When the contestant hits £1000 and £50000 at these levels that amount is protected as a minimum win meaning that if they fail at any point thereafter they will still win the protected amount.

At all other points if a question is answered wrongly then the amount the player wins falls down to one ladder position below where they were. The contestant can cut and run at any point and is allowed to see the next question first and its multiple choice answer options before making that decision.

There are three "lifelines" available to help the contestant that can only be used once each. They are "ask the audience", the audience votes on their keypads and the contestant can use their collective answers as a guide, "phone a friend" where the contestant literally telephones a friend and asks their advice about which answer to choose, and "fifty fifty" where two incorrect multiple choice answers are eliminated by the questioning computer leaving just two to pick from.

There have been a few different million pound winners but I wouldn't enter because you have to dial a premium rate phone line to enter and then will still probably not be selected to go on the show. Even if you get on you may not make it to the contestant's chair. If you do you are still at the mercy of the producers who if they wish could throw in an extremely difficult question at any time. I may be wrong about the last bit but I have not heard anything about whether questions are truly randomly selected and if they are who then independently audits this process.

I guess the average amount of money that contestants win is about £20000 so you have to weigh up whether it's worth entering or not.

Summary: It Can Be Exciting But The Novelty Has Worn Off For Me