Who Wants to Be a Millionaire with Jeremy Clarkson

Go Harvey Go wrote: »

With the greatest of respect, I wouldn't fully trust the tabloids.

In any case, I don't think I'd watch any Millionaire revival. Chris Tarrant was Millionaire, and Millionaire was Chris Tarrant - and I believe that since the original show ended, he has said on at least one occasion that he doesn't think he'd ever do it again.

Also, the original show only ended four years ago - so it feels a bit too soon for a revival. (Admittedly, Dancing on Ice was itself off the air for four years before coming back - but it *didn't* feel too soon as the original DOI didn't last as long as Millionaire.)

And it's been about 7 years since the civilian show ended too I reckon? From what I recall it was celebrity specials only for the last few years

In all honesty the show pretty much finished as a force from the 2003-2005 period, although I think it steadily declined from about 2001 onwards.

That said it was always going to come back in some form, and even if this is BS, it'll be back on our screens within the next few years I'd be fairly certain.

hard to believe it's 20 years now since it first aired. Such a different time - I remember they had no idea what the reaction would be when they first launched. The first episodes are all on YouTube. There are glitches all over the place yet it came off excellently. It's hard to quite get across just how huge offering 100million pounds in a quizshow was back then - mainly good prizes were weekends away or cars etc.

It was all the talk at the time - over in the UK you could barely go to the shops at the time without hearing about last night's episode. The ratings were absolutely through the roof. It originally ran on consecutive nights over a couple of weeks

jr86 wrote: »

And it's been about 7 years since the civilian show ended too I reckon? From what I recall it was celebrity specials only for the last few years

Yep, almost entirely celeb specials for the last three years.

There were a few live civilian episodes during this period - but they turned out to be a bit of a disaster. Of course, by this point, Millionaire had introduced a clock for the first few questions, which nobody liked...

In all honesty the show pretty much finished as a force from the 2003-2005 period, although I think it steadily declined from about 2001 onwards.

For many, it stopped being must-watch television once Judith Keppel won the million.

Shortly afterwards, David Edwards won the top prize himself, and from then on it really was wallpaper TV. By the time Ingram Wilcox became the fifth and final millionaire in 2006, viewing figures had fallen to around four million - compared to at least ten million during the show's glory days.

hard to believe it's 20 years now since it first aired. Such a different time - I remember they had no idea what the reaction would be when they first launched. The first episodes are all on YouTube. There are glitches all over the place yet it came off excellently. It's hard to quite get across just how huge offering 100million pounds in a quizshow was back then - mainly good prizes were weekends away or cars etc.

At the start of the '90s, the most that could be given away on an episode of any game show was £6,000. (The $64,000 Question with Bob Monkhouse had a top prize of £6,400, but was only allowed to give this away every other episode.)

This limit was abolished in 1993 - but until Millionaire began five years later, many game shows treaded carefully (with the notable exception of the short-lived Raise the Roof with Bob Holness, which offered houses worth nearly £100,000). Indeed, Wheel of Fortune's £20,000 prize was being promoted as the biggest on UK game shows as late as June 1998 - just three months before Millionaire's debut:

https://twitter.com/AdamNostalgia/status/789818352655011840

It originally ran on consecutive nights over a couple of weeks

Indeed it did - only airing when ITV had a good reason.

Becoming a regular, thrice-weekly series in autumn 2000 was perhaps another sign that the glory period was ending, even if the million hadn't been won yet. Two years later, it moved to Saturday nights only - and thus found itself rather playing second fiddle to Ant, Dec and Simon Cowell.

Watching episodes from the mid-2000s on YouTube, however, it's clear that Tarrant enjoyed presenting the show as much as ever. Only around the start of the 2010s - as the celeb episodes became more and more commonplace, the payouts became smaller as more and more contestants opted to leave the game early, and the clock was introduced - did his enthusiasm really start to go.

As I said, he was Millionaire and Millionaire was him. However good any other host would be, they simply wouldn't be *quite* as good as Tarrant. "Here's a cheque for £64,000... but we don't want to give you that!"

Relikk wrote: »

get rid of the stupid questions leading up to 1000,

Yeah, having 5 questions before the 1000 was always a bugbear of mine. At least they decreased it to 2 in later years

That said I always felt it was very harsh that people could leave with nothing. They often travel a long way, the studio lights and cameras can definitely affect some people and they were liable to receive abuse from the public if they failed early.

Maybe they should have had £100-200-200-500-1000 as milestones in their own right (so if you got the £100 question correct as everyone did on the history of the Uk show, you'd leave with at least £100 and so on).

Go Harvey Go wrote: »

Of course, leaving with nothing is an attribute of just about every money-offering game show these days, thanks to the Weakest Link. (Even some Deal or No Deal contestants went home with nothing in that show's later years.)

And it's certainly true that being in that TV studio with the hot lights, the rolling cameras and the knowledge that millions will be watching can affect some contestants - it happened more often than not on the Weakest Link, and it happens more often than not on The Chase and Tipping Point. Travelling a long distance to the studio may well be a factor, too.

All that said, it's still kind of fun watching Millionaire's "zeroaires" - especially the first one, John Davidson...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwke8zQHDfw

Did you ever get a chance to read Tarrant's book?

It's brilliant, singles out a few of the more memorable episodes including the above

They were absolutely shocked when the Geordie guy above fluffed up. By all accounts he flew it in rehearsals, and was a sure-fire 32,000 plus contestant

It's almost heartbreaking seeing Chris desperately trying to help and he still pushes that answer without looking at Chris (where eye contact would clearly have told him he was on the wrong path)

Chris, anyway, pointed out that with the early questions, sometimes they're so "easy" that contestants don't even consider a lifeline and fully believe subconsciously they must "know" the answer. leads to incidents like the above. If that was playing for anything above £1000 he surely would have doubted himself more and thought through it a lot more

That said the most infamous £0 winner was Michelle Simmonds. She struggled on the opening question, and that was it - she was completely flustered.

When the guy left with nothing on the Irish edition I remember Eircell giving him a voucher for £300 or something. I recall even the audience put him wrong, when he answered a Jenny was a female rabbit as opposed to a doe (doe WTF ). Talk about a stinker for £300 FFS! Really is luck of the draw

Should give it to Noel Edmonds he needs a job now. After that disgrace of a show Deal or no deal. The most stupifying awful boring garbage ever to be called a game show. It had it all hard luck stories the banker and it was based around clowns opening cardboard boxes. As for Millionaire it got stale viewing figures plummeted can't see Clarkeson making a difference.

Interesting - going back to the original format of episodes aired on consecutive nights. Always preferred that way

They had to get their token mention of the Major in

let it go guys!!!

rubadub wrote: »

I never thought there was anything special about him. At the time I never once heard anybody comment about him being good in any way either. I thought he was an odd choice at the time and I did not like the drawn out crap, and the weird put on faces he would have. I know he was obviously told to drag it out but it was very tedious.

I would be quicker to tune in to see some of the people who happened to be mention in this thread doing it. Clarkson, Ant & Dec or even Simon Cowell!

Well, each to their own.

And Tarrant did also host a number of game shows that were nowhere near as good as Millionaire, to put it mildly.

That Radio Times article says that ITV are unable to confirm why he isn't hosting this revival. They don't *have* to confirm why, though, do they? As I've said before, he has stated on at least one occasion that he doesn't think he'd ever do Millionaire again - plus he hasn't been in the best of health in recent years.