Who wants to be a Millionaire with Gay Byrne ?

Lucozade man · 26-05-2011 05:57PM #1

Does anybody here know why was it axed after one season? Was is popular? Did it have faults? I dont know cause i lived in new zealand at the time.

seanybiker · 26-05-2011 05:58PM

It was fairly crap. Well that was my opinion anyways. Gay was brutal

CoalBucket · 26-05-2011 06:01PM

Lucozade man wrote: »

Does anybody here know why was it axed after one season? Was is popular? Did it have faults? I dont know cause i lived in new zealand at the time.

Gay Byrne

dougal · 26-05-2011 06:07PM

seanybiker wrote: »

It was fairly crap. Well that was my opinion anyways. Gay was brutal

Yep Gaybo was at his brutal condescending best!

Minstrel27 · 26-05-2011 06:35PM

The questions were impossible, Gay Byrne was the host and the whole controversy surrounding this

Wikipedia wrote:

Lunula controversy
In June 2001, contestant Shane O'Doherty was asked, as the 13th (£250,000) question, in what part of the body the lunula was. He used his phone-a-friend lifeline to ring a physician, who said it was in the heart, which was the answer he then gave. The required answer was the fingernail, and so O'Doherty's winnings fell from £125,000 back to the guaranteed £32,000. In fact, a lunula is any crescent or moon-shaped structure, including both the white base of the fingernail and the segments of the semilunar heart valves.[2] O'Doherty protested that, since both answers were correct, he should not have been eliminated. He threatened to sue the producers, and the controversy generated media debate for two weeks. Eventually he was allowed to return to the show. He was asked another question, and opted to pass and keep the £125,000 he had previously accrued.[3] The replacement question was also criticised as flawed; it described John Pius Boland as an "Olympic gold medallist" even though the medals received by winners at the 1896 Olympics were actually silver.[4]

Farcical.

Oh_Noes · 26-05-2011 06:41PM

Gaybo was Gaybo, it's not like anyone was expecting anything new or different from him after watching him every single week for 40 years on the TV.

The problem was probably that the national lottery couldn't afford to fund six figure prizes being given away several times a show on a weekly basis. I think that's reserved for winning streak.

I always thought from watching it that this might be the case because the Irish one seemed to have slightly harder questions than the US/UK version so less people got up into the high numbers. No one won a million on it, I don't even think they ever even got to 500K

truedublad · 26-05-2011 06:44PM

Its very hard to compete with Chris Tarrant, he's an ideal presenter for Millionaire. Gaybo wasn't a patch on him and I would think this had a serious part to play on the decision to axe it so soon.

padd b1975 · 26-05-2011 10:23PM

Oh_Noes wrote: »

Gaybo was Gaybo, it's not like anyone was expecting anything new or different from him after watching him every single week for 40 years on the TV.

The problem was probably that the national lottery couldn't afford to fund six figure prizes being given away several times a show on a weekly basis. I think that's reserved for winning streak.

I always thought from watching it that this might be the case because the Irish one seemed to have slightly harder questions than the US/UK version so less people got up into the high numbers. No one won a million on it, I don't even think they ever even got to 500K

Yeah think you are right there, the most I can remember is a guy winning 250000 punts as far as I recall but not 100% sure.

Degag · 26-05-2011 10:33PM

Minstrel27 wrote: »

The questions were impossible, Gay Byrne was the host and the whole controversy surrounding this

Farcical.

Surely he should have have won the 250k and allowed to come back to have a chance at 500k since his answer was actually correct?

The reason i have heard it was cancelled was money problems regarding sponsers etc. Don't think The National Lottery ever had any involvement but am open to correction.

Niles · 26-05-2011 11:32PM

I seem to remember early on in it's run there was a case where a contestant went home with nothing, the question was along the lines of "what is a female rabbit called?" or something like that. To be honest I might have been stumped myself...

The King of Moo · 27-05-2011 08:40AM

Degag wrote: »

Surely he should have have won the 250k and allowed to come back to have a chance at 500k since his answer was actually correct?

The reason i have heard it was cancelled was money problems regarding sponsers etc. Don't think The National Lottery ever had any involvement but am open to correction.

I think this is the reason. I'm fairly sure that Eircell were the sponsor, and there was lots of talk from the beginning that they wouldn't be able to keep paying winners if one person got to a million.

The King of Moo · 27-05-2011 08:45AM

Niles wrote: »

I seem to remember early on in it's run there was a case where a contestant went home with nothing, the question was along the lines of "what is a female rabbit called?" or something like that. To be honest I might have been stumped myself...

There were some very strange questions, like another controversial one like the one mentioned earlier about the lunula. It was about the definitions of government green and white papers and apparently the "correct" answer wasn't entirely correct.
Though I also remember another woman going home with nothing when she got one of the first questions wrong. It was "Complete this quote from 'Julius Caesar': 'Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me..."
Granted I wouldn't expect her to be a Shakespeare expert, but I don't think there's an excuse for giving the answer "...a few bob."!!

Minstrel27 · 27-05-2011 09:10AM

a few bob? LOL. She deserved nothing.

hotmail.com · 27-05-2011 10:03AM

All to do with not getting a sponsor. They just couldn't afford the prizes without a big sponsor.

The programme did really well in the ratings, getting something like 1.2 million viewers on it's opening night.

I remember too that the questions were really poor compared with the English version.

Clareman · 27-05-2011 10:29AM

I seem to remember the questions being a lot more difficult that the UK version. The UK version survived by the fact that they could get a few shows out of 1 contestant with come editting and "easier" questions, on RTÉ they had a new person nearly every show, coupled with the massive revenues they were getting with people texting in to try to get on the show. Ireland didn't have the same population to get the text revenue, they also have to pay licensing costs to the owner of the show format.

Bring back Murphy's Micro Quizim I say

MayoForSam · 27-05-2011 11:52AM

Clareman wrote: »

Bring back Murphy's Micro Quizim I say

Nah, if you want to do a quiz show on a REAL shoestring budget, it would have to be 'Quicksilver' with host Bunny Carr and Norman Metcalfe playing on his organ.

"Stop the lights!"

Prizes started at 1p and worked their way up in 5p increments.

A few re-runs would be quite in keeping with the times we live in.

Nolanger · 27-05-2011 08:12PM

Usual RTÉ, can do anything new so copy the Brits, badly.

patentseven · 14-10-2013 01:41PM

"QUICKSILVER", Jeez that would be too much to hope for, priceless.
For 1p "where is the Boston City Marathon held"?
While Norman Metcalfe plays "I left my heart in San Francisco".

Go Harvey Go · 14-10-2013 04:51PM

Eircell/Vodafone did indeed sponsor the show, and Tyrone Productions produced it under license from Celador (in much the same way that Screentime ShinAwil produces the Voice of Ireland under license from Talpa, and Dragons' Den under license from Sony Pictures Television):

http://www.tyroneproductions.ie/who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire/

Ronan Keating and Claudia Carroll teaming up to play for charity - who'd have thunk it?

Anyway, after Vodafone pulled out, RTE tried to get the National Lottery on board, but failed:

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/irish-millionaire-tv-show-dropped-26232215.html

I presume they eventually dismantled the custom-made set.

And yes, the questions were indeed poor. Here's another one that kicked up a media storm:

The Mirror, 27 October 2001 wrote:

A CONTESTANT on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? is to sue the RTE show, it emerged yesterday.

Declan O'Malley is demanding another chance to play the game, claiming he dropped out with £16,000 after being asked a question with TWO possible answers.

Angry Declan, of Drumcondra, Dublin, had used up one lifeline on the show when he was asked by Gay Byrne: "A bronze statue of an Irish statesman and writer stands in front of Trinity College.

"Is it Oliver St John Gogarty, Thomas Moore, Thomas Davis or Edmund Burke?"

Declan said yesterday: "I thought it was Edmund Burke but I phoned a friend who said he thought the answer was Thomas Davis.

"That really threw me, so I decided to go 50/50 and they took away two answers.

"But the two that were left were Thomas Davis and Edmund Burke.

"If I got the wrong answer I was going to drop from £16,000 to £1,000. I had no option but to pull out."

He added: "Both answers were potentially correct given that Edmund Burke stands outside the railings in front of Trinity College and Thomas Davis stands some way up on Dame Street, also in front of Trinity College."

Declan's solicitor has agreed that he does have a case and he is now demanding another chance to win the £1 million top prize.

A spokeswoman for the makers of the show, Tyrone Productions, said yesterday he had no case.

She added: "He will not be reinstated. If he wishes to take legal action then that is his choice.

"We have absolutely no doubt that the question was perfectly correct.

"We have no problem with the question. First of all Thomas Davis was never an Irish statesman.

"Secondly the Thomas Davis statue could not be described as being in front of Trinity as there are three objects in its way.

"First there is the statue of Henry Grattan then about 100 yards up the road there is a row of trees.

"A further 100 or so yards there is the statue of the Three Trumpeters and then finally Thomas Davis.

"The statue is sooner in front of the Bank of Ireland than Trinity College."

But Declan believes he has been badly treated by the producers of the show.

He said: "They are in breach of their own rules.

"I have told my solicitor to fight this."

IvySlayer · 14-10-2013 04:58PM

At least the questions required thinking, rather than Winning Streak were you press a button and win a fecking car

lertsnim · 14-10-2013 05:13PM

I hated the Irish version of the show. Gay Byrne is a proper twat. "Now say thank you to the audience"

Go Harvey Go · 14-10-2013 05:27PM

lertsnim wrote: »

"Now say thank you to the audience"

Nothing like Chris's "Well done, everybody."

Nor did Gay come up with anything like "But we don't want to give you that!"

Paully D · 14-10-2013 05:41PM

Going back a long time now so my memory may be off, but didn't he ask one contestant to "hurry up" when he/she was thinking? :pac:

Hitchens · 14-10-2013 05:47PM

Niles wrote: »

I seem to remember early on in it's run there was a case where a contestant went home with nothing, the question was along the lines of "what is a female rabbit called?" or something like that. To be honest I might have been stumped myself...

D'oh! :pac:

FloatingVoter · 14-10-2013 05:47PM

Paully D wrote: »

Going back a long time now so my memory may be off, but didn't he ask one contestant to "hurry up" when he/she was thinking? :pac:

On or off camera - it wouldn't surprise me. He doesn't suffer fools gladly which is an essential requirement for any host of this franchise. Actually, its the only TV show Ryan Tubridy could do well.

Shifty Shellshock · 14-10-2013 05:48PM

I think it was scrapped cos Gay was offering a million quid to everyone in the audience

ricero · 14-10-2013 05:55PM

Weakest link was still worse with eamon dunphy. Us irish cant do gameshows, best of leading it to the brits

Fred Swanson · 14-10-2013 06:13PM

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IvySlayer · 14-10-2013 06:25PM

Fred Swanson wrote: »

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I remember they had 100, 200, 300, 500, 1000, that bit was particularly tedious to watch, especially as Gay would have a chat about their personal lives between each question.

More chat means less contestants means less monies to give away I suppose

Fred Swanson · 14-10-2013 06:30PM

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vitani · 14-10-2013 07:01PM

Gaybo would have been perfect on 'The Weakest Link'. He could have been as patronising as his little heart wanted. Dunphy was surprisingly tame as a host.

Who wants to be a Millionaire with Gay Byrne ?

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