Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

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Television series
Original title Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
Country of production Germany
Year (s) since 1999
Production
company		 Endemol Shine Germany
length 45 to 150 minutes
Episodes 1460+ (+ 40 celebrity specials)
Broadcasting
cycle		 Mondays 8:15 p.m., sometimes Fridays 8:15 p.m.
genre Quiz show
idea David Briggs
Mike Whitehill
Steven Knight
music Keith and Matthew Strachan
Moderation Günther Jauch
First broadcast September 3, 1999 on RTL Television

“Wer wird Millionär?” Is the German edition of the British quiz show “ Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? ". It has been broadcast by the private broadcaster RTL since September 3, 1999 and moderated by Günther Jauch . The programs are produced by Endemol Shine Germany GmbH in Hürth near Cologne on the nobeo studio site.

Concept, process and application

The concept of the show largely corresponds to the British original Who Wants to Be a Millionaire , as well as Die Millionenshow in Austria and Milionerzy in Poland.

In the show, eight candidates (previously ten and from summer 2010 five) will have the chance to win one million euros if they choose the correct answer to 15 questions with four possible answers. The applicants are presented in close-up with their name, place of residence and (since summer 2010) a selected fact from their life.

In a selection round with a maximum response time of 20 seconds, in which the participants have to define a sequence of four parts, the candidate who answers the fastest correctly will be determined. Once the candidate has been chosen, he or she takes a seat in the middle of the studio and is presented with up to 15  general knowledge questions of increasing difficulty to answer. Each of these questions is linked to a prize money. Various jokers are available to the player.

The game is over as soon as the candidate answers a question incorrectly, solves the million dollar question or voluntarily drops out. In the case of the former, the player receives the winnings of the last security level passed, in the case of the latter one million euros and in the case of the latter, the winnings corresponding to the last question answered.

Moderation

Moderator Günther Jauch

Günther Jauch has been the moderator of the show since the first broadcast . In addition to the tension in the game itself, it is his conversations with candidates, companions and jokers that contribute to the success of the show in Germany. Even after taking over his own talk show Günther Jauch in the first of autumn 2011, he remained loyal to the RTL format.

SMS competition

Commercial blocks are shown in the course of a program . Before advertising, a candidate gives his answer to a question; however, it will only be terminated after the interruption. During the commercial break, TV viewers have the opportunity to respond by SMS or telephone and win 10,000 euros (previously 5,000 euros). The prize money is occasionally increased on special occasions. For example, there was a prize of 8,000 euros in the 800th program; the price for double-length items is 10,000 euros. In the broadcasts of May 28, 2018, January 18, 2019 (Gamer Special) and September 24, 2018 (Oktoberfest Special), there was a prize of 20,000 euros. On May 13, 2019 (Mother's Day Special) and January 17, 2020, in addition to the 10,000 euros, a three-year immediate pension of 5,000 euros per month was up for grabs. Although four questions are asked for the SMS game with four commercial breaks (previously two), only one winner will be drawn.

canditature

Candidates wishing to take part in the program either send a postcard to the responsible office at RTL or apply on the broadcaster's website. You can also apply by phone or SMS; all application variants are chargeable. Each week, a casting team randomly selects applicants for a telephone interview.

Charisma

Until 2014, the program was broadcast regularly on Mondays and Fridays at 8:15 p.m. Until autumn 2007 it was also shown on Saturdays at 8:15 p.m. and in the first seasons sporadically on Sundays at 7:10 p.m. in the evening program. The celebrity specials usually take place on Mondays or Thursdays. From around the beginning of June to the end of August, the program regularly takes a summer break. Since the end of the 2015 spring season, Wer wird Millionär? only broadcast once a week on Mondays. In previous years, the show had shared the slot on Friday with Let's Dance , but it paused during the dance show in 2014 and was permanently shortened to one broadcast date in 2015. Only special specials like the gamer special have been held on Fridays since then. In December 2016 and 2019, long versions with ten candidates were also broadcast on Thursdays.

regulate

The rules of the German edition are essentially identical to the international rules of the show. After the summer break in 2007, RTL introduced new rules: The player selected via the selection question can decide on the previous, "classic" variant or the new risk variant before the start of the game : By waiving the security level of 16,000 euros, he receives the "additional joker". Unlike other quiz shows, after a question has been read aloud, the candidate can still drop out.

Profit levels

There are a total of 15 profit levels. Until the introduction of the euro in 2002, there was profit level 250,000  DM (question 12 on 13). In order to continue to do justice to the title of the program without having to start with 100 euros for the first question, the profit between the 13th and 14th question is not doubled but quadrupled. There is also no duplication between questions 3 and 4, 4 and 5, and 12 and 13.

question Prize money (1999-2001) Prize amount (since 2002) Gamer Special (since 2013)
01 0,000.100 DM 0.000.050 Euros 0,000.100 euros
02 0,000.200 DM 0,000.100 euros 0,000.200 euros
03 0,000.300 DM 0,000.200 euros 0,000.300 Euro
04th 0,000.500 DM 0,000.300 Euro 0,000.500 euro
05 0.001,000 DM - 1st security level 1 0,000.500 euros - 1st security level 1 0.001,000 euros - security level 1
06th 0.002,000 DM 0.001,000 euros 0.002,000 euros
07th 0.004,000 DM 0.002,000 euros 0.004,000 euros
08th 0.008,000 DM 0.004,000 euros 0.008,000 euros
09 0.016,000 DM 0.008,000 euros 0.016,000 euros - from here four jokers 3
10 0.032,000 DM - 2nd security level 1 0.016,000 euros - 2nd security level 2 0.032,000 euros
11 0.064,000 DM 0.032,000 euros 0.064,000 euros
12 0.125,000 DM 0.064,000 euros 0.125,000 euros
13 0.250,000 DM 0.125,000 euros 0.250,000 euros
14th 0.500,000 DM 0.500,000 euros 0.750,000 euros
15th 1,000,000 DM 1,000,000 euros 2,000,000 euros
1 The amount of the security level remains with the candidate, even if he answers incorrectly in a later question.
2In the classic game, the win of this security level is retained, even if the candidate answers incorrectly to a later question. The candidate decides before his first question whether he wants to forego this security level of 16,000 euros and use the new fourth joker instead.
The variant with the fourth joker has been possible since 2007.
3 If a joker is used up to and including question 9 in this variant, which is based on the risk variant, the remaining three jokers expire.

Legend: beige / orange: security level, yellow: final sum

Available jokers

The candidate has three jokers available to help him answer the questions. If he chooses the “risk variant” in advance (since autumn 2007), a fourth - so-called additional joker - is switched. Each joker can only be used once. The candidate also has the option of linking the jokers together. For example, he can use the 50:50 joker first and then the public joker immediately afterwards.

50:50 wild card

The 50:50 joker hides two wrong answers. After activation, the candidate only sees two instead of four possible answers, one of which is correct and one incorrect.

Public joker

If the candidate is not sure about the answer to a question, he can interview the entire audience. Each guest can then choose one of the four possible answers. After the vote, the candidate receives a graphic showing the votes cast according to percentages. The number of votes cast is not explicitly included, but is sometimes revealed by the moderator.

Telephone joker

One of three telephone jokers - nominated by the candidate before the broadcast - is allowed to help him solve a question. The three people are introduced with a photo and name. The candidate has one of them call from the studio. As soon as he starts to ask the question, there is a 30 second countdown , after which the conversation is cut off.

An extended option to use the telephone joker is only possible in the "risk variant". Similar to the telephone joker, this option offers the candidate the opportunity to call a randomly selected participant in Germany. Specifications such as gender or place of residence are possible. Different subscribers are called until they go off-hook; as soon as someone picks up, the joker is considered played, even if the person called does not want to or cannot help. After 30 seconds, the call is interrupted as in the international rules. If the called person's answer is correct, they will receive 500 euros. It was used for the first time in the broadcast on September 14, 2007: The randomly selected interviewee from Berlin knew that the Berlin Victory Column had previously been located at a different location. If one of the two telephone jokers is used, the other automatically expires.

Additional joker

If the candidate uses the additional joker, the moderator asks those viewers who believe they know the answer to the question to stand. The candidate chooses one of these without being allowed to speak to him beforehand. A conversation with the viewer is now possible, in which the viewer gives the candidate his answer to the question and justifies it. As with all jokers, the ultimate decision rests with the candidate, who still has the option of using other jokers or getting out of the game. However, if the spectator's answer is correct, they will receive 500 euros, regardless of how the candidate continues the game.

Changes in April 2020

Due to the measures taken to address the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany , the editions broadcast from April 2020 will not have a studio audience and there are only six instead of the usual eight candidates in the initial selection round. Audience joker and additional joker are replaced by two other jokers: Instead of the entire audience, the candidate can ask his companion. Instead of the additional joker there is the “millionaire joker”, in which the candidate can question one of three former millionaire winners, Leon Windscheid, Jan Stroh and Ronald Tenholte. Like the additional joker, this joker is only available in the "risk variant".

production

The television recordings for the German edition are made in a nobeo GmbH studio in Hürth near Cologne and are recorded by Endemol Deutschland GmbH.

The recordings usually take place on Mondays (previously Tuesdays). Three issues are produced in a row per day of shooting. The first recorded episode is broadcast a week to 14 days later, the second 18 days later, and so on. On August 25, 2008, Who Wants to be a Millionaire? first broadcast in 16: 9 screen format and on January 14, 2011 in HDTV for the first time - the design was also renewed. Since August 31, 2012 the broadcast has been from a slightly different studio.

audience

The studio has space for 215 spectators. Most of them can be found in the two blocks behind the moderator and behind the candidate. There is also a smaller block from which the candidate and the moderator can be seen from the side; however, it is only visible to a limited extent on television, for example during the vote in the course of the crowd joker.

The audience must pay admission for the recording. Due to the large number of advance registrations, the waiting time is several years.

Questions editing

The questions for the program are worked out by an external editorial team of ten, while Mind the Company is responsible for the German questions . It has been said that the questions have become trickier over the years. In an interview, Günter Schröder from Mind the Company stated that it has indeed become more and more complex to develop questions for the lower profit levels. The questions are also sometimes asked more specifically, but the alternative answers are more easily designed. The team first researches answers and then formulates the appropriate questions. If the question has not yet been used, it is included in a pool of 80 questions per program, of which an average of 22 questions are actually played out. In a conference, the employees assign each question to a profit level depending on the level of difficulty.

The answers are checked for correctness by studying at least two independent sources, including the Brockhaus encyclopedia, the Pschyrembel for medicine, chronicles such as 100 years of the Olympic Games and internet sources . Even Wikipedia was one of them, as the presenter revealed in October 2005 in a shipment. After the “ Niels Bohr question ”, Wikipedia is no longer approved as a source by the WWM editors.

Special programs

Celebrity specials

Every six months there is a program with celebrities as candidates, which lasts longer than the normal programs at over two hours. The winners donate their winnings to charitable institutions or foundations ; in the November edition, the total winnings go to the donation pot of the RTL Spendenmarathon . Especially in the lower profit regions, the candidates sometimes agree without Jauch intervening. Therefore, the profit levels achieved and the success of the celebrities cannot be compared with those of regular candidates. As in the normal programs, the order of the celebrities is determined by selection questions, but all candidates always have a turn. Initially five celebrities took part, since 2006 only four.

Harald Schmidt was the first candidate to participate for the second time in November 2005. Anke Engelke and Hape Kerkeling performed for the third time at the celebrity special for the tenth anniversary . Barbara Schöneberger came to her third participation in 2011 as part of a regular celebrity edition. Engelke is now a record participant with seven appearances.

In May 2008, Oliver Pocher was the first celebrity to successfully answer the one million euro question. He had previously offered to donate 100,000 euros out of pocket in the event of an incorrect answer. Later, Thomas Gottschalk and Barbara Schöneberger also managed to win millions.

Günther Jauch took part in the show himself in a celebrity special for the 2006 World Cup, in which all questions revolved around football. Hape Kerkeling (as Horst Schlämmer) was invited as a candidate, but swapped places with Günther Jauch after the 8,000 euro question. Jauch won 500,000 euros on behalf of Kerkeling, which - like all the amounts won - were donated to the German AIDS Foundation . The show later won the 2006 German Television Prize .

As a result of November 22, 2012 Michael Kessler performed his Switch-reloaded role Günther Jauch . Kessler brought along his Switch colleague Bernhard Hoëcker in his role as Thomas Gottschalk as an "accompanying person" . Kessler moderated the first six questions, which Jauch answered correctly. When asked for 32,000 euros (What's Günther Jauch's second first name?) , Kessler used his telephone joker, but did not give the name of the person called, and Jauch's mobile phone finally rang, making it the telephone joker for the first time and answering the question correctly. Despite correct assumptions, Kessler did not answer the million dollar question and won 500,000 euros.

Cindy from Marzahn appeared in the same program and, for the first time in the history of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, used the telephone joker twice: She called Oliver Pocher on the 64,000 euro and the 500,000 euro question. The reason for this was that she had used two jokers for the questions for 64,000 euros and 125,000 euros, although she already guessed the correct answer and was ripped off by Jauch. She also repeatedly reclaimed the jokers that she believed were wrongly used, but Jauch refused each time.

In the celebrity special of November 22, 2018, Judith Williams earned the lowest amount of all prominent candidates up to then. Although she answered both the € 64,000 question and the € 125,000 question correctly without any remaining jokers, she chose the wrong answer to the € 500,000 question and dropped back to € 500. This was repeated on June 1, 2020, when Anke Engelke answered the EUR 125,000 question incorrectly and also only won EUR 500.

The respective celebrities collected a total of 30,845,014.11 euros (including conversion of previous DM amounts to euros), RTL added a million DM (511,292.19 euros) for the first special and 279,000 euros for the 15th special, which was a total of 28,127 406.37 euros results.

Let's dance special

On April 5, 2013, on the occasion of the following new season of the RTL show Let's Dance, the jurors Joachim Llambi , Motsi Mabuse and Jorge González answered Günther Jauch's questions and reached 64,000 euros.

Shipments with double length

Occasionally there are episodes in double length, for example after a summer break. In the past, the candidates for such programs were changed after an hour in order not to give them any advantage over the candidates from programs of normal length. This has since been abolished so that candidates had a higher chance of getting on the chair. After the number of candidates had been reduced from ten to five after the 2010 summer break and four double episodes were broadcast on Friday, the candidates were changed again halfway through the program.

The amount of winnings for answering viewer questions is twice as high as in the normal case for programs twice as long.

Anniversary programs (since 2005)

500th episode

On September 10, 2005, the 500th episode of the quiz show was broadcast. A fourth joker was also available for the candidates, the so-called “Competence Team Joker”. The up to then four million winners Eckhard Freise, Marlene Grabherr, Gerhard Krammer and Maria Wienströer were invited again to the long special broadcast in order to get together in a team and to discuss a difficult question. This joker could be used by the candidate from a winning sum of 1000 euros. The competence team - like the person called at the telephone joker - had 30 seconds to give a correct answer. The millionaires were connected via screen from another studio.

Usually the rest of the ten remaining candidates were swapped at the end of the broadcast. In the 500th episode, however, everyone was allowed to sit in the middle on the "hot seat" until the end of the program and get the chance to leave the studio as a millionaire.

Ten year anniversary

To mark the tenth anniversary of the German edition, a program was broadcast twice as long on September 11 and 18, 2009, with chandelier-like spotlights on the ceiling. The candidates on these programs weren't part of the normal episode; the first regular issue after the summer break, in which an overhang candidate was continued, did not run until September 13th. In addition, the candidates for the anniversary shows were presented for the first time with a background story by a commentator at the beginning of the broadcast, which was novel at the time and was only introduced in the normal episodes some time later. Since then, Günther Jauch has also been presented as a moderator by the commentator.

On September 25th, the third anniversary broadcast was an additional celebrity special that lasted almost four hours. Before the broadcast, Jauch did not know which guests had been invited. Anke Engelke, Hape Kerkeling and Alice Schwarzer were people who had attracted particular attention in earlier celebrity specials, as well as Marcel Reif, with whom Jauch had worked a long time ago. Cindy from Marzahn also worked as an assistant, filling up the water glasses or bringing the microphone to the additional jokers in the audience. In addition, short films with special highlights from ten years of Wer wird Millionär? shown.

1000th episode

On February 3, 2012, the 1000th program was broadcast almost three times as long. For this purpose, three previous million winners were invited ( Oliver Pocher , Barbara Schöneberger and Ralf Schnoor ), who were available to the candidates as an additional jubilee joker in the team. The candidates were four "everyday heroes" defined by RTL. Each candidate had their turn; RTL showed a short film about his selfless work. The candidates won between 64,000 euros and 125,000 euros. Finally, the candidates were able to qualify for a special million-dollar question with a new selection question. The candidate identified in this way, however, refrained from answering in order not to run the risk of falling back from the 64,000 euros won so far to 500 euros.

The million dollar question was:

  • What was in 1000 shows Who Wants to Be a Millionaire most often the correct answer?
  • A: Spain (correct answer)
  • B: Goethe
  • C: Angela Merkel
  • D: blue

Fifteen year anniversary

On October 17, 2014, an anniversary broadcast on the fifteenth anniversary of Wer wird Millionär? instead of. 100 candidates sat in the audience. Those selected by a random generator had to correctly answer a question that had already been asked in an earlier broadcast before they were allowed to sit on the candidate chair. At the profit level of € 16,000 they could choose to advance directly to the million dollar question, but then not get out without an answer.

1250th episode

Every viewer could apply in advance with an original handicraft or a video. 190 viewers were selected for the double episode on May 30, 2016 and sat in the audience seats where they were asked the selection question. The fastest solver was presented in the usual way, then his application was presented. The candidate first spun a large wheel of fortune on which numbers from 500 to 125,000 were noted on ten fields (two times 500, 8,000 and 16,000, once each 4,000, 32,000, 64,000 and 125,000) - the value of the question with which he could start. He had two additional jokers at his disposal, which he could draw from among the celebrities Sonja Zietlow , Waldemar Hartmann and the millionaire winner Ralf Schnoor. The additional jokers sat in the places where the candidates usually answer the selection question. The candidate had to answer the first question and was able to exit from the second question, there was no security level. The five candidates who made it to the council chair earned winnings from 0 to 64,000 euros.

18 years of WWM

On September 18 and 25, 2017, the special “Who Wants to be a Millionaire - Finally of Age” took place with eight 18-year-old candidates. Anyone who made it to the chair was allowed to swap one of their jokers for an “anniversary joker” at a time of their choosing. This consisted of the WWM million winners Eckhard Freise , Ralf Schnoor and Leon Windscheid, among whom the candidate selected one to answer the question.

20 years

On September 2, 2019, the anniversary broadcast for 20 years of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? instead of. The selection questions and the questions asked were only questions that were already played. All candidates received four jokers, with the telephone joker being replaced by a second additional joker. The security level also remained at 16,000 euros, which is otherwise omitted when choosing the additional joker. Only former candidates sat in the audience.

Advice teams (since 2006)

Family special

On November 10, 2006, a Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? -Family Special broadcast. Whole families answered Jauch's questions. Three families won amounts between 4,000 euros and 125,000 euros. All three families competed with their daughters, all of whom hoped to have their own horse by winning.

The second and third family specials were broadcast on April 27 and 30, 2007, in which three families won between EUR 16,000 and EUR 64,000. The fourth family special took place on December 22, 2007. The three families won 32,000 euros, 64,000 euros and 32,000 euros one after the other.

According to the rules of The Generations Special , the fifth family special took place on December 26, 2019. However, there was the family joker of joint counseling as an additional joker and not instead of the telephone joker. Of the six participating families, four were given the advice chair in the three-hour program. The last family continued guessing on the sixth, this time two-hour family special, four days later and won the most of all six family teams playing for money with 64,000 euros.

Blind date special

On February 11, 2008 and March 23, 2009 programs were broadcast with couples who met in the studio for the first time.

Singles were able to register for the first broadcast from the end of 2007 on the RTL website: after four consecutive chats with singles in their target group, a single secretly chose a partner. Conversely, if it was also favored by the selected partner, both were allowed to apply for the program together.

In 2009 there was a different approach: singles had to answer an online questionnaire individually and send it to the broadcaster with a photo of themselves. This time RTL put together candidate pairs itself.

The broadcasts began with the usual selection round of ten candidates. For the candidates who made it to the chair, the chosen partner waited behind a studio door, who, as with the family specials, sat down. During the broadcast, the couples were asked by Günther Jauch about their expectations of their partner and whether their ideas were fulfilled by the other person. Half of the winnings were shared between both partners. At the end of the first program, the remaining eight candidates were also introduced to their partners; in the second program, this did not take place in front of the camera.

While RTL has given the five blind date couples winnings of 32,000 euros and 64,000 euros so far, there has been no news of a love affair.

Boss & employee special

A boss & employee special took place on January 5th, 2015. A supervisor and an employee of a company play together. While the boss is privy to it from the start, the employee is surprised at work. The profit made goes to the employees without any deductions. In the studio, the colleagues sit in the audience.

Teacher-student special

A teacher-student special was broadcast on April 27, 2015. In the two-hour show, three pre-selected mixed-sex teacher-student pairs from two high schools and one elementary school competed. They earned twice 64,000 euros and once 32,000 euros. The profits went to projects at the candidates' schools.

With grandma or grandpa for a million

This special edition aired on December 28, 2015. Three pairs of grandparents and grandchildren were selected in advance, presented with a film, and two of them were able to answer the questions. Arno Boecker, who appeared with his granddaughter, was the oldest candidate in the history of Wer wird Millionär?

Twin special

On March 20, 2018, there was a twin special with double length. The three candidate teams consisted of identical twins . The twins Heiko and Roman Lochmann ( Die Lochis ) asked the selection questions . The two candidate teams that made it to the council chair earned 32,000 and 125,000 euros respectively. The candidates Michael and Stephan Tönjes appeared in a Langnese cinema commercial in the 1980s at the age of nine .

The special of the generations

On April 30, 2018, a double-length family special was broadcast under this title. The six candidate teams each consisted of a child, parent and grandparent. As in the regular editions, the participants had to answer a selection question. The family of the candidate with the fastest resolution took their seats on a couch, then the first family member began the game. Each candidate could end the game after any number of questions, but he had to announce this after an answered question and was then replaced by another team member. Each family member could only sit on the council chair once. The telephone joker has been replaced by a family joker. Here the candidate could talk to a family member if he was stuck with a question. The three families that made it into the middle earned twice 32,000 euros and once 64,000 euros. At 15, the daughter of the second council team was the show's youngest candidate to date.

Nesthocker special

“No more Hotel Mama and long-term studies!” Was the motto of a double broadcast on March 11, 2019. The six candidates were introduced by their companion (parent, sister, boyfriend or girlfriend). The accompanying persons answered the selection questions, the “nestling” the question leaders and achieved 64,000, 0 and two times 16,000 euros.

Recurring Candidates (since 2006)

The second chance

On December 23, 2006, RTL broadcast a special called “The Second Chance”. Ten former candidates who had to leave the studio without any profit could compete again in this program. Each candidate had a consultant at their side with whom they could coordinate. However, the guest brought along had to approve the answers.

Before that, 15 candidates were eliminated without a profit, but, as Jauch explained in the program, five of the candidates refrained from participating in the program again.

Second chance for the unlucky ones

Under this motto, a single episode took place on August 29, 2016 and a double episode four days later. Five former candidates from the program were invited to the first appointment, who had failed because of an early question or who had failed or who took part in selection rounds several times without success. People who were unlucky in life were invited to the second program; they sat directly on the candidate chair without a selection question.

Who deserves a second chance?

On April 9, 2018, a double-length special took place under this title. Of the nine candidates who ran again, seven had won 500 euros in previous programs, one candidate for a gamer special 1000 euros and one candidate had not made it into the middle of a smartass special. In three groups of three they presented themselves to the studio audience with a short plea for themselves after excerpts of their last appearance had been seen. Then the result of the vote was announced and the winner took his seat on the council chair. Twice 32,000 euros and once 16,000 euros were won.

With changed regulations (since 2013)

Gambler special

From September 13, 2013, several longer special gamer shows took place. Eight candidates are available for the selection question who can only play the risk variant and are not allowed to use a joker up to the 16,000 euro question, in order to then continue to play with all jokers for the doubled maximum win of 2 million euros. The only security level was 1,000 euros. If a joker is used before the 16,000 euro question, the remaining jokers expire. In the first, fourth and twenty-third programs, 750,000 euros each were won.

High-speed special

On August 29, 2014, a high-speed special with ten candidates took place in a double-length broadcast. They are only given a limited time to answer the first ten questions: 5 seconds for questions one to five, 20 seconds for questions six to ten. If the candidate chooses a joker, the clock is stopped until the joker answer or the joker result is available. From question 11, the candidate again has unlimited time and can win up to two million euros.

Jackpot special

A two-hour jackpot special with eight candidates took place for the first time on April 20, 2015 according to the following rules: The “jackpot” consists of the money earned by all candidates. The value of the questions is summed up individually. This means that after successfully answering the € 100 question, you will not earn € 100 as is normally the case, but (taking into account the previous € 50 question) € 150. The candidate who answers most of the questions correctly at the end of the program receives the jackpot, while his competitors get nothing. If a candidate falls back to a security level, however, only the questions up to and including the security level will be credited, while the jackpot will include all the money that he has earned up to the last correctly answered question. The current jackpot winner sits in the background in the middle of the stage, above him the current status of the jackpot is shown in a graphic. In the event that two candidates have answered the same number of questions correctly, a jump-off takes place. Both of them receive the same question with four possible answers; whoever presses a buzzer fastest can answer it. If the candidate answers the question correctly, he receives one point. If he answers wrong, the point goes to his opponent. Whoever reaches three points first wins the jackpot.

The winner of the first jackpot special answered the EUR 500,000 question correctly, but won EUR 917,600 as a result of the jackpot regulation. In the second special on November 13, 2015, there was a playoff between two candidates who each correctly solved the 500,000 euro question. The winnings totaled 1,538,450 euros, making it the highest in the history of the show.

Surprise candidates (since 2014)

Surprise special

On May 26, 2014, the first of eight (as of December 15, 2016) surprise specials took place. RTL called for this in autumn 2013. You could register people for the show without their knowledge. A teacher registered by his school class was on the show as a viewer, an employee registered by his boss was with her in the studio next door, in which the ultimate chart show was being recorded; the third candidate, registered by her family, received an invitation from Günther Jauch to a Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Broadcast recorded. In addition to her employee, the boss was allowed to guess that the teacher, according to a decision by Günther Jauch and RTL, used a fifth of the 125,000 euros earned for his school's friends' association for his upcoming wedding.

Smart ass special

In the smart-ass special, a variation of the surprise special, which was broadcast on October 21, 2016, friends and family could secretly register their personal smart-ass to get revenge for his teachings. Another smartass special aired on January 16, 2018. The studio audience voted between two candidates, one of whom should sit on the council chair. "Evidence videos" that were recorded by the persons accompanying the candidates and that showed the candidates at home doing some "smart shitting" served as a decision-making aid. On August 31, 2018, a third smartass special was broadcast, in which the candidates had to answer a selection question, as in regular editions, in order to get on the council chair. In this edition, the rules of the gamer special were used.

Undercover special

The candidates were “cast” in a Bielefeld parking garage, in which the exit barrier did not open and instead they were asked by costumed extras about Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? - Samples were presented. Of the candidates who made it to the chair in the double episode on December 1, 2016, the “casting” recorded by hidden cameras was shown as a film.

Audience special

A public special took place for the first time on February 27, 2017. There were no regular candidates, instead eight spectators were selected from the audience via a draw, who then usually had the chance of the game via a selection question.

Profits for a social cause (since 2015)

Teacher-student special

see under advice teams (since 2006)

Club special

In the two-hour special "For the club for a million" broadcast on December 11, 2017, eight candidates competed for their club. The winnings went into the club's coffers. Members of the participating clubs sat in the studio to support the candidates. The three candidates who made it to the council chair played for a roller derby - tattoo artist - and the men's ballet of a carnival club .

Motto programs (since 2015)

80s special

One-hour 80s specials with eight candidates at the beginning of the first broadcast took place on November 23 and November 30, 2015. The background for this issue was the start of the television series Deutschland 83 .

Winnetou special

In the run-up to the broadcast of the remake , a Winnetou special took place as a double episode on December 22, 2016. Eight candidates had to solve a topic question as a selection question and whoever managed to get on the chair had to put another one in advance in the questionnaire at a place between 50 and 16,000 euros. This level also represented the security level. If it was reached, Günther Jauch put on an Indian feather hood when asking this "Winnetou" question . Each candidate was allowed to have three jokers, the public and the additional joker, as well as a modified 50:50 joker, which was stylized as a target in the joker diagram. If the candidate chose this, he was given a bow and three arrows with which to shoot a target. To avoid two wrong answers, he had to hit the two inner rings with at least one arrow or the two outer rings with two arrows. If he hit the outer rings with only one or no arrow, only one or no wrong answer disappeared.

Christmas special

In the last edition before Christmas, a double-length Christmas special took place on December 18, 2017. After correctly answering the 500 euro question, the candidates took “gifts” from a sack, which consisted of an additional joker or a security level. For the three candidates who made it to the council chair, these were a double joker (e.g. call two telephone jokers for a question), an additional, freely selectable security level and another joker, in which the candidate opts for a joker Kind had to decide.

In 2018, a two-part edition of the Christmas special took place; on December 17th with candidates who worked on Christmas Eve, sometimes with a Christmas connection such as a Christmas market vendor or a Christmas angel. In the decorated studio there was a Santa Claus, from whose gift sack three candidates were able to pull a present like 2017 before the first question. They won 16,000, 32,000 and 64,000 euros. In the second part, on December 21st, there were only six candidates in the studio. After correctly answering the selection question, the candidate's family sat down on a bench in front; the family's Christmas tree was also presented. Again, the candidates were able to pull one of the special jokers out of a gift bag. This won 64,000 and 125,000 euros, a hanging candidate can continue guessing in the following New Year's Eve special.

Teacher special

In a double sequence on April 16, 2018, eight teachers made the candidates. On the council chair, three of them won 64,000, 16,000 and 8,000 euros. On April 29, 2019, a second teacher special was broadcast as a double episode. The three educators who made it to the council chair won 500, 8,000 and 125,000 euros.

Football special

On June 4, 2018, on the occasion of the upcoming soccer world championship, a double episode with the title “The big special for the soccer world championship” was broadcast. The selection questions on the subject of football were put by Matze Knop , who imitated the national coach Joachim Löw . The eight candidates all had to do with football, including a referee , a mascot actor and a musician from a football band. The three candidates who made it to the council chair did not earn a profit once and 16,000 euros twice. Before the start of the game, they could determine at which profit level a football question should be asked.

Abitur special

On August 20, 2018, eight candidates who received their Abitur in the 2017/2018 school year started. The three candidates who made it to the council chair earned once 32,000 euros and twice 16,000 euros.

Oktoberfest special

In a double sequence on September 24, 2018, eight candidates competed who worked at the Oktoberfest , which had opened two days earlier , such as a Oktoberfest guide or a rose seller. Based motto appeared the candidates in costume , Jauch tapped a keg and settled by the last candidate, a meadow of use, the wearing of ten beer mugs teach before they finally won 500,000 euros. Two other candidates took home € 500 and € 32,000.

New Years special

On December 28, 2018, a New Year's Eve special took place with eight migrants living in Germany , who were supposed to tell something about their New Year's Eve customs on the candidate chair.

Hut fun

A special broadcast on January 7, 2019 had the motto "Hüttengaudi 2019", with which the candidates were associated. The studio was decorated with artificial snow, a hut, conifers and skis. The star guest was the singer DJ Ötzi , who presented several excerpts from his songs. In retrospect, this caused criticism from many viewers.

Carnival special

The show from Rosenmontag, March 4, 2019, was designed with huge cardboard jokes, a disguised audience and the Cologne dance guard.

Mother's day special

On the occasion of Mother's Day the day before, six mothers competed on May 13, 2019, each accompanied by several family members. The two candidates who made it to the council chair each earned 64,000 euros. It was the first time in the history of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? only women were present as candidates.

particularities

Contentious issues

Despite intensive checks, errors occur in rare cases when creating the questions, mostly due to conflicting sources. In some cases, the candidate in question was allowed to re-join later.

  • "Every rectangle is a ...?"
    • Possible answers: rhombus , square , trapezoid , parallelogram
    • Episode dated January 31, 2003
    • Value: € 16,000
    • Two answers are correct: parallelogram and trapezoid. The rectangle is both a special case of the trapezoid and the parallelogram, which in turn is a special case of a trapezoid. It is interesting in this context that the large Brockhaus encyclopedia (1996, Volume 22) explicitly defines the trapezoid with two parallel sides of different lengths and then actually only the parallelogram sought would have been correct. According to the mathematical definition, however, a trapezoid is a square that has at least one pair of parallel opposite sides. The candidate who dropped out on this question was invited again.
  • "Which Nobel Prize Winner for Physics was a multiple national soccer player in his country?"
    • Possible answers: Gustav Hertz , Niels Bohr , Pierre Curie , Henri Becquerel
    • Episode from October 10, 2005
    • Value: € 500,000
    • According to WWM it should have been Niels Bohr . However, it can only be proven that his brother Harald Bohr was a national soccer player for Denmark . Both brothers were successful club footballers. The Danish Association stated that it had no records for the beginning of the 20th century. The information that Niels Bohr was also a national player may be based on a report in a Danish daily newspaper on the occasion of the Nobel Prize award ceremony for Niels Bohr. One of the sources for the WWM editorial team was (in addition to the Brockhaus CD-ROM) Wikipedia. Following the disputed question, the entry on Niels Bohr was changed there. The candidate was invited again.
Traffic sign 317
  • "What has that to the directional signs belonging traffic signs 317 to go?"
    • Possible answers: shifting dune , hiking circus, hiking car park, hiking rats
    • Episode from January 15, 2007
    • Value: € 4,000
    • After starting in 1992 valid road traffic regulations , the correct answer would be traveling he parking. The candidate then received back the 50:50 joker used in the question of the hiking parking space in the following broadcast. The traffic sign, first prescribed in 1967, was introduced under the name Wanderparkplatz . The expression “Wanderparkplatz” obviously remained much more common in consciousness than the later introduced “Wandererparkplatz”.
  • "What is particularly valuable when it is offered in so-called 90/10 quality?"
    • Possible answers: fir trees , tinsel , marzipan , mulled wine
    • Episode dated November 21, 2008
    • Value: € 500,000
    • The special public joker consulted clearly spoke in favor of “tinsel”. When the candidate, on Günther Jauch's advice, used the 50:50 joker and then "tinsel" was deleted, he decided to get out with 125,000 euros. WWM only declared the answer "marzipan" to be correct, but in fact tinsel was also produced in the noble version 90/10 at that time: The last German company to manufacture this closed its doors at the end of 2015.
  • "What was there only one copy of in the Federal Republic before reunification?"
    • Possible answers: 2000er mountain, island in the Baltic Sea, megacity, tributary of the Elbe
    • Episode from November 9, 2012
    • Value: € 64,000
    • According to WWM, there should have been only one island in the Baltic Sea in what was then the Federal Republic of Germany. In fact, none of the answers is correct, because there were several Baltic Sea islands in the Federal Republic of Germany (including Fehmarn and Warder in the open sea, as well as the Seagull Island in the Schlei inlet , Hestholm , Kieholm and Flintholm and the Kohlhof Island in the Burger Binnensee ). The candidate didn't know the answer and got out.
  • "Who is the namesake of one of the three largest German universities?"
    • Possible answers: Friedrich Wilhelm, Ludwig Maximilian, Ernst August, Peter Alexander
    • Episode from January 30, 2017
    • Value: € 32,000
    • The candidate chose Friedrich Wilhelm; However, Ludwig Maximilian was correct. The University of Munich bears this name , but two different people are named after: Duke Ludwig IX. von Bayern-Landshut, who at that time still founded the university with its seat in his state capital, and King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria , who moved the university to Ingolstadt. Since the editorial team came to the conclusion that the question was misleading, the candidate was invited again, but - unlike the previous candidates who were eliminated due to a contentious issue - had to participate in the selection round again.

Subsequent disqualification

Any candidate who has made it to the middle of the program is excluded from further participation in the program. This rule circumvented on April 10, 2006 a candidate who won 64,000 euros on the chair in the middle as Reinhold Schlager, although he had already won 500 euros as a candidate three years earlier on May 16, 2003 under the name of Luis Meyer. He is said to have given false information about his place of residence on the application to participate again. Those responsible for the broadcast subsequently disqualified the player who was accidentally recognized by a viewer and did not pay out the amount of 64,000 euros. The remaining candidates on the April 10, 2006 show got a second chance on May 8, 2006.

Suspected fraud by a charity organization

In a celebrity special in September 2009, Alice Schwarzer won 500,000 euros in aid of the Berlin women's aid association Hatun und Can e. V. In the context of later inquiries by Schwarzer and RTL, the suspicion arose that the association was not using donations in accordance with its statutes. In March 2010 the founder of the association was arrested and charged by the Berlin public prosecutor's office with fraudulent conduct. In September 2011, he was sentenced in the first instance for donation fraud to a prison term of four years and ten months. The Berlin Regional Court saw it as proven that he had stolen donations of around 700,000 euros with false claims and used them for his own purposes. The association would, however, be "just an air ticket " and only served him as a construct to collect donations. The police were able to secure 360,000 euros and a 60,000 euros car, but the whereabouts of the remaining money has not been clarified. The defendant made a good living from it, but there was a “huge gap in coverage” between the donation income and the expenses determined. The court was convinced that only "a handful of women" received financial or other assistance.

Suspected surreptitious advertising

In the broadcast on December 8, 2006, Jauch asked about the body's own active ingredient hyaluron , which is used as an anti-wrinkle agent. In the commercial break that followed, RTL showed a spot for a cream with precisely this substance. RTL denied a connection between the question and the commercial; The Lower Saxony State Media Authority responsible for RTL also saw no surreptitious advertising in it and assessed the incident as a coincidence.

statistics

Previous grand prize winners

Candidates solved the million dollar question sixteen times, including three celebrities in the celebrity specials. The main prize was won twice in German marks and fourteen times in euros. One candidate did not answer the million dollar question, but achieved the previous maximum win of more than 1.5 million euros via the jackpot variant (as of November 1, 2019).

# Surname Shipment date broadcast
1 Eckhard Freise December 2, 2000 62
2 Marlene Grabherr May 20, 2001 130
3 Gerhard Krammer October 18, 2002 247
4th Maria Wienströmer March 29, 2004 394
5 Stefan Lang October 9, 2006 601
6th Timur Hahn January 8, 2007 627
7th Oliver Pocher May 30, 2008 Celebrity special 16
8th Thomas Gottschalk November 20, 2008 Celebrity special 17
9 Ralf Schnoor November 26, 2010 906
10 Barbara Schöneberger May 30, 2011 Celebrity special 22
11 Sebastian Langrock 11th March 2013 1073
12 Thorsten Fischer 1 17th October 2014 15 years
13 Nadja Sidikjar 2 November 13, 2015 2. Jackpot Special
14th Leon Windscheid December 7, 2015 1216
15th Jan Straw 3 2nd September 2019 20 years
16 Ronald Tenholte March 24, 2020 1453
1 Due to a special regulation on the special, only had to answer 11 questions about the million
2 Won 1,538,450 euros
3 In the WWM special “20 Years”, the candidates were asked questions that had been asked at WWM in the past

Other known winners

In addition to the celebrity specials, there are other winners with greater awareness (selection):

Anniversary episodes

broadcast Shipment date Telephone competition
100 March 24, 2001
200 March 4, 2002
300 October 18, 2002
400 March 29, 2004
500 September 10, 2005 10,000 euros
555 February 13, 2006 5,555 euros
600 October 6, 2006 6,000 euros
700 November 12, 2007 7,000 euros
800 March 20, 2009 8,000 euros
900 5th November 2010 9,000 euros
1000 3rd February 2012 10,000 euros 1
1100 2 2. September 2013
15 years 17th October 2014 15,000 euros
1200 June 22, 2015 5,000 euros
1250 May 30, 2016 10,000 euros
1300 March 13, 2017 10,000 euros
18 years 18th September 2017 10,000 euros
20 years 2nd September 2019 40,000 euros
1 The winner was also allowed to participate as a candidate in one of the following programs
2 Second part of a double episode

More facts and figures

Retrieval statistics of the Wikipedia article " Antlers " after the candidate was asked about the fastest growing organ
  • The first four programs were produced in the Netherlands .
  • The design has been changed six times since the broadcast began. (As of September 2012)
  • 2,846 candidates have participated since the first show on September 3, 1999. (As of March 24, 2020)
  • They earned a total of around 120 million euros. (Status: 1450 episodes - March 2020)
  • The million dollar question was asked a total of 91 times. (As of March 24, 2020)
  • Of these 91 times it was answered incorrectly once and correct fourteen times. (As of March 24, 2020)
  • There are 42 winners who won € 500,000, three candidates who won € 750,000 and two candidates who won € 917,600 and € 1,538,450 in the jackpot special. (As of March 10, 2020).
  • So far there have been 32 candidates who have finished the game with no win at all, five of them in the jackpot special and one candidate who already answered the 50 euro question incorrectly. (As of March 11, 2019)
  • On March 14, 2011, the 25,000. Asked a question.
  • So far, the audience joker has been used six times for the million dollar question, with the majority of the audience choosing the wrong answer four times. (As of April 13, 2012)
  • Each candidate won an average of 36,306 euros. (Status: 999 episodes - January 2012)
  • On average, prizes of EUR 75,000 are distributed per broadcast.
  • The search queries on Wikipedia increase disproportionately as soon as the options are known during the broadcast.

Trivia

  • Tanja Ortmann answered the first selection question in 4.85 seconds - and on September 3, 1999, she was the first candidate for Wer wird Millionär? selected. After about 25 minutes she won 8,000 DM.
  • In March 2002, a blind candidate made it into the middle for the first time. She earned 32,000 euros.
  • In February 2005, two candidates answered a selection question correctly to the hundredth of a second with exactly the same speed. There was a sting between the two. Since they could not answer the following multi-choice question within the time limit, another multi-choice question had to serve.
  • For the October 10, 2005 broadcast, two related candidates and one other person they knew managed to qualify. It was about Antje Telgenbüscher, her son Jochen Telgenbüscher and a son of his Greek teacher. The former had both specified their husband and father as telephone wild cards. The latter made it to the chair first and won 125,000 euros (the final question was the contentious question about Niels Bohr listed above ). Then Jochen Telgenbüscher was also able to answer the selection question as the quickest one shortly before the end of the broadcast. He earned 32,000 euros in the following show. By participating in numerous quiz programs, he financed his studies for over seven years and published a book with advice on preparing for quiz shows (Quiz cracker. A winner shows how it's done) .
  • The moderator has three questions for each selection round. On one broadcast in 2007, none of the questions could be answered and another had to be brought into the studio.
  • None of the candidates made it into the middle four times because the overhang candidates needed the entire program. Twice a candidate needed three programs. After Aaron Troschke , who succeeded first in 2012, Leon Windscheid also needed three programs for his million dollar profit on December 7, 2015. The candidates each got a new chance.
  • On November 20, 2008, Thomas Gottschalk took part in the 17th celebrity special. He stated that he had Marcel Reich-Ranicki as a telephone joker. Reich-Ranicki had only recently attracted widespread media attention when he had not accepted the German TV Prize 2008 in a program moderated by Gottschalk and sharply criticized the level of education on German television. Finally, Gottschalk used the wildcard when the million dollar question dealt with Franz Kafka. Reich-Ranicki could answer it easily.
  • On March 16, 2009, a candidate with four unused jokers was eliminated from the game for the first time.
  • The 18th celebrity special from May 29, 2009 had to be recorded twice. One day after the first recording on May 19, printouts of questions were found in a conference room, which had been forgotten after a consultation with the editorial staff on May 13 instead of being destroyed immediately afterwards. In order to completely rule out any influence, it was decided to re-record the program on May 26th. The celebrities were assured that they would receive at least the amount they earned in the first recording. There were then other innovations in the show: For the first time, nobody from the audience stood up for the additional joker. In addition, Cindy from Marzahn was allowed to use her additional joker twice.
  • In the 2nd anniversary series on September 18, 2009, the 2,000 euro question was left out for the second candidate. The candidate answered the 1000 euro question, which was about a bullfrog, correctly. Then suddenly the 4,000 euro question was asked. Günther Jauch, the candidate and the audience did not notice that.
  • One episode asked about the average age of the new federal government . However, the age had changed before the program was broadcast, as Franz Josef Jung resigned and Kristina Schröder (then still as Kristina Köhler) had been sworn in again. A faded in text indicated that the answer was correct at the time of recording.
  • On November 12, 2010, a candidate took the additional joker for the 300 euro question: “If you drive very fast in your car, do you…? A warms, B fires, C heats, D turns on the fireplace ”(correct answer was C). For the first time, the additional joker received more money than the candidate for an answer. The candidate later fell back from 4,000 euros to 500 euros.
  • In the 906th episode at the end of 2010, the candidate already knew the answer to the million dollar question when the telephone joker was called. The candidate started the phone call by asking if the phone joker was still at work.
  • On January 28, 2011, someone accompanying a candidate accidentally revealed the correct answer, which Günther Jauch, however, also viewed as an oversight and let the question continue.
  • Maria Höfl-Riesch only had two telephone jokers available for her appearance in the celebrity special on May 30, 2011 , because Ralf Rangnick , who was also planned, had no time. At the suggestion of Steffen Hallaschka , a studio guest was spontaneously named a telephone joker when asked about the 125,000 euro question, and Jauch brought him behind the studio door in order to comply with the rules of the telephone joker and not be in the studio. When making a virtual call, the studio guest answered with a megaphone through the open door. Like the additional joker, he received 500 euros for the correct answer.
  • In the double sequence on September 23, 2011, a candidate was allowed to use his telephone joker five times. The first time, the desired person could not be reached and the candidate was allowed to use a different joker. In the following question, the telephone joker was the only help left, another person was not available. Jauch gave him the opportunity to use the extended telephone joker. Since it was a question of fashion, the candidate wanted to speak to a female person: The first from Düsseldorf answered the phone, but was angry that her phone number was available on RTL and hung up. A second woman from Munich could not be reached. Only the third woman from Potsdam played along, but could not answer the question.
  • In an episode from October 2011, a woman succeeded as an additional joker in winning twice the 500 euros in a program by correctly answering the questions of two candidates.
  • In the broadcast on November 14, 2011, an additional joker managed to win the 500 euros for the first time without saying a word. Jauch helped the candidate with the 8,000-euro question, which was about adding up dart points, and finally found the right answer. The additional joker won the 500 euros, the candidate finished the game at 16,000 euros.
  • Most frequent correct answer in the first 1000 episodes Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? was "Spain"; it occurred 17 times. In the thousandth broadcast, this question was asked as a million-dollar question that a candidate was guaranteed to play no matter when he quit.
  • Apart from the celebrity specials, so far two candidates have won the maximum amount with the risk variant , on March 11, 2013 and December 7, 2015 .
  • In the broadcast on October 26, 2012, a question was asked unofficially: a candidate did not answer the 125,000 euro question and won 64,000 euros. However, since she then typed correctly when guessing the 125,000 euro question, Günther Jauch insisted on having a 500,000 euro question asked to test whether the candidate would answer it correctly. However, this failed. That already happened to another candidate in previous years.
  • At the celebrity special on November 22, 2012, Michael Kessler's telephone joker was Günther Jauch . The question asked was: what is Günther Jauch's middle name?
  • As a result of March 11, 2013, the candidate won one million euros - he already knew the last answer before the answer options were given, but still had one of his four jokers with the telephone joker. Nevertheless, this was used, but the called party was only told after the question had been read that the game had already ended.
  • At the celebrity special on November 21, 2013, a presenter from another offshoot of “ Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? “On the candidate chair : Khatera Yusufi moderates the Afghan edition. The journalist from Kabul grew up and trained in Germany and earned 64,000 euros for the RTL donation marathon .
  • In the same program, the football expert and telephone joker Waldemar Hartmann made the headlines with a mistake on a football question. The Super Talent -Juroren Lena Gercke and Guido Maria Kretschmer asked him the 64,000-euro question "Which soccer nation could win the title at home in the previous 19 World Cups ever?" From the answers Brazil , Germany , Argentina or France decided Hartmann Germany, which won the title in its own country in 1974 . It was only after Jauch's help to secure himself again with the public joker that the candidates found the right answer in Brazil. (At the celebrity special on June 11, 2018, Hartmann was again the telephone joker, this time for Chris Tall . When asked the 32,000-euro question "Which is the most populous city in Germany that has never had a first division club in men's football?", Hartmann decided from the Possible answers Bonn , Dresden , Fürth and Saarbrücken for both Bonn and Fürth, which caused confusion in the studio. Tall finally chose the correct answer Bonn with the help of the 50:50 joker.)
  • On February 14, 2014, the show's oldest candidate made it to the middle: Karlheinz Reher was 86 years old. In the following episode on February 17th, he won 125,000 euros. Before taking part in the show, he said he had applied almost 300 times without success.
  • During the celebrity special on June 2, the Bundestag member Wolfgang Bosbach wanted to call Chancellor Angela Merkel about a GDR-specific question . However, only the mailbox answered after two attempts. Bosbach now decided to call the TV presenter Maybrit Illner . He achieved this, but Illner did not know the answer. Bosbach got out and won 125,000 euros. Angela Merkel contacted Bosbach by SMS towards the end of the broadcast.
  • On October 17, 2014, a candidate wrongly answered the million dollar question for the first time. Georges Devalois Yepnang Mouhoutou from Siegen chose in the broadcast for the 15th anniversary after reaching the 16,000 euros the possibility of being asked the million question directly, which then had to be answered definitely. He chose the wrong answer and dropped from 16,000 euros to 500 euros.
  • On June 15, 2015, a candidate answered the € 50 question incorrectly for the first time.
  • As a result of September 21, 2015, Günther Jauch inadvertently indirectly revealed the answer to a 16,000 euro question. When asked about the identical location of the Charlottenburg Palace and the (wanted) Bellevue Palace , Jauch said in disbelief the correct location - the federal capital Berlin . From this the candidate deduced the correct answer. In the broadcast of March 27, 2017, a similar situation arose when Jauch added the sought-after name Alice as a voice to an evergreen question on a 2,000-euro question .
  • As the oldest telephone joker to date, the 101-year-old Hans von Seggern answered the 125,000 euro question correctly in the broadcast on March 14, 2016 .
  • In the undercover special of December 1, 2016, a candidate was asked the following € 100 question: Are you standing in front of the Federal Chancellery during a cabinet meeting , then ...? The correct answer should be Minister Inside , but the answer box actually read inside Minster .
  • At the celebrity special on May 22, 2017, a candidate who had previously appeared in a regular issue (November 17, 2003) stood for the first time: the philosopher Richard David Precht .
  • In the edition of May 29, 2017, the candidate selected an additional joker who was allowed to answer a question in this role a week earlier. In both cases he gave the correct answer.
  • In the gamer special of August 21, 2017, Heinrich Röhrl made it into the middle. Of all previous candidates, he had applied the most frequently with 3899 times and earned 125,000 euros in the show.
  • In the smart-ass special of January 16, 2018, a name was incorrectly given on Günther Jauch's moderation card, and a candidate was accidentally asked the 50 euro question of his predecessor.
  • In the January 19, 2018 edition, the studio was decorated exotic, because the twelfth season of Ich bin ein Star - Get me out of here celebrated its premiere on the same evening . On this occasion, Bob McCarron , who appeared in the jungle show as Dr. Bob appears, the selection question via one player from Australia. The same setting was used on the following January 22nd issue, and Dr. Bob asked the multi-choice question again.
  • In the celebrity special of June 11, 2018, Dunja Hayali gave the additional joker not the usual 500, but 1000 euros for correctly answering the 500,000 euros question. Hayali decided against the risk and didn't choose the answer.
  • In the Abitur special on August 20, 2018, a telephone joker could not be reached with two candidates.
  • In the broadcast on May 20, 2019, a candidate stood up after the selection question, although another candidate answered the question faster and her name was also called. The director made Jauch aware of the error after a few seconds.
  • In the broadcast of 18 May 2020 asked a candidate, after he had finished the game, his party down and made her a marriage proposal . This represents a novelty in the history of this program. In February 2019, another guest had already asked for the hand of a young lady, but at that time by phone.

Social influence

Like other programs with high ratings on German television, WWM has an impact on society as a whole. The terms “telephone joker”, “public joker” and “fifty-fifty joker” have achieved such a high level of awareness that they can be found in the 24th edition of the Duden spelling dictionary . This fact was even discussed in a 125,000 euro question in the celebrity special on November 22, 2007: “Which term did not make it into the current, 24th edition of the Spelling Dudens? A: Question of millions, B: Fifty-fifty-Joker, C: Telephone joker, D: Audience joker ”- Anke Engelke as a candidate answered it correctly by choosing answer A.

In other quiz programs, the jokers known from WWM are jokingly asked if the candidate doesn't know what to do next.

Awards

  • 2000: German Television Award - Best Entertainment Show
  • 2001: Bambi for Günther Jauch
  • 2006: German Television Award - Best Entertainment Show / Best Moderation Entertainment for the Celebrity Special WWM 2006

software

  • Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
  • Who Wants To Be A Millionaire 2 Edition
  • Who Wants To Be A Millionaire 3 Edition
  • Who Wants To Be A Millionaire - Fourth Edition
  • Who Wants To Be A Millionaire - Sports Edition
  • Who Wants To Be A Millionaire - Party Edition
  • Who Wants To Be A Millionaire Junior
  • Who Wants to Be a Millionaire - Collectors Edition (includes WWM 3 and 4 as well as the Sports Edition)

Dvd game

There is a DVD game of the same name from Ravensburger to match the television program , of which two editions are available. In the 1st edition there was a trip to be won after reaching the million dollar question.

App game

For Android and iOS devices there is a separate app for the program, which is in the style of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Training camp was held.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jauch explains his exit from the talk show on ARD. In: welt.de . February 14, 2019, accessed April 3, 2020 .
  2. ↑ a b No audience joker without an audience: RTL is rebuilding “WWM”. In: dwdl.de. March 26, 2020, accessed March 26, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Thomas Lückerath: Interview with Managing Director Stefan Hoff: Studio operator Nobeo is riding the wave of gameshows. In: DWDL.de . August 18, 2016, accessed January 25, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Behind the Scenes: 15 Whimsical Facts About Who Wants To Be A Millionaire That You Won't Forget. In: focus.de . May 3, 2016, accessed April 12, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Sascha Woltersdorf: Jauch's millionaire "mastermind" is unpacking. Interview with Günter Schröder. In: Netzeitung . September 8, 2005, archived from the original on June 3, 2013 ; accessed on April 22, 2020 .
  6. ↑ a b The anniversary celebrity special would have been the 19th celebrity special, but the official numbering was skipped
  7. ↑ Oliver Pocher is the first to crack the million dollar question in a “Who will be a millionaire? - Celebrity special ". In: presseportal.ch. May 30, 2008, archived from the original on June 1, 2008 ; accessed on April 28, 2019 .
  8. ↑ How Pocher got the first celebrity million from Jauch. In: Spiegel Online . May 31, 2008, accessed March 19, 2020.
  9. ↑ Julia Bähr on focus.de: "I'm tough, but unjust" . Success Story Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
  10. ↑ An embarrassing student-teacher team annoys Günther Jauch. In: t-online.de. April 28, 2015, accessed December 4, 2018 .
  11. ↑ RTL sends grandma and grandpa with grandchildren to "WWM". DWDL, December 9, 2015, accessed on December 28, 2015 .
  12. ↑ "Then you die here" - Jauch jokes about the 89-year-old candidate. Focus , December 28, 2015, accessed December 28, 2015 .
  13. ↑ Ida Haltaufderheide: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire - The Twin Special: “Instructions for evading taxes”. In: focus.de. March 19, 2018, accessed March 20, 2018 .
  14. ↑ “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” Audience gives wrong answer - candidate wins anyway. In: express.de. April 10, 2018, accessed April 10, 2018 .
  15. ↑ "WWM-Gambling Special": Scrap dealer Alexander got 750,000 euros. In: rtl.de. March 26, 2014, accessed May 2, 2019 .
  16. ^ Club special for "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?": Tattoo for Günther Jauch. In: augsburger-allgemeine.de. December 12, 2017. Retrieved December 15, 2017 .
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