Why is who wants to be a millionaire so popular?
Why is who wants to be a millionaire so popular?
Introduction
There are many different types of games shows on the TV. The most popular one is 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' although there are other varieties, like 'Whose Line Is It Anyway?', 'Shooting Stars', and 'The Weakest Link'. People enjoy game shows and quiz shows because of the chance of winning and prizes if they get on it, also to see if they can answer the questions. The different shows can be categorised into groups. If they cover sport, then it would be a sports quiz show, and if they are funny they would be a comedy quiz show. With serious quiz shows like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and The Weakest Link, the contestants are usually ordinary people. Only a few times do they have celebrities on the show, and even then the money they win goes to charity. The more light hearted shows, like Shooting Stars, have just celebrities as contestants and they don't win money, but they do some times win miscellaneous items and points. These shows are mainly for entertainment of the viewer rather than that of cash prizes or materialistic value.
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire is different from other game shows because the prize money is so great, which adds viewer suspense. By comparison the weakest link, offers up to fifteen thousand pounds prize money, although usually the contestants only win about two and a half thousand pounds. That seems quite a large amount of money, but Who Wants To Be A Millionaire offers the prize of considerably larger amounts, up to a million pounds.
Chris Tarrant
The presenter of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire is Chris Tarrant. He has been on other TV and radio shows and is well known celebrity, which attracts more people to watch the show as viewers welcome a familiar face. When he introduces the show, he is welcoming and has a friendly tone of voice.
He speaks to the contestant in a friendly tone, asking questions such as, "How are you today?" and "Do you have anyone in the audience tonight?" He goes on to ask more personal questions such as, "How much money do you hope to win?" and "If you won that amount what would you use it on?" This may be to help calm the contestant down, because they are probably very nervous and a bit unsure of themselves when answering the questions. They begin with general chatting at first then they start with the questions. At this point Chris ...
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He speaks to the contestant in a friendly tone, asking questions such as, "How are you today?" and "Do you have anyone in the audience tonight?" He goes on to ask more personal questions such as, "How much money do you hope to win?" and "If you won that amount what would you use it on?" This may be to help calm the contestant down, because they are probably very nervous and a bit unsure of themselves when answering the questions. They begin with general chatting at first then they start with the questions. At this point Chris Tarrant's tone of voice and behaviour does not change although later on in the round, when the contestant reaches the thousand pound mark, his tone of voice and behaviour changes to serious. That is an indication that the contestant should not be making any rash decisions, and because the questions are worth more money. I think Chris Tarrant responds differently to each contestant. For example if the contestant is full of himself and smug and conceited, Chris will be rude back and even make fun of the contestant. This can be a good characteristic for a celebrity, that they are human and don't ever do anything 'wrong'. That is another reason people Watch Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, because Chris Tarrant is nice to most of the contestants although there is the odd time where that isn't needed.
Questions and Prizes
The contestants have to get through the Fastest Finger First round. In this round you have to answer questions first and get them right. The questions in the earlier rounds of the main game begin easy, but, as the round progresses the questions become harder, the amount of money you can win doubles most of the time. As I have shown below.
Question 1 - £100
Question 2 - £200
Question 3 - £300
Question 4 - £500
Question 5 - £1,000 Milestone Question
Question 6 - £2,000
Question 7 - £4,000
Question 8 - £8,000
Question 9 - £16,000
Question 10 - £32,000 Milestone Question
Question 11 - £64,000
Question 12 - £125,000
Question 13 - £250,000
Question 14 - £500,000
Question 15 - £1,000,000 Milestone Question
When the contestant reaches a milestone question, that means that they are guaranteed that money when they answer that question. In the first rounds Chris Tarrant is humorous and jokes with the contestant. As the round progresses, he becomes more serious as the contestants are under more pressure and mistakes could be made. There is only one kind of prize, money.
In the earlier rounds, before £1,000, there can sometimes be question which is quite difficult, often known as 'the pig'. The contestants have three lifelines, all of which they can use at any time in the game and this is the question most people use their first lifeline on, usually the lifeline they use first is the fifty, fifty lifeline which takes away two incorrect answers. I think they use that one because they ask the audience and phone a friend one's are more useful for harder questions.
Contestants
The kind of age group in Who Wants To Be A Millionaire is around 25 to 45, the average social class would be middle class people. I have got up to the million pound question twice, and I thought the contestants were quite stupid, but then I realised, it isn't the contestants that are stupid, it is all down to their specialist knowledge, so, they might not know much about religion, but they could know a lot about quantum physics. Therefore it would appear Who Wants To Be A Millionaire is more about chance than intelligence. If you get a question you don't know anything about well, that is just bad luck.
The Fastest Finger First people are listed in advance, I think the directors do this for two reasons, one, so the audience know who they are, and two, so if they don't get through the Fastest Finger First round they can say that they have been on television. My response varies for different contestants. If they are all smug and big-headed I don't want them to win, because they think they know it all and they think they are above other people. If they are not like that and are alright then I want them to win.
In the advertising on TV, we are reminded about who is on and how much money they have won so far. The voice-over on the trailer may say "We have John here from Bristol, he has already won £32,000, can he get to £1,000,000, tune in to find out?" This is to encourage more people to watch the programme to see if the contestant wins a million pounds.
The set in who wants to be a millionaire is quite isolated from the audience when they are playing, because it is just the contestant and Chris Tarrant, you cannot even see the audience, they are blacked out. There are two sets of steps, which are lit up in gold. At the start of another round everyone is lit up. As the round goes on the audience gets dimmer and dimmer, at around thirty thousand pounds, the audience is totally blacked out. This focuses all your attention on the contestant.
The music in the show varies a lot throughout the show, for example, after the contestant answers it goes didalydidalydidaly do (going downwards) and then to a steady rhythmic beat like a heart beat. That gives a little bit of suspense before Chris Tarrant tells them if they have got it right or not.
The camera work in the show, in the beginning before any contestants start, the camera shows you the whole set including the audience, but, when it starts the camera is mostly on the contestants and Chris Tarrant. Occasionally, the camera shows the contestants' partner when the get to a milestone question or when the contestant is not one hundred percent sure of his answer.
Who wants to be a millionaire's marketing is on many platforms, TV, radio, games and computer games. There are lots of ways for people to play the games and see if it is the same as on the TV. In conclusion, I think people watch Who Wants To Be A Millionaire because of the different aspects and techniques in the show. The cumulative effect of all the different aspects in the show make it interesting and not like other quiz shows. The audience at home have a chance of appearing on the show and have a chance to win a lot of money. The armchair quiz players have the ability to see how much money they would have won, if they had gone on the show.
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire appeals to a wide rage of audience, because almost everyone can answer the questions at the beginning of the show, so the whole family can join in.
