Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (Dryicor)

Haluatko miljonääriksi? ("Do you want to become a millionaire?", Icelandic: Viltu verða miljónamæringur?, "Do you want to be a millionaire?") is a Dryicoran TV game show based on the British game show . In the game, contestants answer a maximum of fifteen questions correctly, with the assistance of three "lifelines", to win a maximum of 1 000 000 Kr.

Unlike in most versions of the programme, nobody has ever won the top prize or even seen the fifteenth question. The highest winners, Lesse Haluaghat and Petra Jorgensen walked away with 250 000 Kr in November 2005 and September 2020 respectively.

Gameplay
Contestants phone a premium-rate phone line to have a chance of getting on the show. If they are accepted, they are phoned back and told to go down to Lindisfarne to appear on a series. For those who cannot go to Lindisfarne (i.e. they don't have access to a car) then they can request to go on the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? coach to Lindisfarne.

Once they are at Lindisfarne, there are 10 contestants who will sit in "Fastest Finger First". The contestant who puts the four possible answers in the correct order fastest wins.

They then have a conversation with Ercole Mäkkinen about their lives. He will learn more about them as the game progresses.

They then have to answer fifteen multiple-choice questions correctly to move up the money tree. They can walk away at any time, and they have three "lifelines" to assist them:


 * 50:50 removes two incorrect answers to show the correct answer and one remaining wrong answer.
 * Phone-a-Friend gives the contestant 30 seconds to read the question and answer to one of three phone numbers they nominated before the show started. They then have the remaining time to discuss the question with the "friend".
 * Double Dip (2021-) allows the contestant the opportunity to answer the question again if they answer incorrectly. However, they cannot walk away if they do so (which is why Mäkkinen must ask for a confirmation if the contestant wants to use it). Also, if 50:50 is used before Double Dip, the contestant has a guaranteed correct answer.
 * Ask the Host (2021-) gives the contestant to debate the question and answers with Mäkkinen for an unlimited amount of time. It was brought to Dryicor originally intended as a replacement for Ask the Audience (see below) due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but was then decided that asking Ercole would become a permanent fourth lifeline.

Former lifelines

 * Ask the Audience (1999-2019) allows the contestant to survey the studio audience to see what they think the answer is; the audience will input their choice into a keypad and Mäkkinen will reveal what the audience said.
 * Ask the Nation (2020) was a temporary replacement for Ask the Audience during the COVID-19 pandemic. If the contestant decided to Ask the Nation, a commercial break will be aired and Mäkkinen will ask Dryicorans to input their choice onto the DTV Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? page www.dtv.dr/millionaire-atn. When it returns, Mäkkinen will reveal the Ask the Nation vote to the contestant. Mäkkinen revealed the hugely successful new lifeline was dropped because "at home, people have a certain thing called Google." It was replaced by Double Dip and Ask the Host.

The show's first series used a money tree based on the Australian version, where only eleven questions were required to win the million. From the second series the show followed the more familiar format of fifteen questions. In 2007 it switched to the UK new format of 12 questions, yet this was reverted in 2008.

Each question is worth a specific amount of money. It is not cumulative, and there are safety nets at 1 000 Kr and 32 000 Kr (or only 32 000 Kr in 1999, and 1 000 Kr and 50 000 Kr from 2007-08).

Haluatko milljonääriksi? (Viltu verða milljónamæringur?)
Truly brilliant quiz show which was a hit all around the world. Dryicor was the first country to buy the format rights to this show.

The original British version was a sensation in 1998. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? set contestants fifteen questions to win £1,000,000. Dryicor's does the same to win 1 000 000 Kr, around £900,000. Ours was the third-highest Millionaire jackpot in the world behind the UK (£1,000,000) and Ireland (£1,006,000).

The show's real strength lies in the format's simplicity, not in the huge cash prize. Also available are three lifelines with memorable names: 50:50 removes two wrong answers, Phone-a-Friend lets you ask someone else for help and Ask the Audience asks the studio audience to input their thoughts on a keypad. You also have safety nets at 1 000 Kr and 32 000 Kr, and you can walk away at any time: you can walk away after seeing the question. The music was also brilliant: dark and dramatic music all through the game - it's commonplace now, but this show pioneered it. That's the Millionaire effect for you. But it could have been very different, as anyone who has seen the original UK pilot will tell you, and would probably have flopped badly.

This show was a hit and the Dryicoran public were instantly hooked. The format had tension and jeopardy and people wanted to watch. As did we: this column were fans from the beginning, and we still watch. Because it's more than a game show: you're watching a soap opera: the biggest moment of the contestants' lives playing out on TV. They're risking their own money on a new question all the time.

We couldn't help but love this. And it still draws in the viewers. And DTV use it responsibly: they only fling it out once a year. Which is more than we could ever ask for: it leaves us wanting more.

Voted the best game show of the year in our Poll of 1999, and the best of all time in 2003 and 2007.

Music
A key part of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is the music. Unlike most game shows, the Millionaire music, created by Keith and Matthew Strachan, is designed to unnerve the contestant and make them feel uneasy in the Hot Seat. The Dryicoran version originally used the more bass-focused Australian cover of the theme from 1999 until 2000. The most famous music was used from late 2000 until 2007 and again from 2008 onwards.

In 2007, as Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? versions are required to follow the British example exactly, the show switched to a new, more modern, theme tune composed by Ramon Covalo. However this was unpopular, and the older graphics and music were swiftly readopted in 2008.

Records

 * Highest winnings:
 * Lasse Laluaghat won 250 000 Kr on Series 7 of the Finnish version on 8 November 2005. He left without using his Ask the Audience lifeline.


 * Petra Jorgensen won the same amount on Series 22 of the Finnish version on 11 September 2020, a few hours before Donald Fear won the UK version's top prize:


 * Highest loss: 218 000 Kr (loss on 500 000 Kr question):
 * Magnus Thorgeirsson lost 218 000 Kr on Series 18 of the Icelandic version on 17 April 2017.


 * Most inaccurate Ask the Audience:
 * Rob Borrar's 125 000 Kr question on Series 1 of the Finnish version on 18 September 1999.


 * Highest winnings by a foreign contestant:
 * Yuki Kayame, from Kandra, won 125 000 Kr on Series 23 of the Icelandic version on 21 February 2021 after using Ask the Host (Mäkkinen knew it straight away).

International Airings
Finland aired the Finnish-language version from 1999 until 2005, along with the Icelandic version with subtitles. When picked up the  that same year, it also picked up Dryicoran rerun rights. Nelonen has broadcast the Dryicoran version in Finland since it revived Haluatko milljonääriksi in 2016.

Iceland has aired the Icelandic-language version from 2000 to the present day.

Infinitia

ITN aired the Dryicoran version in 2008 with Infinitian-French subtitles and an introduction from Mäkkinen in Infinitian-French whilst its own version was off the air.

Laioria LTV has regularly aired the Dryicoran version from 1999 until the present day. The show's popularity has proven a ratings banker for the network and it has produced its own version since 2000.

Wales The Welsh-language version has been aired on S4C since 2020.