Jeremy Clarkson’s Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? is one of the biggest shows currently airing on ITV. And, as the Boxing Day show airs, it’s time to unearth the show secrets bosses don’t want the viewers to know!
The long-running quiz show – which returns today (December 26) – launched way back in 1998. Hosted by Chris Tarrant, it ran for 30 series until 2014. Then, it was revived in 2018 and has been presented by Jeremy Clarkson since.
But how do producers make sure no cheating takes place? And what are the rules for the contestants’ friends? Here, ED! Is taking a look at the behind-the-scenes secrets of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?…
Secret behind Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? music revealed
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? is renowned for its iconic theme tune. It was composed by father-and-son duo Keith and Matthew Strachan.
But it turns out the musical score was actually created to ramp things up on the show. As the questions get harder, the pitch gets higher and the lighting in the studio gets darker. These factors ramp up the panic and tension in the studio.
On Game Show Network (GSN)’s Gameshow Hall of Fame special, the song was described as “mimicking the sound of a beating heart”, and it was noted that as the player works their way up, the music is “perfectly in tune with their ever-increasing pulse”.
Players’ friends have to be chaperoned
The team on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? go to great lengths to make sure the phone a friend lifeline is not abused. Executive producer Matthew Worthy told MailOnline: “We do on average two or three shows a day.”
As a result, this means there could be a potential 36 contestants who could play the game. But the contestants’ friends have to put aside two hours that day to be filmed if they are called up, in a bid to stop them scouring the Internet for the answer.
Matthew explained: “Each friend has to be watched and we don’t know which contestant it will be, so we can have up to 36 people working with the production and a camera keeping an eye on the friends when we’re filming in case they get that phone call. It becomes quite an operation.”
Show’s original name
The series almost had an entirely different name. The programme was originally titled Cash Mountain. This was down to the players starting with easy questions and doubling their money as they moved up the ladder.
However, after bosses decided to make the top prize an eye-watering one million, the name was changed to Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?. It was named after the Cole Porter song, written for the 1956 movie High Society.
How do bosses stop cheats?
In 2001, contestant Charles Ingram – who won the jackpot prize of £1 million – and wife Diana made headlines when they were found guilty of cheating on the show. However, ever since, they have maintained their innocence.
For those not in the know… The pair left bosses suspicious when loud coughing was heard to the correct answers while Charles was playing. The couple were later sent to court and had their winnings stripped.
In 2020, ITV produced the miniseries Quiz, a dramatisation of the scandal. Matthew Macfadyen played Ingram, Sian Clifford was his wife Diana, and Michael Sheen appeared as host Chris Tarrant.
Following the scandal, bosses have gone to great lengths to stop cheating happening again. As a result, today’s budding players have to send emails and documents to be verified. Back in the day, contestants would flood the paid-for phonelines to try and bag a spot on the show.
Exec producer Matthew also said: “So there is no advantage any more to putting many applications in.”
What’s more, the audience is filmed at all times, plus an independent adjudicator sits with the them while filming the programme. All this ensures cheats never prosper!
Watch Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? on Friday (December 26) at 9:00pm on ITV1.
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