History
The programme originated in the United Kingdom, where it is hosted by Chris Tarrant. It is based on a format devised by David Briggs, who, along with Steven Knight and Mike Whitehill, devised a number of the promotional games for Chris Tarrant's breakfast show on Capital FM radio, such as the bong game. The original working title for the show was Cash Mountain. It first aired in the UK on 4 September 1998.
The game has similarities with the 1950s show The $64,000 Question. In that show, the money won roughly doubled with each question; if a wrong answer was given, the money was lost. Contestants would win a new car as a consolation prize if they had reached the $8,000 question. In 1999-2000 Millionaire was the first prime-time game show since "The $64,000 Question" to finish first in the US season-ending Nielsen ratings.
In the 1990s future Who Wants to be a Millionaire (USA) executive producer Michael Davies attempted to revive The $64,000 Question in the US as The $640,000 Question for ABC, before abandoning that effort in favour of the British hit.
The title derives from the Cole Porter song of the same name.
Read more about this topic: Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
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