'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' Adds Even More Tension and Drama This Season With an all-New Feature, 'Tournament of Ten'
31 August 2009 - 8:00PM
PR Newswire (US)
Top Ten Contestants to Participate in Head-to-Head Competition for
a Chance to Win $1-Million! Qualifying for the Tournament of Ten
Begins September 7, With the Premiere of the Hit Game Show's Eighth
Season NEW YORK, Aug. 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- "Who Wants To Be
A Millionaire" with Emmy Award-winning host Meredith Vieira, is
pumping up the excitement for its eighth season by revealing ten
consecutive $1-million moments this fall in the all-new Tournament
of Ten. Every Millionaire show counts, as the drama unfolds for
contestants vying for their spot in the tournament and an
opportunity to win $1-million. An all-new season of Millionaire
will premiere Monday, September 7. Check local listings or go to
http://www.millionairetv.com/. Tournament of Ten A new addition for
this season, the Tournament of Ten will feature the ten best
contestants playing to win the show's top prize of $1-million.
Players earning a spot for the tournament will be seeded, based on
how much money they won and how quickly they answered their
questions. Starting September 7, viewers at home will be able to
keep track of players qualifying for the tournament through a
Leader Board that will be updated throughout each episode and daily
on http://www.millionairetv.com/. All ten tournament players will
be established by Friday, November 6 and the tournament will begin
the following Monday, November 9. Each day November 9 - 20, one of
the tournament finalists will look at a $1-million question,
beginning with the 10th seeded player. After looking at the
question, each contestant has the option of walking away with the
money they won on their first appearance or risking it all for a
possible $1-million prize. If they answer correctly, they will be
in the running to win the tournament's $1-million payout. Each
person seeded above them however, has the opportunity to knock them
out of the tournament if they correctly answer their own $1-million
question. The Tournament of Ten will culminate on November 20,
after the top-seeded final contestant plays his or her own
$1-million question in the hot seat. 10th Anniversary of
Millionaire Franchise This year marks the 10th anniversary of the
1999 launch of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" in the U.S.
Throughout the last decade, $133-million has been won by hot seat
contestants from both the original primetime show and the
syndicated show (over $79-million in primetime and $53-million in
syndication). In honor of this milestone anniversary, ABC brought
back Regis Philbin to host an 11-episode primetime series this
August. Meredith Vieira appeared as a surprise celebrity guest on
the final episode of Millionaire, which aired Sunday, August 23. As
part of the show, Vieira invited all nine contestants who failed to
make it out of the "Fastest Finger" round, to appear as contestants
on the weekday version of the show, where they will start off
directly in the hot seat! These nine 'crossover contestants' will
appear in syndicated episodes airing September 7-14. Notable
Millionaire "Experts" Booked for September & October: During
the week of September 7 - 11, contestants will be able to ask famed
former Millionaire contestant John Carpenter for assistance on any
question past the $1,000 level. Carpenter will sit in as the
featured "Expert" for the "Ask The Expert" lifeline and will be
available via a face-to-face video call to help contestants in
need. Carpenter was the very first Millionaire contestant to win
the top prize on the game show ('99). In one of the most memorable
Millionaire moments to-date, Carpenter used his "Phone A Friend"
lifeline on the $1-million question to call his father, only to
inform him that he "didn't really need his help," but wanted to let
him know that he was going to win $1-million. Other notable
Millionaire "Experts" booked for September and October include
Alexandra Wentworth (September 14-18), Ashleigh Banfield (September
21-25), Mo Rocca (September 28 -- October 2), Robin Meade (October
5-7), Rene Syler (October 8 & 9), Cokie Roberts (October 12-16)
and Ken Jennings (October 19-23). Improvements that were made to
the Millionaire format last season will continue this year,
including a "Clock on the Questions" (:15 seconds for first five
questions, :30 for next five and :45 for the last five questions)
and the "Category Menu" (contestants and home viewers get a sneak
peak at the question categories coming up on the show). Contestants
start off in the hot seat with three lifelines ("Phone A Friend,"
"Double Dip" and "Ask The Audience") and once they correctly answer
the $1,000 question, they are given a fourth lifeline, "Ask The
Expert." What has never changed is that Millionaire remains the
only game show in the history of television where regular Americans
from all over the country can win $1-million by simply answering
fifteen questions. About "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" &
Meredith Vieira: Millionaire is produced by Valleycrest Productions
Ltd. and is distributed by Disney-ABC Domestic Television. Michael
Davies and Leigh Hampton are executive producers. Meredith Vieira
and Rich Sirop are co-executive producers. The game show is
directed by Emmy Award-winning director Matthew Cohen. Millionaire
host Meredith Vieira is a 34-year television veteran and multiple
Emmy Award-winner. She became the second woman ever to win an Emmy
in the category of "Outstanding Game Show Host" in 2005. With seven
seasons of Millionaire under her belt, she is the most prolific
female game show host in history. About Disney-ABC Domestic
Television: Disney-ABC Domestic Television is the domestic
distribution arm of The Walt Disney Company, providing motion
pictures and television programming to pay television, basic cable,
broadcast television, video-on-demand (VOD), pay-per-view (PPV),
mobile and broadband. Disney-ABC Domestic Television is a wholly
owned subsidiary of Disney Enterprises, Inc. DATASOURCE: Disney ABC
Domestic Television CONTACT: Trisha Miller, Publicist, Millionaire,
of Disney-ABC Domestic Television, +1-212-456-2559, or cell.
+1-917-848-5787, Web Site: http://www.millionairetv.com/
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