Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? S35

New Series of WWTBAM (s35,) TX Feb 22nd on ITV

Jeremy Clarkson hosts another edition of the exciting, general knowledge quiz, Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?  6 hopefuls go head-to-head and play Fastest Finger First to win a place in the iconic Millionaire chair. The lucky few that make it into the chair will face 15 increasingly challenging questions, helped along by the four precious lifelines; Phone a Friend, Ask The Audience, Ask The Host and 50/50.Will anyone be able to hold their nerve as they climb the money ladder? 15 correct answers is all they need to win the ultimate prize and head home a millionaire.

Wow! The programme was launched in 1998 and here we are in the 28th year…
That makes me feel old!

Why do you think it has lasted the test of time?
It’s genuinely the granddaddy. There are a number of good TV quizzes but there is no getting
away from the fact this is the big daddy, it’s the GOAT, it’s the OG. I love watching it at home.
‘A’ because I have no memory so I could watch a show I recorded six months earlier and I
would look at it completely fresh. And ‘B’, you can play at home. You have time to discuss
with your family members and join in. On most quiz shows, you have to answer the
questions as quickly as possible. With Millionaire, you can play along and the money is huge
too.

Exactly! It’s so brilliant when someone wins a million pounds…
That’s very infrequent, but even when they win £64k that’s a massive amount of money. The
prize money is one factor, but you can also decide whether you like someone or don’t and
hope they don’t win! It’s a tried and tested format.

Is your favourite lifeline asking you?!
It is actually! It’s very nerve-wracking and sometimes you read the question out and you
think ‘please don’t ask me this’!

Have you improved since the first show?!
No, not at all. I think my success rate is only around 65 per cent!

What are the topics you get very nervous about?
Women’s or Victorian literature. If I see Emily Brontë or Jane Austen in the question, I think
‘oh no’. You never get questions on Michael Crichton or Lee Child. It’s always the Brontë
sisters or Greek mythology and I am absolutely useless! You get quite a lot of cookery stuff
too and I’m useless!

So what are you good at?
Space exploration. The proudest question I got right was ‘what was the name of the first
American spaceship to orbit the Earth?’ Nobody knew it. But it was Friendship 7, which I
knew so there are some things I’m really good at!

And travel questions?
Yes travel. Helping Stephen Fry out in one of the celebrity specials was good.

What makes a great Millionaire winner?
The really great ones are ones with character.

Do you think Millionaire can run and run?
Yes. I don’t see how you can become tired of it. It’s like saying ‘I’m bored of quizzes’. Nobody
will ever get bored of quizzes. You can’t improve on the format and besides, why mess with
it?

Do you feel you owe Chris Tarrant for setting it up for you?
Completely and I still think it’s his show. I am an imposter. Even though I have been doing
the show for eight years, I still think of it as Chris Tarrant’s show. There are so many things
like ‘nice and quiet in the audience’ – that was all his. The language of the show was written
by Chris and I am just doing it.

What do you still love about presenting the programme?
I like quizzes. I like sitting there and trying to work it out myself

And finally, do you watch quizzes at home?
Yes, I watch Pointless whenever I can. But I watch all sorts of things, streamer dramas,
Traitors, lots.