Million pound lose cue

The million pound lose cue is among the scariest of the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? music cues. It will be played should a particular contestant get the final question wrong, and lose a massive amount of prize money (usually 468,000 units of the local currency). The sound is a heavily edited version of the last few seconds of the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? theme song, made to sound like something out of a horror movie, and played in C minor. Despite many countries switching to the new formats and retiring most of the old Strachan musical scores, this frightening tune has unfortunately been kept.

Since contestants are usually careful enough to not get the last question wrong and lose their money, the cue is rarely heard.

The cue is featured on the UK version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: The Album" as the 61st track and has also been included in the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire video games.

Another scary and least popular sound on the show is the klaxon.

Japan

 * October 12, 2000
 * April 5, 2001
 * October 18, 2001
 * November 8, 2001
 * November 15, 2001
 * November 22, 2002
 * May 2, 2002
 * July 18, 2002
 * October 3, 2002
 * November 14, 2002
 * December 19, 2002


 * September 4, 2003 (twice)
 * December 18, 2003
 * January 2, 2004
 * May 6, 2004
 * May 27, 2004
 * July 8, 2004
 * August 26, 2004
 * September 2, 2004
 * September 30, 2004
 * January 20, 2005
 * October 6, 2005
 * November 10, 2005
 * November 17, 2005
 * January 2, 2006
 * January 19, 2006
 * March 23, 2006
 * July 13, 2006 (twice)
 * August 31, 2006


 * November 30, 2006
 * January 2, 2007
 * February 22, 2007


 * March 29, 2007
 * May 3, 2007
 * July 5, 2007
 * August 29, 2007
 * December 23, 2007
 * March 27, 2008

Norway

 * March 2, 2001

India (Hindi)

 * March 2001

Hong Kong

 * November 9, 2001

Bulgaria

 * December 10, 2001
 * June 28, 2005 (Bulgaria)
 * June 13, 2008 (Bulgaria)

Poland

 * June 2, 2002

Croatia

 * May 8, 2003

Australia

 * April 16, 2012 (Hot Seat)

Denmark

 * May 12, 2012
 * November 5, 2012

Germany

 * October 17, 2014

Philippines

 * August 23, 2015

Nigeria

 * March 7, 2016

Trivia

 * The first time it was heard worldwide is when LaSalle Ishii answered the ¥10,000,000 question wrong on October 12, 2000.
 * It, along with the klaxon, is among the most unpopular and frightening of the Millionaire musical themes.
 * Even though it has heard rarely than the £1,000,000 win cue, it was played first before the winning cue in Costa Rica, Greece, Poland, Croatia, Bulgaria, Australia's spin-off.
 * The only time it was heard in the U.S. version was when Ken Basin missed his million dollar question during the 10th Anniversary Primetime Celebration.
 * Thankfully, it was not played when Josina Reaves missed her million dollar question because of Jeff Lippencott and Mark T. Williams cues replacing the Keith & Matthew Strachan musics, especially this one. The Jeff Lippencott and Mark T. Williams soundtrack does not contain a million dollar lose cue.
 * Thankfully, despite it being originally made in the United Kingdom, it was never played on Chris Tarrant's programme as when Laurence and Jackie Llewellyn Bowen missed their (flawed) final question, it was instead replaced by the £500,000 lose cue. It is, however, included in PAL versions of the video games.
 * When Kevin Short answered his $1,000,000 question wrong on Millionaire Hot Seat, this music is played low pitched.
 * In some of the Latin American versions of the show, the million pound lose cue is also played when a contestant wins nothing by losing on one of the first 5 questions, and accompanies the £100-£1,000 lose cue. The £100-£1,000 lose cue is played first, when the right answer is revealed, followed by the million pound lose cue when the screen says, "Total Prize Money: 0 units of the local currency."
 * It Chile and Italy, a contestant walks away from the final question, the million pound lose cue plays when the correct answer is revealed.