Milionerzy

Milionerzy (pronounced mē-lē-ō-ne-zhi) (English translation: Millionaires) is a Polish game show based on the original British format of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. The show is hosted by Hubert Urbański. The main goal of the game is to win 1 million polish zloty by answering 12 multiple-choice questions correctly. When a contestant gets the second question correct, he will leave with at least 1000 zł. When a contestant gets the seventh question correct, he will leave with at least 40 000 zł.

Players are given three lifelines which include fifty fifty (pół na pół), Ask the Audience (pytanie do publiczności) and Phone-A-Friend (telefon do przyjaciela, in 2017 rules called pytanie do przyjaciela meaning Ask-A-Friend, but host still says it's Phone-A-Friend). From September 2009 to December 2010 Phone-A-Friend was replaced with Ask the Expert (pytanie do eksperta). From March to December 2010, contestants could choose to play in Risk mode, which would give them a fourth lifeline, Switch the Question (zmiana pytania), but 40 000 zł will not be a guaranteed sum.

The first edition (series 1-4) of Milionerzy was produced by Endemol and was broadcasted from 3 September 1999 to 26 January 2003. This edition used old-standard 15-question format, with 1000 zł guaranteed after 5th correct answer, and 32 000 zł guaranteed after 10th correct answer. The second edition (series 5-10) was produced by Intergalactic and was broadcast from 19 January 2008 to 19 December 2010. A third edition (series 11 onward) premiered in 9th February 2017 with Jake Vision as a executive producer.

From 2008 to 2010, it was shown every Saturday and Sunday at 6 PM (UTC+1) on the Polish commercial television station TVN and from 2017 it's shown from Monday to Thursday at 8:55 PM (UTC+1).

Game's prizes
From series 5 of Milionerzy, there are twelve questions which go like this: In series 1-4 of Milionerzy, there were fifteen questions which went like this:

Appearance and changes of appearance
From 1999 through 2003 we could see three changes of the studio stage design, some differ in stylistics. From 2008, after resumption we see the fourth different stage design.

The first logo of Milionerzy from 1999 was very different to standard the model used in other editions of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. It was a violet rhombus on one of vertexes and rings stooding on themselves on background of "Milionerzy" caption. The second one, modelled on the traditional style, is round with green question marks. It was introduced with the changes of credits and scenography in 2000. It is used also now, but in another colour scheme with gold question marks.

The first and second version of the opening credits were similar with people looking and aiming on the Milionerzy logo. It was patterned on British credits of this time. From 2008, the opening credits of the programme feature an animation showing in sequence all prizes to one million zlotys - it is patterned on the newest British version.

Except for the opening credits, no big changes were made on graphics and sounds. The new edition has refreshed graphics: the fields with questions and answers are navy-blue and blue (earlier black) and smaller than in first edition of Milionerzy, and the field with won prize is blue (earlier brown and navy-blue). Also some sound effects and music we can hear in the background when player answers a question, changed.

The second edition of Milionerzy was recorded in the TVP studio in Kraków, 44, Nowohucka St. The first edition was recorded in the Warsaw-based WFDiF studio, 21, Chełmcka St. from 1999 until 2001 in the TVP studio on 17, Woronicza St until 2003.

Questions for million zlotys
In Milionerzy, thirteen questions for one million zlotys appeared. Eleven times the player walked away, and one time (in special edition with participation of children), the player answered the question incorrectly. Only one contestant was able to answer their question correctly and win the top prize. Here are all of the questions:
 * Władysław Kostrzewski - 21 October 2000


 * Zbigniew Chrzanowski - 21 May 2001


 * Jerzy Mirski - 14 October 2001


 * Filip Łapiński - 1 June 2002 (special edition with participation of children)


 * Paulina Kowalczyk - 5 April 2008


 * Dagna Sieńko - 18 May 2008


 * Rafał Tomański - 22 November 2008


 * Renata Dancewicz and Piotr Adamczyk - 7 December 2008 (Celebrity Edition)


 * Marzena Rogowska - 25 April 2009


 * Krzysztof Wójcik - 28 March 2010


 * Katarzyna Zaręba - 24 October 2010 (risk mode)


 * Michał Piróg and Karolina Korwin-Piotrowska - 19 December 2010 (Celebrity Edition)


 * Sonia Ciuk - 15 March 2017


 * Kinga Rusin and Piotr Kraśko - 15 April 2017 (Celebrity Edition)

Top prize and biggest winners in Milionerzy
The list is sorted chronologically and only 250 000 zł prizes and bigger are shown:

Records and faux pas

 * In Milionerzy, the record was, when, first time in second series, all contestants answered correctly in fastest fingers round at question "Put the following Australian cities in alphabetical order."
 * In Milionerzy, the record for going the farthest without using a lifeline
 * In first run (1999-2003) in normal episode it was 250 000 zł. The contestant, Waldemar Myszkiewicz won 32 000 zł.
 * In first run in special, children episode it was 500 000 zł. The contestant, Filip Łapiński won 32 000 zł, after an incorrect answer to a million zlotys question.See the Questions for million zlotys articles' parts for more informations
 * In second run (2008-2010) it was 125 000 zł. The contestant, Paulina Kowalczyk won 500 000 zł.See the Questions for million zlotys articles' parts for more informations
 * In third run (since 2017) it was 75 000 zł. The contestant, Sonia Ciuk won 500 000 zł.
 * In Milionerzy there were three occasions in which a player lost because of a bad question and were bought back to play again.
 * The first player, Janusz Kornecki was asked for 32 000 zł, "Who invented the steam engine exploiting circular motion?". He went for James Watt, but correct answer was Charles Algernon Parsons. After complaining to program's producers, his answer was recognized as correct. The player won a guaranteed 32 000 zł. However, he was asked for 64 000 zł, "Who was the founder of The Police?". He answered Sting, but the correct answer was Stewart Copeland. Again Kornecki complaining to program's producers. This time he thought, that both answers were correct.
 * The second player, Waldemar Jabłoński was asked, "How many cuts are on kaiser rolls?" for 500 zł. He answered "4," but the correct answer was "5," so he won nothing. After it was recognizing that his answer was correct, he answered the next question incorrectly and left with nothing again.
 * The third player was asked a question about author of the picture: "The Luncheon on the Grass" and answered Claude Monet, but correct answer was Édouard Manet. However, Monet also painted a lesser known picture with the same title, so the player was allowed to continue playing.
 * In series 11 Ola Bojarska also lost because of a bad question but up to date (10th April 2017) she wasn't bought back to play again.
 * In Milionerzy, some players answered their first questions incorrectly.
 * In the first version of Milionerzy, one player got the question, "How people in Poland state a person who is calm and shaky?" and he answered "anielska woda" (angelic water) instead of the correct answer, "cicha woda" (still water).
 * In the second version, one player was asked, "A penitent is a person acceding to…" and answered "judicial process", but the correct answer was "confession".
 * Another player got a question about the breed of Ludwik Dorn's dog. After using all lifelines, he answered French Bulldog, which was incorrect. The correct answer was Giant Schnauzer.
 * In 2017 Kuba Gołębiowski was asked to complete the lyrics of polish song call "Góralu czy Ci nie żal...". He was confident about answer "porzucać lasów i hal", but get it wrong. Correct answer was "odchodzić od stron ojczystych".
 * There were occasions in which the audience gets a question wrong. Three players decided to trust the audience and ended up answering incorrectly. Two of them each won a guaranteed 1000 zł while one left the studio with nothing. One more player decided to walk away with 8000 zł.