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 lot of 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 from a horror movie. 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.

Known Dates

 * October 12, 2000 (Japan)
 * March 2001 (India Hindi)
 * March 2, 2001 (Norway)
 * April 5, 2001 (Japan)


 * October 18, 2001 (Japan)
 * November 8, 2001 (Japan)
 * November 9, 2001 (Hong Kong)
 * November 15, 2001 (Japan)
 * November 22, 2002 (Japan)
 * December 10, 2001 (Bulgaria)
 * April 3, 2002 (Japan)
 * May 2, 2002 (Japan)
 * June 2, 2002 (Poland)
 * July 18, 2002 (Japan)
 * October 3, 2002 (Japan)
 * November 14, 2002 (Japan)
 * December 19, 2002 (Japan)


 * May 8, 2003 (Croatia)
 * September 4, 2003 (Japan) (twice)
 * December 18, 2003 (Japan)


 * January 2, 2004 (Japan)
 * May 6, 2004 (Japan)
 * May 27, 2004 (Japan)
 * July 8, 2004 (Japan)
 * August 26, 2004 (Japan)
 * September 2, 2004 (Japan)
 * September 30, 2004 (Japan)
 * January 20, 2005 (Japan)


 * June 28, 2005 (Bulgaria)
 * October 6, 2005 (Japan)
 * November 10, 2005 (Japan)
 * November 17, 2005 (Japan)
 * January 2, 2006 (Japan)
 * January 19, 2006 (Japan)
 * March 23, 2006 (Japan)
 * July 13, 2006 (Japan) (twice)
 * August 31, 2006 (Japan)


 * November 30, 2006 (Japan)
 * January 2, 2007 (Japan)
 * February 22, 2007 (Japan)


 * March 29, 2007 (Japan)
 * May 3, 2007 (Japan)
 * July 5, 2007 (Japan)
 * August 29, 2007 (Japan)
 * December 23, 2007 (Japan)
 * March 27, 2008 (Japan)
 * June 13, 2008 (Bulgaria)


 * April 16, 2012 (Australia Hot Seat)


 * October 17, 2014 (Germany)
 * August 23, 2015 (Philippines)
 * at least March 6, 2016 (Nigeria)

Unknown Dates

 * 1 Unknown (Japan)

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.
 * 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.
 * 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.
 * Thankfully, despite it being originally made in the United Kingdom, it was never played on Chris Tarrant's programme as when the Llewellyn Bowens missed their (flawed) final question, it was instead replaced by the £16,000/£500,000 lose music. 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.