Top Prize Winners

"Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" has had several Top Prize winners from across the world. All of the following list successfully answered all questions correctly and won the top prize available. This list gives all of these players in chronological order of their win.

1999 Winners

 * John Carpenter won $1,000,000 on November 19, 1999. He was the first winner worldwide. Famous for going through the whole stack without using any of his three lifelines, apart from to call his father Tom on the Million Dollar Question to tell him that he was going to win the million dollars, which he did.

John later reappeared on the show as part of the Champions Edition of WWTBAM, and this time he won $250,000.

2000 Winners

 * Dan Blonsky won $1,000,000 on January 18, 2000. Second US winner. His question is regarded by some people as the easiest Million Dollar Question ever faced by a contestant.


 * David Paterson won 1,000,000 South African Rand on March 19, 2000. First winner outside of the USA. Only South African winner.
 * Joe Trela - third U.S. winner of the show. Famously used all of his three lifelines by the $32,000 question, but still went on to win the Million.


 * Renata Morgado won 50,000,000 escudos in May 2000. First worldwide female winner, and first European winner.
 * Enrique Chicote won 50,000,000 pesetas on May 21, 2000. First Spanish winner. Much like John Carpenter, he used his Phone A Friend lifeline on the final question to tell his wife that he was going to win the top prize.
 * Bob House won $1,000,000 on June 13th, 2000.


 * Kim Hunt won $1,000,000 on July 6th, 2000. Was one of the tied contestants in Fastest Finger First.


 * David Goodman won $1,000,000 on July 11 2000. First contestant since John Carpenter to go through the first 14 questions without using a lifeline. Used all three on the final question.


 * Yasuyuki Kunimitsu: Won ¥10,000,000 on July 27, 2000. First Japanese Winner.
 * Izhar Nevo: Won on August 7, 2000. First Israeli winner.
 * Yoshiaki Nagata: Won 10,000,000 Yen on August 10, 2000. Second Japanese winner.
 * Ana Damásio: Won 50,000,000 escudos in September 2000. Second Portugese Winner.
 * Frédéric Grégoire: Won 4,000,000 francs on September 30, 2000. First French winner.
 * Ingrid Vervaeck: Won BEF20,000,000 on October 10, 2000. First Belgian Winner.
 * Harshvardhan Navathe: First Indian winner. Won 10,000,000 rupees on October 19, 2000.


 * Naoko Imao: Third Japanese winner. Won ¥10,000,000 on November 2, 2000.
 * Judith Keppel: First UK winner, won £1,000,000 on November 20th 2000. Due to currency exchange rates and inflation, her win is the highest to date, due to the pound's strength at the time. Judith now stars as an Egghead on the BBC2 show "Eggheads" along with several other former Millionaire contestants, including Pat Gibson, the shows 4th winner.


 * Hiroshi Hase: Fourth Japanese Winner. Won ¥10,000,000 on November 23, 2000. Was a former professional wrestler.
 * Eckhard Freise: Won 1,000,000 DM on December 2, 2000. First German winner.

2001 Winners

 * Hans Peters: Won NLG 1,000,000 on January 6, 2001. First and only Dutch winner.
 * Kazuyuki Nose: Won ¥10,000,000 on February 15, 2001.
 * Anton Sutterlüty won ATS 10,000,000 on February 19, 2001. First Austrian winner.
 * Igor Sazeyev: Won 1,000,000 rubles on March 12, 2001. First Russian winner.
 * Kevin Olmstead: Won $2,180,000 on April 10, 2001.


 * Mihai Popa: Won 1,000,000,000 lei on April 15, 2001. First Romanian winner.
 * Bernie Cullen: Won $1,000,000 on April 15, 2001.


 * David Edwards: Won £1,000,000 on April 21, 2001.


 * Vijay Raul and Arundhati won 10,000,000 rupes on May 2, 2001.
 * Ravi Saini won 10,000,000 rupes on May 14, 2001.


 * Marlene Grabherr won DM 1,000,000 on May 20, 2001.
 * Kotaro Kobayashi: Won ¥1,000,000 on September 6, 2001.
 * Katsuhiro Minamigawa: Also won ¥1,000,000 on September 6, 2001.
 * Ed Toutant: Won $1,860,000 on September 7, 2001.


 * Robert Brydges: Won £1,000,000 on September 29, 2001.


 * Giorgios Georgopoulos: Won ₯ 50,000,000 on October 2, 2001. First Greek winner.
 * Søren Brøndum Laursen won 1,000,000 kr on October 13, 2001. First Danish winner.
 * Chan Hon-cheung: Won HK$1,000,000 on November 2, 2001.
 * Khaled al Mulla won 1,000,000 SR on November 21, 2001. First Arabic winner
 * Hitomi Sakamoto: Won ¥10,000,000 on December 13, 2001.

2002 Winners

 * Giovanni Grosso won 100,000,000 Bs on March 20, 2002 making this the first winner in South America.
 * Mohammad Tanirah won 1,000,000 SR on March 15, 2002.
 * Sveinn Valgeirsson: Won 5.000.000 on March 25, 2002. First Iceland winner.
 * Tudor Hurezeanu: Won 1,000,000,000 lei on April 8, 2002.
 * Antonio Ríos won 100,000,000 Bs on May 22, 2002.
 * Akishi Kikuchi won ¥10,000,000 on June 27, 2002
 * Michiko Eguchi won ¥10,000,000 on August 1, 2002.
 * Anders and Peter Lund Madsens won 1,000,000 kr on September 17, 2002.
 * Gerhard Krammer won €1,000,000 on October 18, 2002.
 * Naomi Osada won ¥10,000,000 on November 14, 2002.
 * Maria Fernanda Compte: Won $25,000 on November 24, 2002.
 * Elita Rumpe: Won 10,000 Lati on December 18, 2002.
 * Manana Maisuradze won 20,000 Lari around 2002.

2003 Winners

 * Sidi Ahmed weld Ali won 1,000,000 SR on January 2, 2003.
 * Irina Chudinovskih and Yuriy Chudinovskih: Won 1,000,000 Rubles on January 18, 2003.
 * Kevin Smith: Won $1,000,000 on February 18, 2003.


 * Anne Louise Lien and Hans Erik Borgenvik: Won KR 2,000,000 on March 10, 2003. First Norway winners.


 * Paolo Turchi: Won 5.000.000 on March 31, 2003.
 * Sergey Karabinsky Won 1.000.000 Moldavian Leu-372.000 Hryvnia on June 06, 2003
 * Irina Stalnaya: Won 5.000.000 Tenge on 2003
 * Nancy Christy: Won $1,000,000 on May 9, 2003.


 * Stelios Stergiou won €150,000 on November 21, 2003.

2004 Winners

 * Signe Svendsen and Søren Sko won 1,000,000 kr on January 1, 2004.
 * Pat Gibson: Won £1,000,000 on April 24, 2004.


 * Jaro Leskovsek: Won SIT 15,000,000 on May 16, 2004.
 * Marie won €1,000,000 on August 27, 2004.
 * Eugenio Vargas: Won 100,000,000 Bs. on December 22, 2004.

2005 Winners

 * Elfriede ("El") Awadalla: Won €1,000,000 on March 14, 2005.
 * Adhi Hartono won Rp. 1,000,000,000 around March 2005.
 * Viktor Niko: Won SIT 15,000,000 on July 2005.
 * Rob "Coach" Fulton: Won AU$1,000,000 on October 17, 2005.


 * Martin Flood: Won AU$1,000,000 on November 14, 2005.

2006 Winners

 * Per Hörberg: Won 1,000,000 SEK on February 17, 2006. First Swedish winner.


 * Gábor Cserey: Won 40.000.000 Ft on March 20, 2006. First and so far only Hungarian winner.
 * Heide Gondek: Won €1,000,000 on September 18, 2006.
 * Ingram Wilcox: Won £1,000,000 on September 23, 2006.


 * Stefan Lang: Won €1,000,000 on October 9, 2006.
 * Enrique Carlos Castillo won COP$210,000,000 on October 30, 2006.

2007 Winners

 * Timur Hahn: Won €1,000,000 on January 8, 2007.
 * Misako Konno: Won ¥10,000,000 on February 15, 2007.
 * Kenaan Matar: Won 2,000,000 SR on May 15, 2007.
 * Shōsuke Tanihara: Won ¥10,000,000 on July 5, 2007.
 * Peter, Helle and Alexander: Won 1,000,000 KR on October 15, 2007.
 * Julie, Ulrik and Sia: Won 1,000,000 KR on November 24, 2007.

2008 Winners

 * Torgny Segerstedt: Won 1,000,000 SRK on March 1, 2008.
 * Joachim, Lukkas and Danie: Won 1,000,000 kr on March 15, 2008
 * Sumiko Fuji: Won ¥10,000,000 on March 28, 2008.
 * Kazuo Tokumitsu: Also won ¥10,000,000 on March 27, 2008.
 * Simon, Emil and Marcus: Won 1,000,000 kr on May 9, 2008.
 * Oliver Pocher: Won €1,000,000 on May 30, 2008.
 * Thomas Gottschalk: Won €1,000,000 on November 20, 2008.

2009 Winners

 * Takeshi Kitano: Won ¥10,000,000 on January 30, 2009.
 * Hikari Ota: Won ¥10,000,000 on April 1, 2009.
 * Aroma Ufodike won ₦10,000,000 on September 11, 2009. First Nigerian winner.


 * Sam Murray won $1,000,000 on November 11, 2009 during the Million Dollar Tournament.

2010 Winners

 * Sharon Cuneta won P2,000,000 on January 9, 2010.
 * Bjørn Lien won KR 1,000,000 on January 19, 2010. First winner in the Hot Seat format.


 * Mohammad Hamzeh: Won SR1,000,000 on March 23, 2010.
 * Krzysztof Wójcik: Won 1,000,000 zł on March 28, 2010.


 * Timur Budayev: Won 3,000,000 Rubles on April 17, 2010.
 * Lucía Sánchez: Won MX$3,000,000 on April 22, 2010. First Mexican winner.
 * Willy Pérez: Won ₡25,000,000 on June 29, 2010.
 * Mogens Lykketoft and Martin Krasnik: Won 1,000,000 Kr on October 11, 2010.
 * Ralf Schnoo: Won €1,000,000 on November 26, 2010.
 * Jan Sundström: Won 1,000,000 SEK on December 17, 2010.

2011 Winners

 * Michela De Paoli: Won €1,000,000 on January 27, 2011.


 * Garry Kasparov and Daria Kasparova: Won 20,000 lari on February 22, 2011.
 * Barbara Schöneberge: Won €1,000,000 on May 30, 2011.
 * Aamir Khan and Kiran Rao: Won 10,000,000 rupes on July 8, 2011.
 * Rajesh Singh: Won 10,000,000 on July 27, 2011.
 * Nadezhda Beldiy: Won 1,000,000 hryvnia on August 6, 2011.
 * Karl Jonathan Aguilar: Won P2,000,000 on September 18, 2011.
 * David Huertas won COP$300,000,000 on October 29, 2011.
 * Sushil Kumar: Won 50,000,000 crore on November 2, 2011.

2012 Winners

 * Paco Reverte: Won €100,000 on March 15, 2012.
 * Charlotte Bircow and Lasse Rimmer: Won 2,000,000 Kr on October 22, 2012.

2013 Winners

 * Mana Ashida: Won ¥1,000,000 January 2, 2013.
 * Sanmjeet Kaur Sahan: Won 5,000,000 crore on January 12, 2013.
 * Apeksha Kumari: Won 2,000,000 LKR on February 22, 2013.
 * Sebastian Langrock: Won €1,000,000 on March 11, 2013.
 * Gaeilo Pajinag, Jr.: Won P2,000,000 on October 20, 2013.
 * Bari Alibasov and Alexander "Danko" Fadeev: Won 3,000,000 rubles on November 23, 2013.
 * Mathias Stockinger: Won €1,000,000 on December 9, 2013.

2014 Winners

 * José Moura: Won €100,000 on February 7, 2014.
 * Birgitta Hedström: Won 1,000,000 SEK on April 11, 2014.


 * Achin and Sarthak Narula: Won 70,000,000 crore on September 20, 2014. First 7 crore winner.


 * Thorsten Fische: Won €1,000,000 on October 17, 2014.
 * Alexandra Pascalidou and Lena Ag: Won 1,000,000 kr on November 15, 2014.

2015 Winners

 * Daniel Paske and Jasmin Sharzad: Won 1,000,000 Kr on March 3, 2015.
 * Nadja Sidikjar: Won €1,538,450 on November 13, 2015.
 * Leon Windscheid: Won €1,000,000 on December 7, 2015.

2016 Winners

 * Søren Pilmark and Henrik Koefoed: Won 1,000,000 Kr on March 6, 2016.
 * Tommy Kenter and Lise Baastrup: Won 1,000,000 Kr on May 8, 2016.