Chi vuol essere milionario? (lit. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?), previously known as Chi vuol essere miliardario? (lit. Who Wants to Be a Billionaire?) also known as Verso il Milione (English translation: Towards the Million), is an Italian-language Italian game show based on the original British format of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. The show is hosted by Gerry Scotti. The objective of the game is to win €1 million by answering 15 multiple-choice questions correctly. Chi vuol essere milionario? was broadcast from 2002 to 2020. It was aired on the Italian television station Canale 5.
Lifelines[]
- 50:50 (cinquanta-cinquanta)
- Switch the Question (lo switch) (September 24, 2007 - December 14, 2008, January 22, 2020 – November 5, 2020)
- Plus One (Chiedi a un esperto) (December 7, 2018 – November 5, 2020)
- Ask Gerry (Chiedilo a Gerry) (December 7, 2018 – November 5, 2020)
Former Lifelines[]
- Phone-a-Friend (la telefonata a casa) (May 22, 2000 - July 29, 2011)
- Ask the Audience (l'aiuto del pubblico) (May 22, 2000 - March 14, 2019)
Seasons[]
| Series | No. of episodes | Time of broadcast | Сollocation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 18 | May 22 - June 10, 2000 | Week (Monday - Saturday) |
| 24 | October 23 - November 18, 2000 | Week (Monday - Saturday) | |
| 2 | 15 | January 7 - April 15, 2001 | Sunday |
| 18 | April 23 - May 12, 2001 | Week (Monday - Saturday) | |
| 8 | September 16 - November 4, 2001 | Sunday | |
| 12 | November 19 - December 1, 2001 | Week (Monday - Saturday) | |
| 3 | 7 | January 13 - February 24, 2002 | Sunday |
| 18 | March 11–30, 2002 | Week (Monday - Saturday) | |
| 12 | May 13–25, 2002 | Week (Monday - Saturday) | |
| 4 | 10 | September 22 - November 24, 2002 | Sunday |
| 18 | November 25 - December 14, 2002 | Week (Monday - Saturday) | |
| 5 | 36 | March 31 - May 10, 2003 | Week (Monday - Saturday) |
| 24 | September 1–27, 2003 | Week (Monday - Saturday) | |
| 6 | October 19 - November 23, 2003 | Sunday | |
| 6 | 3 | May 30 - June 13, 2004 | Sunday |
| 9 | October 3 - November 28, 2004 | Sunday | |
| 7 | 132 | January 10 - June 11, 2005 | Week (Monday - Saturday) |
| 8 | 132 | January 9 - June 10, 2006 | Week (Monday - Saturday) |
| 154 | December 4, 2006 - May 6, 2007 | Every day | |
| 9 | 77 | September 24 - December 9, 2007 | Every day |
| 10 | 98 | January 14 - April 20, 2008 | Every day |
| 237 | September 8, 2008 - June 7, 2009 | Every day | |
| 11 | 105 | August 31 - December 13, 2009 | Every day |
| 12 | 147 | January 11 - June 6, 2010 | Every day |
| 327 | September 6, 2010 - July 29, 2011 | Every day | |
| 13 | 12 | December 7, 2018 - March 14, 2019 | Friday/Thursday |
| 14 | 7 | January 22 - March 11, 2020 | Wednesday |
| 15 | 8 | September 10 - November 5, 2020 | Thursday |
| 16 | ? | January 2025 - 2025 | ? |
Money Tree[]
22.5.2000 - 01.12.2001 (as Chi vuol essere miliardario?)[]
| Question No. |
Correct Answer Value |
Walk Away Value |
Miss Answer Value |
Amount Lost for a Wrong Answer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | L. 100,000 (€51) | L. 0 | L. 0 | L. 0 |
| 2 | L. 200,000 (€103) | L. 100,000 | L. 100,000 | |
| 3 | L. 300,000 (€154) | L. 200,000 | L. 200,000 | |
| 4 | L. 500,000 (€258) | L. 300,000 | L. 300,000 | |
| 5 | L. 1,000,000 (€516) | L. 500,000 | L. 500,000 | |
| 6 | L. 2,000,000 (€1,032) | L. 1,000,000 | L. 1,000,000 | L. 0 |
| 7 | L. 4,000,000 (€2,065) | L. 2,000,000 | L. 1,000,000 | |
| 8 | L. 8,000,000 (€4,131) | L. 4,000,000 | L. 3,000,000 | |
| 9 | L. 16,000,000 (€8,263) | L. 8,000,000 | L. 7,000,000 | |
| 10 | L. 32,000,000 (€16,526) | L. 16,000,000 | L. 15,000,000 | |
| 11 | L. 64,000,000 (€33,053) | L. 32,000,000 | L. 32,000,000 | L. 0 |
| 12 | L. 125,000,000 (€64,557) | L. 64,000,000 | L. 32,000,000 | |
| 13 | L. 250,000,000 (€129,114) | L. 125,000,000 | L. 93,000,000 | |
| 14 | L. 500,000,000 (€258,228) | L. 250,000,000 | L. 218,000,000 | |
| 15 | L. 1,000,000,000 (€516,456) | L. 500,000,000 | L. 468,000,000 |
13.1.2002 - 10.12.2007[]
| Question No. |
Correct Answer Value |
Walk Away Value |
Miss Answer Value |
Amount Lost for a Wrong Answer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | €50 | €0 | €0 | €0 |
| 2 | €100 | €50 | €50 | |
| 3 | €200 | €100 | €100 | |
| 4 | €300 | €200 | €200 | |
| 5 | €500 | €300 | €300 | |
| 6 | €1,000 | €500 | €500 | €0 |
| 7 | €2,000 | €1,000 | €500 | |
| 8 | €4,000 | €2,000 | €1,500 | |
| 9 | €8,000 | €4,000 | €3,500 | |
| 10 | €16,000 | €8,000 | €7,500 | |
| 11 | €35,000 | €16,000 | €16,000 | €0 |
| 12 | €70,000 | €35,000 | €19,000 | |
| 13 | €150,000 | €70,000 | €54,000 | |
| 14 | €300,000 | €150,000 | €134,000 | |
| 15 | €1,000,000 | €300,000 | €284,000 |
14.1.2008 - 6.6.2010, 7.12.2018 - 5.11.2020[]
| Question No. |
Correct Answer Value |
Walk Away Value |
Miss Answer Value |
Amount Lost for a Wrong Answer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | €500 | €0 | €0 | €0 |
| 2 | €1,000 | €500 | €500 | |
| 3 | €1,500 | €1,000 | €1,000 | |
| 4 | €2,000 | €1,500 | €1,500 | |
| 5 | €3,000 | €2,000 | €2,000 | |
| 6 | €5,000 | €3,000 | €3,000 | €0 |
| 7 | €7,000 | €5,000 | €2,000 | |
| 8 | €10,000 | €7,000 | €4,000 | |
| 9 | €15,000 | €10,000 | €7,000 | |
| 10 | €20,000 | €15,000 | €12,000 | |
| 11 | €30,000 | €20,000 | €20,000 | €0 |
| 12 | €70,000 | €30,000 | €10,000 | |
| 13 | €150,000 | €70,000 | €50,000 | |
| 14 | €300,000 | €150,000 | €130,000 | |
| 15 | €1,000,000 | €300,000 | €280,000 |
6.9.2010 - 29.7.2011[]
| No. | Question Value |
Amount Lost for a Wrong Answer (if safety net is set at...) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| €500 | €1,000 | €1,500 | €2,000 | €3,000 | €5,000 | €7,000 | €10,000 | €15,000 | €20,000 | €30,000 | €70,000 | €150,000 | €300,000 | ||
| 1 | €500 | €0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2 | €1,000 | €0 | €500 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 3 | €1,500 | €500 | €0 | €1,000 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 4 | €2,000 | €1,000 | €500 | €0 | €1,500 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 5 | €3,000 | €1,500 | €1,000 | €500 | €0 | €2,000 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 6 | €5,000 | €2,500 | €2,000 | €1,500 | €1,000 | €0 | €3,000 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 7 | €7,000 | €4,500 | €4,000 | €3,500 | €3,000 | €2,000 | €0 | €5,000 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 8 | €10,000 | €6,500 | €6,000 | €5,500 | €5,000 | €4,000 | €2,000 | €0 | €7,000 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 9 | €15,000 | €9,500 | €9,000 | €8,500 | €8,000 | €7,000 | €5,000 | €3,000 | €0 | €10,000 | - | - | - | - | - |
| 10 | €20,000 | €14,500 | €14,000 | €13,500 | €13,000 | €12,000 | €10,000 | €8,000 | €5,000 | €0 | €15,000 | - | - | - | - |
| 11 | €30,000 | €19,500 | €19,000 | €18,500 | €18,000 | €17,000 | €15,000 | €13,000 | €10,000 | €5,000 | €0 | €20,000 | - | - | - |
| 12 | €70,000 | €29,500 | €29,000 | €28,500 | €28,000 | €27,000 | €25,000 | €23,000 | €20,000 | €15,000 | €10,000 | €0 | €30,000 | - | - |
| 13 | €150,000 | €69,500 | €69,000 | €68,500 | €68,000 | €67,000 | €65,000 | €63,000 | €60,000 | €55,000 | €50,000 | €40,000 | €0 | €70,000 | - |
| 14 | €300,000 | €149,500 | €149,000 | €148,500 | €148,000 | €147,000 | €145,000 | €143,000 | €140,000 | €135,000 | €130,000 | €120,000 | €80,000 | €0 | €150,000 |
| 15 | €1,000,000 | €299,500 | €299,000 | €298,500 | €298,000 | €297,000 | €295,000 | €293,000 | €290,000 | €285,000 | €280,000 | €270,000 | €230,000 | €150,000 | €0 |
Winners[]
For all winners see: Chi vuol essere milionario?/List of Winners
Trivia[]
- As of 2023, 12 series and 1,679 episodes have aired.
- On 24 February 2002, the 100th episode aired.
- The names of the contestants of each game are written by the host on a special card. Once the players are all introduced, the card is thrown away as a running joke.
- Before the filming location was moved to the Polish version's studio for the 2018 reboot, the studio where the filming takes place, as well as the production company, belonged to Gerry Scotti himself.
- Several times, when the contestants did not have time to finish the game before the "final klaxon" on the last episode of the current season, their run is continued to the next season.
- Throughout the history of the show, the money tree was changed three times (2 of them, with the Euro money tree).
- From 15 December 2008, the Fastest Finger First round was scrapped, and the Switch the Question lifeline was removed.
- Paola Morossi (29, 30 and 31 December 2010) and Michela De Paoli (25, 26 and 27 January 2011) appeared in three episodes in a row.
- Michela De Paoli, on 27 January 2011, is the only contestant to save all three lifelines for the final question.
- On 2 January 2006, Carla Cogo was asked a question for €16,000, but it was a bad question. She answered the 10th question wrong, lost €7,500 and walked away with the €500. Later it turned out that the answer was right. A year later, on 28 February 2007, she was invited back to the show and continued her run with her Phone-a-Friend and Ask the Audience lifelines reinstated.
- By August 2009 there had been almost 1,500 episodes aired.
- On 24 May 2010, a 10th Anniversary (1,291st) episode aired in which Giuseppe Scala, the first contestant to appear on the show ten years earlier, returned to rewatch his episode. By then 1,290 episodes had aired and nearly 7,000 contestants appeared in the studio with nearly 2,500 getting into the hot seat, and nearly 20,000 questions had been asked.
- The show's most-watched episode was watched by almost 10,000,000 people.
- In the episode on 8 June 2011, a contestant was asked a bad question. He was asked, "Who won a Nobel Peace Prize?" with John Paul II, John XXIII, Mother Teresa of Calcutta and the Dalai Lama as choices. The right answer was Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, but also the Dalai Lama won it in 1989. So there were two correct answers to the question. It is unknown as to whether or not the contestant filed a complaint.
- Gerry Scotti could be considered the creator of Millionaire Hot Seat, as he asked to be allowed to make bigger changes to the format, resulting in Edizione Straordinaria, the first show to use the Hot Seat format.
- On 7 December 2018, the thirteenth series celebrated the 20th anniversary of the original British version, with Francesca Cinelli, Davide Pavesi and Michela De Paoli being invited back for the first episode. The episodes were filmed on the set of Milionerzy, the Polish version of the show.
- In late 2022 Italian tabloids reported that obscure network La7 were considering reviving the show in a teatime timeslot, with singer and local X Factor host Fedez taking over from Gerry Scotti in January 2024. However, in November the next year it was reported that the revival had been canned at the last minute.
See also[]
- Chi vuol essere milionario? Edizione Straordinaria (Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? - Extraordinary edition) - the special edition aired from December 15, 2008, to March 29, 2009. This show took the basic format for Millionaire Hot Seat around the world.
Gallery[]
First logo (2000-2007)
Second logo (2007-2011)
First studio (2000-2011)
Second studio (in Warsaw, 2018-2020)