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Christopher John "Chris" Tarrant OBE (born October 10, 1946) is an English broadcaster, television personality and former radio DJ. Tarrant is best known for hosting the first version of the television game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in the United Kingdom from 1998 to 2014.

Tarrant hosted the ITV game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? from 1998 to 2014, while also providing some audio recordings for some console games, and a tabletop game made by Tiger Electronics based on the show. In total, he recorded a total of 592 episodes. Over the course of his time presenting the game show, Tarrant developed a number of notable catchphrases and crowned six legitimate winners (Judith Keppel, David Edwards, Robert Brydges, Pat Gibson and Ingram Wilcox) and one illegitimate winner (Charles Ingram).

In 2013, Tarrant announced that, after fifteen years of hosting the programme, he would be leaving Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, which consequently led ITV to axe the programme once his contract was finished; no more specials would be filmed after this announcement, leaving only those made before it to be aired as the final episodes. After the final celebrity editions, Tarrant hosted a clip show entitled Chris' Final Answer, which aired on 11 February 2014 and ended the original series. He was replaced by Jeremy Clarkson for the revived series which has aired since 2018.

Early life and career

Chris Tarrant was born on Thursday, 10 October 1946 in Reading, England, to father Basil and mother Joan Tarrant. His father had joined a territorial unit of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps in 1936 and was among those evacuated from Dunkirk in the retreat of May 1940. He was also active in the Normandy landings. Tarrant was educated as a boarder in Choir House at the King's School, Worcester from 1960 to 1964. He represented the school at hockey and cricket and gained A, B and D grades at A-level in English, history and ancient history. He then studied English at the University of Birmingham, graduating in 1967. Tarrant worked as a schoolteacher and also briefly as a film director for the Central Office of Information before joining ATV as a newsreader on ATV Today.

Chris Tarrant Tiswas Era

Chris Tarrant as he appeared when he hosted Tiswas

Tarrant's career began in 1964, when he was hired by the since-dissolved television network ATV. He presented ATV Today, a current affairs programme serving the Midlands area of England, until 1982. Tarrant rose to prominence after becoming a co-host on Tiswas, the children's television show broadcast on a Saturday morning from 1974 to 1981, alongside Sally James and Lenny Henry. All three presenters became popular as a result of the show, with Lenny Henry later starring in his own stand up comedy show. In January 1982, along with Bob Carolgees, John Gorman, Randolph Sutherland and Lenny Henry, Tarrant launched a late-night show, O.T.T., thought of as an "adult" version of Tiswas, but it did not prove popular. Tarrant was a Capital Radio host from 1984 to 2004, presenting the early-morning show Capital Breakfast. The show was highly popular, increasing Capital Radio's audience share in London.

In 2012, Tarrant began a travel documentary series, Chris Tarrant: Extreme Railways. Tarrant received an OBE in 2004 for his impact on the television industry and for his charity work, in particular his campaigning on behalf of disadvantaged children.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

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Tarrant's first episode of Millionaire.

Tarrant hosted the original British version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? since it first aired in 1998 until 2014, hosting all broadcast episodes within that time. He was originally intended to host the U.S. version but he declined as he didn't want his children growing up in New York, and the role eventually went to Regis Philbin. Tarrant is known for coining several catchphrases, the most famous two examples being "Is that your final answer?" and "But we don't want to give you that". Regis later used the former as his main catchphrase, and other international hosts have used variations of the quote. In July 2000, Tarrant signed a contract with ITV to present the show until December 2002. This contract was later extended to 2013.

Over the course of his time presenting the game show, Tarrant developed a number of notable catchphrases. Notable ones include "Audience, all on your keypads please. All vote now!", said when the 'Ask the Audience' lifeline is used; "Is that your final answer?", often said to confirm the contestant's answer choice and "But we don't want to give you that", when displaying the contestant's current winning cheque, to urge them on to win more money.

Tarrant recorded a total of 592 episodes across 30 series, in which a total of five contestants (Judith Keppel, David Edwards, Robert Brydges, Pat Gibson and Ingram Wilcox) won the cash prize of £1 million. Another contestant, Charles Ingram, won the £1 million cash prize but was stripped of his winnings after it was discovered he had cheated. Tarrant attended the trial regarding the Ingram fraud case. When called to testify, he stated that he had not noticed anything amiss during the filming and had not heard any coughing. He said that following the win the Ingrams had been behaving "as normal as people who had just won £1m would be in that situation." Tarrant also said that he would not have signed the cheque if he had had suspicions of cheating and was "shocked" when he heard about the allegations.

In subsequent interviews about the Ingram case, Tarrant has always insisted he was totally unaware of any coughing around him at the time of Ingram's run, but realised something wasn't right after viewing the tape afterwards. He has also said he was very sad about the whole situation, saying: "This was a very cynical plan, motivated by sheer greed. It is hugely insulting to the hundreds and hundreds of other contestants who have come on the show, just hoping for much smaller amounts of money but prepared to try and win their money honestly."

Chris Tarrant - It's Not A Proper Job- Stories from 50 Years in TV

On 22 October 2013, Tarrant announced that, after fifteen years of hosting the programme, he would be leaving Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, which consequently led ITV to axe the programme once his contract was finished; no more specials would be filmed after this announcement, leaving only those made before it to be aired as the final episodes. After the final celebrity editions, Tarrant hosted a clip show entitled "Chris' Final Answer", which aired on 11 February 2014 and ended the original series.

In 2018, ITV aired a revived series of seven episodes to commemorate its 20th anniversary aired from 5 to 11 May 2018, hosted by Jeremy Clarkson. The revival received positive reviews from critics and fans, as well as high viewing figures, leading ITV to renew the show. Tarrant stated he had chosen not to watch the revived series, stating in a TV interview "I did it for 16 years, about 592 shows. I loved it – I had a fantastic time but I don't want to do any more, so good luck. It’s a great show." Tarrant said he would have "politely turned down" an offer by the network to return to the show if approached.

Tarrant has done several interviews about his time hosting the show, and was interviewed several times about the Charles Ingram cheating scandal after the drama series Quiz aired in 2020. His 2022 autobiography It's Not a Proper Job discussed his time on the show as well as the Ingram scandal.

Gallery

Trivia

  • On a 27 April 2001 appearance on long-running BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs, Tarrant chose Tequila Sunrise by The Eagles as his favourite record, The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris as his favourite book and a lucky sixpence as his favourite luxury.
  • He is a supporter of Reading FC. He once discussed the team with fellow game show host Henry Kelly in a BBC Radio Berkshire interview.
  • Tarrant also appeared in several other game shows.
  • In the ITV drama Quiz, Tarrant was portrayed by British actor Michael Sheen. His grandson couldn't tell the difference between Sheen's portrayal of his granddad and the real deal.
  • Since leaving Millionaire Chris has taken more time to do fishing, especially since he suffered a stroke in 2014. Since recovering from the stroke, he has been an ambassador for many stroke and asthma events.
  • He has also presented travel documentaries for Channel 5.
  • In 2004, Chris discovered at a trip to his GP that he had developed asthma due to the dry ice used in the Millionaire studio to produce the smoke effect seen behind where Chris read the Fastest Finger First question. Six months after his diagnosis, he suffered a late-night coughing fit in which he almost died: the change in temperature between the hotel in which he was staying and the colder studios exacerbated it.[1]
  • It is well-known that before every episode Tarrant would play air guitar to The Who's Pinball Wizard, however it was revealed by his son Toby in 2022 that he was also a big fan of Eminem and would listen before each taping.
  • Chris had his own bedroom backstage so that he could get a few hours' sleep due to his long recording day: first his radio show in the morning and then Millionaire in the afternoon.
Preceded by
N/A
UK host
Chris Tarrant
Succeeded by
Jeremy Clarkson
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