Clock Format

The clock format, also known as the high-speed format according to Chris Tarrant, is a format which debuted in America during its seventh syndicated season, which involves time limits to answering questions.

History[]

The time limit is a Disney invention, and is the result of The Walt Disney Company owning the rights to the show in the United States; everywhere else in the world, original production company Celador (now 2waytraffic, which is now owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment) directly controls the show, but in the United States, Disney controls the show.

Back in the day, when Celador invented the show, Celador did not implement time limits because they wanted to place emphasis on suspense and drama. When they came to the United States in 1999, however, they decided to license the show to Disney, and unlike Celador, Disney believed that contestants should have strict time limits to answering questions, and that the time limits should be as tight as possible. Rather than using the same computer, video game, and DVD game adaptations as the UK and European versions, Disney decided to make their own adaptations of the show, and in all of Disney's computer, video game, and DVD game adaptations of the show, as well as their online game and former Who Wants to Be a Millionaire – Play It! attractions at their Disney theme parks, they always put players up against strict, tight time limits.

Eventually, in 2008, they put their contestants up against the clock on the real show, adding "the dreaded clock" on the seventh season of the syndicated U.S. version, deriving its rules from the former Who Wants to Be a Millionaire – Play It! attraction at their Disney theme parks.

Other countries have soon adapted their own time limits on their versions of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, such as Japan, the United Kingdom and India. In 2010, starting on the ninth season of the syndicated U.S. version, the U.S. clock format was discontinued and replaced with the "shuffle format", where the first ten questions have randomised difficulty. Many other versions of the show have since discontinued the clock format because it caused too many contestants to flunk out prematurely, winning nothing.

The clock format was criticised by many as contestants often walked away on the $4,000 or $8,000 questions, the Ask the Expert Experts were considered by some to be too hit-and-miss, it caused contestants not to use Double Dip due to the condition that you cannot walk away when using it, and the show became fairly predictable.

Gameplay changes[]

In the U.S. and U.K. versions, Fastest Finger First has been removed, allowing contestants to begin the game immediately. The addition of a time limit to the game is a major change in itself.

In most versions, the clock starts as soon as all of the choices are displayed on the screen; the clock continues to tick as the host reads the four possible choices. In some versions, the timer instead starts once the question and the four choices are read. But in all versions, the clock ticking is different from the Phone-a-Friend clock, which continues to use its own ticking.

Usually, failing to answer within the time limit forces the contestant to walk away from the question (unless Double Dip was used and a second answer was not given in time, which instead has the same effects as a wrong answer), and any usage of lifelines would temporarily stop the clock.

Moreover, usually, an answer would be valid even if the clock expires while it is being said (and finalized) by the contestant, provided that the contestant does not momentarily stop talking while in the process of doing so.

United States version[]

"This is Millionaire like you've never seen it before. I want you to listen to this. (Clock ticking sounds play) That is the dreaded clock that we have added to gameplay on every question, and that means that Millionaire is gonna be faster, more exciting, and much more nerve-wracking than ever before."

- Meredith Vieira

The U.S. clock format era lasted for two syndicated seasons (and a primetime special) between 2008 and 2010. The rules were derived from the former Who Wants to Be a Millionaire – Play It! attraction at Walt Disney World. Questions 1-5 would have a 15-second time limit, questions 6-10 would have a 30-second time limit, and questions 11-14 would have a 45-second time limit. Any unused time from any of these questions would be "banked". On question 15 (for $1,000,000), the time limit would be 45 seconds, plus the "banked" time from questions 1-14.

The lifelines in this format were Phone-A-Friend, Double Dip, Ask the Audience and Ask the Expert. At first, Ask the Expert was only available for use after the fifth question. Later in the format, Phone-A-Friend was removed, because it was being used against its usual intentions; to compensate, the Ask the Expert lifeline became available from the start of the game.

Another notable change was that at the end of a contestant's run, the graphic message was changed from "Total Prize Money" to "Total Winnings".

The only person who won the $1,000,000 top prize during this format is Sam Murray, during the Million-Dollar Tournament of Ten. Sam won the prize after being the only person, among the ten people in the tournament, to answer his tournament question correctly.

Nobody won the top prize of $1,000,000 in completely regular clock format play. Ken Basin got to the final question on the final episode of the 10th Anniversary Celebration, but he answered the final question incorrectly, losing $475,000 and leaving with only $25,000.

Differences between the 2008-2010 U.S. clock format and the former Play It! attraction[]

Notable differences between the 2008-2010 U.S. clock format and the former Play It! attraction at Walt Disney World include the following:

On the 2008-2010 U.S. clock format, the clock would start as soon as all four answers appeared on screen all at once; on the former Play It! attraction, the clock did not start until after all four answers were revealed, one by one.
On the 2008-2010 U.S. clock format, the clock would temporarily stop whenever a lifeline was used, and then resume from where it left off; on the former Play It! attraction, after a lifeline was used, the clock would reset to 20 seconds on the first 5 questions, 30 seconds on questions 6-10, and 40 seconds on the last 5 questions.
On the 2008-2010 U.S. clock format, the lifelines were Phone-a-Friend, Double Dip, Ask the Audience and Ask the Expert; on the former Play It! attraction, the lifelines were the classic 3 lifelines, 50:50, Phone-A-Friend, and Ask the Audience, except Phone-a-Friend was renamed "Phone a Complete Stranger" because the person that would help the contestant during this lifeline was actually a Walt Disney World cast member.
On the 2008-2010 U.S. clock format, if the contestant made it to the Million Dollar Question, they received 45 seconds plus an accumulated time bank, which consists of all of the unused time accumulated over the previous 14 questions; on the former Play It! attraction, if the contestant made it to the Million Point Question, they only had exactly 55 seconds to decide whether to answer, use a lifeline (if they had any remaining), or walk away.

United Kingdom version[]

"Hello and welcome to the new-look, high-speed, high-risk, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, where questions are won or lost against the merciless ticking of our big bad clock."

- Chris Tarrant

This version was implemented in 2010, and lasted until the end of Series 30 in 2014 (except for Chris' Final Answer, which was a clip show). The lifelines were the same as before: 50:50, Phone-a-Friend, and Ask the Audience, with Switch the Question arriving later on in gameplay. The basis for this version was the same as the 12-question format introduced in 2007.

This version had several differences to the United States version: instead of a sound effect of a clock being embedded into the question music, a separate music cue by Ramon Covalo was composed instead; as well as this, the graphic for the "Big, Bad, Clock" was adopted for the Phone-A-Friend clock, instead of the 2007-2010 clock. Questions 1 and 2 has a 15 second timer. Question 3-7 has a 30 second time limit. Question 8-12 has no time limit and the player is rewarded the "Switch the Question" lifeline, also known as "Flip the Question" making it the first Millionaire version since 1998 in the UK to include a 4th lifeline (except for when they allowed players to swap as many lifelines as they want for a switch lifeline).

Other versions[]

Quiz $ Millionaire, the Japanese version of Millionaire, adapted the clock format starting with its eleventh season in 2009. Questions 1-9 would have a 30-second time limit, questions 10-12 would have a 60-second time limit, and questions 13-15 would have a 3-minute time limit. However, if the time allotted to the question expired, it is considered that the contestant has withdrawn the money.

In Kaun Banega Crorepati, an Indian version of Millionaire, time limits were added on the fourth season in 2010. The time limits on the questions of this version have changed several times across seasons, ranging from 30 to 60 seconds on the first questions to no time limit at all on the last ones. The clock format is used in all Indian versions of the show.

In Kim Milyoner Olmak İster?, in one of the Turkish versions, the clock format started in August 2011. In a 12-question format, for 1-2 questions, the contestant is given 15 seconds to give an answer, then he is given 45 seconds to give an answer to 3-7 questions. From question 8, the clock disappears, a new lifeline is added, and the time for reflection is not limited.

If the contestant does not have time to give an answer within the time limit, the run automatically stops. In this case, the studio turns red and the computer shows the correct answer, and the player leaves with a safety net.

Time limits have also been implemented on the other Indian versions of Millionaire, as well as the South Korean and Egyptian versions. Millionaire Hot Seat, an Australian spin-off of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, also has time limits, however, its implementation of a time limit is not its main difference from the original Millionaire format.

On the revival Mi Rotseh Lehyot Milyoner? (Israel), the time limit was added for the first five questions (30 seconds). The last 10 questions had no time limit.