| Millionare Win Cue | |
|---|---|
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Description |
When a contestant answers the last question right and wins the top prize. |
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First Country |
United States |
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First Date |
November 16, 1999 (Spin City episode: "How to Bury a Millionaire") |
|
First Contestant |
Paul Lassiter (Spin City episode: "How to Dump a Millionaire") |
|
Latest Country |
Greece |
|
Latest Date |
April 29, 2025 |
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Latest Contestant |
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Music |
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Win $1000000- WWTBAM shuffle format soundtrack
The U.S. Lippencott-Williams million dollar win cue, used from 2010 until 2019.
The million pound win cue is among the most popular music cues, and is played when a contestant wins the top prize.
Trivia[]
- The first time it was heard worldwide is when Paul Lassiter answered the $1,000,000 question right on an episode in November 16, 1999. The first time it was heard in the actual show worldwide is when John Carpenter answered the $1,000,000 right on November 19, 1999, 3 days later.
- In most cases, the million pound win cue is often accompanied by a confetti drop.
- One notable exception was Judith Keppel, the first £1,000,000 winner on the UK version of the show. This was because the confetti cannons malfunctioned after the button was pressed to turn them on, even though confetti man Pascal had tested them out for weeks and months in advance to ensure everything went smoothly when the big day came along. They however fixed them on time and instead the confetti closed the episode off.
- Confetti is notably absent from the versions in Russia, Georgia and Kazakhstan.
- It is the polar opposite of the million pound lose cue and occurs more often, mainly as contestants who aren't 100% sure on the million tend to walk away.
- Even when most countries retired the Strachan cues in favour of the Covalo cues, this one was kept along with the win and lose music which also remained.
- However, in the U.S., the Strachan music and cues especially this one were eventually replaced altogether in favour of themes by Jeff Lippencott and Mark T. Williams in 2010 when the shuffle format was introduced. The shuffle themes continued to be used on the show until 2019, even though the shuffle format was dropped in 2015. The Lippencott-Williams soundtrack contains a million dollar win cue, but does not contain a million-dollar lose cue.
- The Lippencott-Williams million dollar win cue has never been heard in actual gameplay on the show, as no contestant has ever won the million since the new Lippencott-Williams soundtrack was adopted in 2010. However, it has been heard in commercials, and in video game adaptations of the game show that were released after 2010. It was also used at the end of the 1500th episode of the U.S. syndicated version, and was used to celebrate the milestone episode, rather than a contestant winning the $1,000,000 top prize.
- However, in the U.S., the Strachan music and cues especially this one were eventually replaced altogether in favour of themes by Jeff Lippencott and Mark T. Williams in 2010 when the shuffle format was introduced. The shuffle themes continued to be used on the show until 2019, even though the shuffle format was dropped in 2015. The Lippencott-Williams soundtrack contains a million dollar win cue, but does not contain a million-dollar lose cue.
- The extended version of the Strachans' million pound win cue was first used in 2001, when Kevin Olmstead won the $2,180,000 rollover jackpot. The extended Strachan million dollar win cue combines the refrain of the opening and closing themes of the show with the original million pound win cue. This extended version of the million pound win cue was used only in the United States, from 2001-2010, and was not brought back when the US readopted the Strachan cues.
- In 14 June 2003, Mira Bičanić's win, million-kuna wins supposedly use the original win cue, however the cue is shortened.
- In 23 March 2010, Mohammad Hamzeh's win, million-riyal wins supposedly use the original win cue but it is instead looped twice.
- Since the 2020 US revival, million-dollar wins use the extended win cue, however, the refrain of the opening and closing themese of the show is looped awkwardly, and the original extended version was not used.
- The theme is also used in many Hot Seat versions (including Chile, Ukraine and Vietnam) when contestant answered the final question correctly, but not the original Norwegian version or the Australian version.