Three Wise Men was a lifeline introduced in the U.S. on Who Wants to Be a Super Millionaire.
Usage[]
Along with Double Dip, this lifeline could only be used by contestants if they correctly answer the tenth question, worth $100,000. When a contestant decides to use this lifeline, the host will read and feed the question to a panel of three experts, and they will have 30 seconds to confer and figure out the answer to the question. The clock's graphics are the same as with Phone-a-Friend, but smaller.
One of the three experts would be a past Millionaire contestant and another would be a female. A different panel would appear on each episode, but their identities would not be revealed until a contestant correctly answers their $100,000 question. If that does not happen before they are almost out of time, their identities are revealed then.
The lifeline's graphic is a mortarboard, symbolizing the intelligence of the experts.
The chart below lists people who have appeared for the Three Wise Men lifeline in Super Millionaire.
Date | Name | Contestants they helped | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
February 22, 2004 | Nancy Christy123 Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson Anthony DeCurtis |
Todd Kim | First ever “Three Wise Men” on the premiere episode. |
February 23, 2004 | Dr. Abbie Salny2 Dr. Drew Pinsky John Carpenter1 |
Robert Essig | |
February 24, 2004 | David Goodman1 Tracy Caldwell Dyson2 Michael Starr |
N/A | They were the first "Three Wise Men" to not help a contestant. |
February 26, 2004 | Kevin Olmstead1 Dr. Curley Bonds Lisa Schwarzbaum2 |
Michael Koehn | They were the first "Three Wise Men" to not be revealed after a contestant incorrectly answers their $100,000 question as well as the first to get a question wrong. |
February 27, 2004 | Erin Barrett2 Kim Hunt1 Charles Preston |
N/A | They were the second "Three Wise Men" to not help a contestant. |
May 16, 2004 | Belinda Luscombe2 Dr. Jim Gates Dan Blonsky1 |
Scott Hoff Judi Stauber |
|
May 17, 2004 | Dr. Anita Krishnamurthi2 Michael Starr John Carpenter1 |
N/A | They were the third "Three Wise Men" to not help a contestant. |
May 18, 2004 | Jenny Elesnu2 Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson Kevin Olmstead1 |
Devin McMahon | |
May 20, 2004 | Pat Thompson123 Chris Farley Dr. Glen Ferrart |
Jason Carter | |
May 23, 2004 | Dr. Anna Fisher2 Fred Nelson Joe Trela1 |
Pat Headley | They were the first “Three Wise Men” to answer the $500,000 question confidently. |
May 24, 2004 | Lori Meduski2 Dr. Tyra Spiegel2 David Goodman1 |
N/A | They were the fourth "Three Wise Men" to not help a contestant. |
May 25, 2004 | Nancy Christy123 Albert Kim Ken Davis |
Chris Smith | Last “Three Wise Men” on the Super Millionaire show and the last ever to get a question incorrect. |
Key: 1Past Millionaire contestant | 2Female | 3Past female Millionaire contestant |
International versions[]
- In the 500th episode of the German version, this lifeline was also available to all contestants, with the difference being that there were four experts instead of three.
- The lifeline was also used on the Russian version of the show, from October 21, 2006, through April 26, 2008. With the full guest list below:
- October 21, 2006 - Yelena Malysheva, Gennady Vdovin, Larisa Rubalskaya
- October 28, 2006 - Tatyana Metaksa, Viktor Gusev, Pavel Kaplevich
- November 11, 2006 - Thecla Tolstaya, Boris Khimichev, Gennady Gudkov
- December 2, 2006 - Yevgeny Lovchev, Pyotr Tolstoy, Grigory Gladkov
- December 9, 2006 - Oksana Pushkina, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Anatoly Trushkin
- January 20, 2007 - Alexander Sedov, Yekaterina Andreyeva, Anatoly Kucherena
- January 27, 2007 - Pavel Globa, Margarita Eskina, Boris Grachevsky
- February 3, 2007 - Nikita Kucheruk, Olga Sviblova, Alexander Inshakov
- February 10, 2007 - Arkady Inin, Mariya Kiseleva (for unknown reasons, there were only Two Wise Men)
- March 3, 2007 - Tatyana Ustinova, Vladimir Dashkevich, Viktor Verzhbitsky
- March 17, 2007 - Arina Sharapova, Maksim Dunayevsky, Georgy Grechko
- March 24, 2007 - Simon Osiashvili, Arkady Arkanov, Alexey Mitrofanov
- April 7, 2007 - Yury Vyazemsky, Yelena Zelenskaya, Sergey Lukyanenko
- June 17, 2007 - Yefim Smolin, Mariya Arbatova, Alexander Zhurbin
- July 1, 2007 - Vsevolod Shilovsky, Aristarkh Livanov, Vladimir Vishnevsky
- July 8, 2007 - Vadim Andreyev, Yekaterina Semenova, Andrey Smolyakov
- July 14, 2007 - Yekaterina Rozhdestvenskaya, Alexander Peskov, Valentina Dashkova
- November 11, 2007 - Polina Dashkova, Dmitry Koldun, Svetlana Masterkova
- November 18, 2007 - Alexander Shaganov, Svetlana Nazarenko, Leonid Olshansky
- March 15, 2008 - Boris Burda, Yelena Orlova, Ilya Novikov
- March 29, 2008 - Askold Zapashny, Boris Burda, Ilya Novikov
- April 19, 2008 - Boris Krasnov, Grigory Oster, Vyacheslav Spesivtsev
- April 26, 2008 - Irina Otiyeva, Arkady Ukupnik, Yelena Nazarova
- In the Arabic version, this lifeline was used in the 2015-2016 season.
- In the Hong Kong version, the lifeline was used for two specials in March 2018.
- In the India Hindi version, three experts sat on the audience rows of the show's studio instead of a special room.
- In the Croatian version, Three Wise Men lifeline replaced the Ask the Audience lifeline on May 14. 2020. due to social distancing measures in place because of the Coronavirus pandemic. Like the India Hindi version, the experts were seated in the audience seats behind the contestant. The lifeline does not have a time limit, similar to Ask the Expert. It was last used on June 16, 2022, and it was replaced by the returning Ask the Audience lifeline.
Modified versions[]
- In 1999, in the unlicensed Show do Milhão, an variation of the Three Wise Men called "University" was used where three students in different areas of expertise would give what they thought was the right answer. This was particularly similar to the Three Wise Men, but the main difference is that each student gave their own answer, rather than it being an joint-decision by all 3 students. This function later adopted to the Ask the Star lifeline in the second Swedish version,
- In 2000, the Hungarian version had the first modified version of the Three Wise Men, called "Ask the other contestants 2 times". Eight years later, on the Norwegian version, this lifeline was renamed as Ask the Star, using celebrities instead of experts. In 2020, in the German version, this lifeline was renamed once again as Ask the Millionaires. This lifeline was very similar to Three Wise Men, except with only two experts (celebrities) instead of three, and it had 60 seconds to use. The Ask the Star later used in the second Swedish version, but three celebrities were in the studio, the time is unlimited, and the celebrities can give different answers, similar to Ask Three of the Audience and People Speak.
- In 2008, the second modified version of the Three Wise Men lifeline, called Ask the Expert, was introduced for the Clock Format. This lifeline had only one expert, and there is no time limit during use.
- Since May 5, 2020, the third modified version of the Three Wise Men lifeline, called Two Wise Men, was introduced for the 11th season of Ai Là Triệu Phú. This lifeline was very similar to the Ask the Star lifeline, with only two experts in a special room, and this lifeline had only 30 seconds to use.
Gallery[]
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? lifelines |
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50:50 • Phone-a-Friend • Ask the Audience • Switch the Question • Ask the Nation • Double Dip • Three Wise Men • Ask One of the Audience • Ask Three of the Audience • Ask the Expert • Ask the Star • Jump the Question • People Speak • Crystal Ball • Plus One • Cut the Question • Extra Help • Power Paplu • Code Red • Chat Room • Ask the Host • Two Wise Men • Ask A Friend |
Millionaire Hot Seat: Pass • 50:50 • Switch the Question • Ask A Friend • Phone-a-Friend • Ask the Host |
Show do Milhão: Cards |