This was the unaired pilot of 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'. It was recorded on August 12, 1998, with just over three weeks to go before transmission, no one had any idea that it was going to spawn an unprecedented international game show phenomenon. It was hosted by Chris Tarrant.
Money Tree[]
The money tree was still in development and is unfamiliar to the modern viewer. The first question was worth just £1 (hence Chris' slightly odd exclamation "You've won a pound, wahoo!").
Host Chris Tarrant explains the money tree to a contestant in the first pilot of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.
Host Chris Tarrant with a contestant during gameplay.
| Question | Money |
|---|---|
| 15 | £1 MILLION |
| 14 | £500,000 |
| 13 | £250,000 |
| 12 | £125,000 |
| 11 | £64,000 |
| 10 | £32,000 |
| 9 | £16,000 |
| 8 | £8,000 |
| 7 | £4,000 |
| 6 | £2,000 |
| 5 | £1,000 |
| 4 | £500 |
| 3 | £100 |
| 2 | £10 |
| 1 | £1 |
Trivia[]
The studio layout during the opening titles as seen in the first UK pilot episode.
- Footage from this unaired pilot is included in the Is that Your Final Answer? documentary, and has been used in various presentations by David Briggs.
- The music in this pilot is completely different, including the theme song, Cloud 9. The makers of the programme were not satisfied with it, so for Series 1, they replaced it with music by Keith & Matthew Strachan.
- The monetary values for the first three questions are £1, £10, and £100 as opposed to £100, £200, and £300.
- The question font in the pilot is Gill Sans MT. For the actual series, it was changed to ITC Conduit.
- A scene based on the pilot can be seen in ITV drama Quiz. However, the name of the show in the Quiz scene was Cash Mountain (the working title of the show). Pilot footage shown by David Briggs shows that the name Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? was adopted before the pilot was filmed.
Contestants[]
- Pilot (pre-12 August 1998)
Andy (Before 12 August, £1,000 - missed £4,000) Peter (£8,000, continued)
- First pilot (12 August 1998)
Peter (£?) Jess (£?)
- Second pilot (August 1998)
? (at least £1,000) ? (£1,000 - lost on £16,000)