The series returned to the primetime edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. Hosted and co-executive produced by Jimmy Kimmel. The top prize is US$1,000,000. In this season, celebrity contestants played for charity. Fastest Finger First did not appear in this season.
Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, only the host, celebrity contestant and celebrity guest appeared in the studio, temporarily removing the Ask the Audience lifeline.
Changes[]
- The money tree changed to the original format, with 15 questions and two safety nets at $1,000 and $32,000:
- $100
- $200
- $300
- $500
- $1,000
- $2,000
- $4,000
- $8,000
- $16,000
- $32,000
- $64,000
- $125,000
- $250,000
- $500,000
- $1,000,000
- The season marked the return of the old Keith & Matthew Strachan soundtrack, in its original state (minus the Ask the Audience sound cues, due to the lack of a studio audience, in turn due of social distancing regulations). The music was remixed in 2008 for the clock format, and was eventually replaced in 2010 with themes by Jeff Lippencott and Mark T. Williams when it introduced the shuffle format.
- The set and graphics were changed, now resembling the current UK revival of the show which is hosted by Jeremy Clarkson, except the color lozenges was black with dark blue stroke, and the background was similar to the most versions using Olga van den Brandt graphic.
Lifelines[]
There are 4 lifelines:
- 50:50
- Phone-a-Friend
- Ask the Host (replaces Ask the Audience due to social distancing regulations)
- Ask the Guest
Ask the Guest is similar to Plus One, but for this season, it is automatically active for the first 10 questions: the contestant can consult his or her friend as much as needed, without using a lifeline. At the $32,000 question, this lifeline is removed, unless the contestant exchanges an unused lifeline for it. In the event of an exchange, Ask the Guest becomes a regular lifeline: it must be called, and can only be used for one question.
Episodes[]
- Episode 1 (April 8, 2020)
Eric Stonestreet ($125,000) Will Forte ($1,000, continued)
- Episode 2 (April 15, 2020)
Will Forte ($32,000 - lost on $64,000) Nikki Glaser ($64,000, continued) †
- Episode 3 (April 22, 2020)
Nikki Glaser ($125,000) Jane Fonda ($125,000) Anthony Anderson ($1,000, continued)
- Episode 4 (April 30, 2020)
Anthony Anderson ($32,000 - lost on $32,000) ‡ Ike Barinholtz ($125,000) Hannibal Buress ($200, continued)
- Episode 5 (May 7, 2020)
Hannibal Buress ($32,000 - lost on $125,000) Catherine O'Hara ($32,000, continued)
- Episode 6 (May 14, 2020)
Catherine O'Hara ($250,000) Dr. Phil ($32,000, continued)
- Episode 7 (May 21, 2020)
Dr. Phil ($125,000) Kaitlin Olson ($32,000 - lost on $125,000) Lauren Lapkus ($1,000, continued)
- Episode 8 (May 28, 2020)
Lauren Lapkus ($500,000) Anderson Cooper ($4,000, continued)
- Episode 9 (June 4, 2020)
Anderson Cooper ($500,000) Andy Cohen ($32,000 - lost on $64,000)
† Nikki Glaser incorrectly answered the $16,000 question with C: The Lighthouse instead of A: 1917. The game would normally end with a $1,000 consolation prize. As this is a charity special, Jimmy Kimmel and the show's judges allowed Glaser to continue playing without penalty. She walked away with a $125,000 donation.
‡ Anthony Anderson incorrectly answered the $32,000 question with C: Boost up instead of B: Mat talk, after using his 50:50 lifeline. The game would normally end with a $1,000 consolation prize. As this is a charity special, Jimmy Kimmel announced that Anthony Anderson won the $32,000 guarantee for his charity.
Trivia and Notes[]
- This season of Millionaire is a celebrity charity fundraiser, with the fine print during the credits reading: "All celebrity contestants were guaranteed $32,000 for their charity. Charities must meet 501(c)(3) IRS requirements to receive announced prizes." Due to this, Millionaire made exceptions to its standard rules for contestants incorrectly answering any of the first 10 questions.
- The season finale was criticized by anti-abortion (pro-life) groups, as the final game featured Andy Cohen fundraising for Planned Parenthood, with the help of Anderson Cooper. Cohen won $32,000 for the charity. Another game show special, The Price is Right at Night, was criticized by these groups, as RuPaul won $97,266 for the same charity on May 11, 2020.
- According to host Jimmy Kimmel, regarding time limit rules, he mentions at least once during this rebooted series that contestants have a one hour (60 minute) time limit to answering questions. As Kimmel himself also mentioned, the episodes were pre-recorded and later edited for content; most contestants managed to answer their questions fairly quickly, with the exception of Dr. Phil on his $32,000 question, in which he took roughly 15 minutes to answer; it was edited down to about 5 minutes for the episode's broadcast.
- Also, according to host and co-executive producer Jimmy Kimmel, as well as the producers, the production of the show took place at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California, just 10.8 miles from Los Angeles, where Jimmy Kimmel Live! is based, as opposed to New York City, like the classic Regis Philbin primetime era. Production of the show also came down to the wire; the entire season was filmed in just two days in early March, without a studio audience, right before the state of California and the rest of the country issued mandatory stay-at-home quarantine orders due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Because there was no studio audience, the Ask the Audience lifeline was disabled, and contestants were given the option to Ask the Host instead.
- Originally, the lifelines for the first ten questions would have been Phone-a-Friend, Ask the Audience and Ask the Host, while the final five questions replaced Ask the Audience with 50:50. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this rule change was scrapped and 50:50, Phone-a-Friend and Ask the Host became available for all fifteen questions.
- While guest hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live! while Kimmel was busy filming this rebooted series, former U.S. Presidential candidate, South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg joked that former New York City billionaire mayor Michael Bloomberg won the top prize "56,000 times in a row", making the calculation based on Bloomberg's estimated net worth of $56 billion.
- This reboot received a content rating of TV-14 for mild-to-moderately offensive language and suggestive dialogue, given that the new host, Jimmy Kimmel, is known for making crude jokes about sexual intercourse and occasionally using profanities on his late night comedy talk show, Jimmy Kimmel Live. On occasion, during the course of the season, some of the contestants, as well as host Jimmy Kimmel himself, cursed on camera during their time in the hot seat; all profanities were always censored with a bleep sound effect and a censor box over their mouths. Two notable examples during this rebooted series are host Jimmy Kimmel stating that celebrity contestant Catherine O'Hara stars in the Netflix original series Schitt's Creek, and that the "Schitt" in the title sounds like the word "shit", and celebrity contestant Anthony Anderson going on a bleeped-out profanity-laced tirade of disappointment against both his advisor and the question writers after he flunked out on his $32,000 question (he nonetheless won $32,000 for his charity, since all celebrities are guaranteed at least $32,000 for their charities, regardless of their performance on the show). By contrast, on the original primetime series, Regis Philbin never used any profanities on camera during his time as host of either Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? or Live with Regis and Kathie Lee/Kelly, and contestants cursing on camera were extremely rare; on the relatively rare occasion when a contestant did curse on camera during their time in the hot seat, Regis would typically react by saying, "Whoa, better get the editor ready!"
- The large million dollar check (which Jimmy Kimmel calls the check "oversized") for the contestant's chosen charity was placed on the left side of the guest's podium was shown during Anderson Cooper's Million Dollar question when he uses his Phone-a-Friend lifeline, and the guest will give that check to the contestant if answered correctly.
- It would later reappear in the following season during David Chang's Million Dollar question, in which he guessed correctly. The check was previously shown after Kevin Smith answered his Million Dollar question correctly, in which it appears after the final commercial break.
- Sony Pictures Television, the rights owner to the franchise, distributed the series in India, as Culver Max Entertainment (Sony Pictures Networks India)'s SonyLIV streamed the series in that country.
- The final episode of the season was dedicated to Billy Akerlund, who died on April 3, 2020.
| Preceded by Season 17 (syndication) |
U.S. Seasons 2020 season |
Succeeded by 2020-2021 season |
| Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (U.S. version) |
|---|
| Presented by: Regis Philbin (1999-2002; 2004; 2009) • Meredith Vieira (2002-2013) • Cedric the Entertainer (2013-2014) • Terry Crews (2014-2015) • Chris Harrison (2015-2019) • Jimmy Kimmel (2020-) Top Prize Winners – John Carpenter (1999) • Dan Blonsky (2000) • Joe Trela (2000) • Bob House (2000) • Kim Hunt (2000) • David Goodman (2000) • Bernie Cullen (2001) • Kevin Olmstead (2001) • Ed Toutant (2001) • Kevin Smith (2003) • Nancy Christy (2003) • Sam Murray (2009) • David Chang (2020) • Ike and Alan Barinholtz (2024) • Ken Jennings and Matt Damon (2025) • Oscar Nuñez and Kate Flannery (2025) |
| Primetime: Original • Super Millionaire • 10th Anniversary Primetime Celebration • Revival (1 • 2 • 3 • 4) |
| Syndication: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 (Million Dollar Tournament of Ten) • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 |