Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? 10th Anniversary Primetime Celebration

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? 10th Anniversary Primetime Celebration
Country	United States
Presented by	Regis Philbin
Broadcast
Original Channel	ABC
Running Time	60 minutes
# of episodes	11
Aired	August 9–23, 2009
Notable Facts
Top Prize	$1,000,000
# of Final Questions answered Wrong	1
Contestants who left Empty-handed	1

The 2009 Logo with Regis Philbin.

The U.S. series of Millionaire returned to prime time on August 9, 2009 as an eleven night event of hour-long episodes, finishing August 23, to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the series in the US (11th year of the franchise). Regis Philbin, who hosted the original ABC version, also hosts the revival. The Academy Award-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire and the 2009 economic crisis helped boost interest of renewal of the game show. The revival consists of a hybrid between the original ABC and syndicated formats, with the current syndicated rules (including lifelines, clock and question values) plus the return of the preliminary Fastest Finger round. The phone game from the original ABC show, plus a new video audition option, were used to select contestants.

The Experts for the Ask the Expert lifeline during the 10th Anniversary in order of appearance were Sam Donaldson, George Stephanopoulos, Wolf Blitzer, Cokie Roberts, Candy Crowley, Connie Chung, Jodi Picoult, Gwen Ifill, Ken Jennings, Mo Rocca, and Bill Nye. Former contestants were also in the audience throughout the revival including millionaires Robert Essig, Joe Trela, Ed Toutant, Kevin Olmstead, John Carpenter, and Nancy Christy; $0 winners Robby Roseman and Brian Fodera (the latter also previously returned on a special $0 winner edition and won $16,000); $125,000 winner Jason Block; $250,000 winner Doug Van Gundy; and $1,000 winner Dan Doody. At the end of the final episode of the revival, Meredith Vieira announced that the 9 remaining contestants in the Fastest Finger podiums would be the first 9 contestants on the upcoming season of the syndicated version of the show.

This event is perhaps most well known because of Ken Basin's appearance on the show, in which he became the first person on the U.S. version of Millionaire to answer the $1,000,000 question incorrectly; Ken Basin suffered a massive $475,000 loss, leaving him with only $25,000.

Celebrities

There was also a celebrity at the end of each show, playing one question for $50,000 on behalf of their favorite charity. The celebrity would receive $25,000 for charity even if their answer was incorrect, but this situation did not occur. All four lifelines were available to the celebrity, although only one of which could be used, and the timer was removed.

Celebrity	Date	Charities	Lifeline Used
Katy Perry	August 9	St. Jude Children's Research Hospital	Phone-a-Friend
Vanessa Williams	August 10	The Maria Torres Emerging Artist Project at the Amas Musical Theatre	Ask the Audience
Sherri Shepherd	August 11	March of Dimes	Ask the Audience
Lauren Conrad	August 12	m.powerment by mark	Ask the Audience
Shawn Johnson	August 13	Blank Children's Hospital	Ask the Audience
Rachael Ray	August 16	Yum-O Organization and ASPCA	Ask the Audience
Patricia Heaton	August 17	Westside Pregnancy Clinic and Lighthouse Medical Missions	Phone-a-Friend
Wynonna Judd	August 18	Backpack Mission Ministries	Phone-a-Friend
Snoop Dogg	August 19	Snoop Dogg Youth Football League	Ask the Audience
Steve Nash	August 20	The Steve Nash Foundation	Ask the Expert
Regis Philbin	August 23	Cardinal Hayes High School, Bronx, NY	Double Dip

*Philbin was asked the question by Meredith Vieira, host of the syndicated version without switching seats.

The last episode of the 10th anniversary special featured a contestant named Ken Basin; an entertainment lawyer, Harvard Law graduate and former Jeopardy! contestant, who went on to play for the Clock format’s first Million Dollar Question. The question referred to Lyndon Baines Johnson's fondness for Fresca. Using his one remaining lifeline, Basin asked the audience for help, which supported his own hunch of Yoo-hoo rather than the correct answer. He decided to go for it and went on to lose $475,000, the first time in the history of the U.S. version of Millionaire that a contestant has answered the final question incorrectly.

After the show’s broadcast, Basin posted an entry in his blog about his experience in the show, including why he went for Yoo-hoo. He explains that he remembers a photo of LBJ meeting the Beatles in which he's drinking a Yoo-hoo; a photo which he has not been able to find since.

• Basin's Million Dollar Question:

$1,000,000 (15 of 15) - 4:39 (0:45 + 3:54 banked time) Category: Bottoms Up!
For ordering his favorite beverages on demand, LBJ had four buttons installed in the Oval Office labeled "coffee," "tea," "Coke" and what? "Ask the Audience" lifeline used.
⬥ A: Fresca	⬥ B: V8
⬥ C: Yoo-hoo	⬥ D: A&W
Ask the Audience Results: A: 15% ⬥ B: 12% ⬥ C: 40% ⬥ D: 33%

Contestants

• Episode 1 (August 9, 2009) - Expert: Sam Donaldson

Brad Abbey ($1,000 - lost on $2,000)
Rob Placek ($25,000 - lost on $50,000)
Gary Cousins ($2,000, continued)

• Episode 2 (August 10, 2009) - Expert: George Stephanopoulos

Gary Cousins ($4,000)
Michelle Ribeiro ($16,000)
John Zimcosky ($25,000, continued)

• Episode 3 (August 11, 2009) - Expert: Wolf Blitzer

John Zimcosky ($25,000 - lost on $50,000)
Brian Slope ($50,000)
Dina Grassi ($8,000 or $16,000 - see trivia)
Anthony Sloan ($16,000, continued)

• Episode 4 (August 12, 2009) - Expert: Cokie Roberts

Anthony Sloan ($25,000 - lost on $100,000)
Trevor Schultz ($100,000)
Angela Watt ($4,000, continued)

• Episode 5 (August 13, 2009) - Expert: Candy Crowley

Angela Watt ($1,000 - lost on $25,000)
Jacob Shaha ($25,000 - lost on $50,000)
Eddie Lawhorn ($50,000, continued)

• Episode 6 (August 16, 2009) - Expert: Connie Chung

Eddie Lawhorn ($50,000)
Rebecca Kesler ($50,000)
Ellen Gaines ($0 - lost on $1,000)
Leah Asbury ($2,000, continued)

• Episode 7 (August 17, 2009) - Expert: Jodi Picoult

Leah Asbury ($50,000)
Lee-Ann Whitlock ($1,000 - lost on $25,000)
Jennifer Kiesel ($8,000, continued)

• Episode 8 (August 18, 2009) - Expert: Gwen Ifill

Jennifer Kiesel ($1,000 - lost on $25,000)
Nik Bonaddio ($100,000)
Leslie Salyer ($8,000, continued)

• Episode 9 (August 19, 2009) - Expert: Ken Jennings

Leslie Salyer ($1,000 - lost on $16,000)
Richard Mason ($25,000 - lost on $50,000)
Donald Leake ($1,000 - lost on $8,000)
Chris Maslowski ($1,000, continued)

• Episode 10 (August 20, 2009) - Expert: Mo Rocca

Chris Maslowski ($100,000)
Liz Schuller ($50,000)
Jim Robinson ($16,000, continued)

• Episode 11 (August 23, 2009) - Expert: Bill Nye

Jim Robinson ($25,000 - lost on $100,000)
Ken Basin ($25,000 - lost on $1,000,000)

Trivia

• There was a known widescreen version of the intro.
• For reasons unknown, Dina Grassi’s run was never aired; Dina’s absence is noticeable as she had been introduced at the beginning of the show, however, there were only 8 contestants sitting in the Fastest Finger Row (rather than 9) after Brian Slope's run. It is likely that Dina’s run was edited out due to time constraints, or the producers may have instead favored the following contestant, Anthony Sloan, who had a very charismatic, high-energy personality on the show.
  • The only fact that is known about Dina’s run is that she walked away from a question. It is possible that she may have faced a bad question in which she decided to walk away as a result; however, Dina Grassi remains the only contestant in Millionaire history where nothing from her run was transcribed, which is especially unusual.
• Her fastest finger question, categories, gameplay questions and lifeline usage are entirely unknown. According to Mike Pulcini, a finalist on the 8/11 show, Grassi won either $8,000 or $16,000, but could not remember which amount she left with.
  • Had Grassi won the $1 million, or come very close to it, it is very likely that her run would have aired, as the producers would have seen her appearance as captivating for viewers (Anthony Sloan most likely would not have made it to the Hot Seat had this occurred).
• If there is, in fact, a copy of Grassi's run, it still remains unseen by the public as of October 2025.

Daily Episode Ratings

Order	Date	Rating	Share	Rating/Share (18–49)	Viewers (millions)	Rank (Night)	Rank(Week)
1	8/9	4.4	8	1.6/5	6.99	#6	#15
2	8/10	4.7	8	1.6/5	7.24	#5	#22
3	8/11	3.9	7	1.3/4	5.94	#7	#21
4	8/12	4.2	8	1.3/5	6.44	#5	#20
5	8/13	5.4	10	1.9/7	8.44	#1	#10
6	8/16	4.4	8	1.5/5	7.02	#3	#16
7	8/17	4.5	8	1.4/4	6.97	#3	#21
8	8/18	4.1	7	1.4/5	6.25	#7	#24
9	8/19	4.5	8	1.4/5	6.88	#2	#22
10	8/20	4.5	8	1.4/5	6.84	#4	#23
11	8/23	4.6	8	1.5/5	7.63	#1	#18

External links

• Official site
• 10th Anniversary Play-at-home game rules
• All Contestants Results in Russian
• Episodes (all questions etc)

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