Millionaire Lifelines facts
While investigating facts about Millionaire Lifelines, I found out little known, but curios details like:
On the Russian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, audiences deliberately gave the wrong answer so often that "contestants learned to be wary of the 'ask the audience' lifeline."
About John Carpenter. The first winner to ever win "Who Wants to be a Millionaire", used none of his lifelines until the final question, when he called his dad. He told him that he didn't need any help on the final question, but he just wanted to let him know that he was about to win $1,000,000.
In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 15 of the best facts about Millionaire Lifelines I managed to collect.
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The Russian version of 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire?' had to scrap the 'ask the audience' lifeline as the audience would intentionally give the wrong answer.
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The first person to win the game show "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" used none of his lifelines until the million dollar question. He used phone-a-friend to call his dad and tell him that he was about to win and then answered the question correctly without help.
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The first person to win $1M on the US version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire used only one of his lifelines—he phoned his dad on the final question to let him know he knew the answer.
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The first winner of 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?' did not use any lifelines until the final question, when he called his father to tell him that he had won the million dollars
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The first guy to win "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" used none of his lifelines until the final question, where he called his dad. During the call, he told his dad he didn't need any help on the final question, but he just wanted to let me know that was about to win $1,000,000.
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The "Phone-a-Friend" lifeline on Who Wants to be a Millionaire was removed because the friend would often use the internet (instead of their own knowledge) to find the correct answer.
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In the Russian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, audiences would usually intentionally give the wrong answer for the "ask the audience" lifeline
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The first $1,000,000 winner of Who Want To Be A Millionaire only used one of his lifelines; He rang his father on the million dollar question not to ask for his help, but to tell him that he was going to win.
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John Carpenter, a winner of 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire' who made it to the final round without using a single lifeline. He then used phone-a-friend to call his dad and tell him he was about to win the $1,000,000 prize
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The first person to win Who Wants to be a Millionaire didn't use any of his lifelines until the final question, where he called his dad. During the call, he didn't ask him the answer, he just wanted to tell him that he was about to win $1,000,000.
What is true about millionaire lifelines?
You can easily fact check it by examining the linked well-known sources.
John Carpenter had all his lifelines for the last question in Who Wants To Be A Millionaire but used the phone a friend not to ask for assistance but to tell his father he was winning the game.
John Hodgman of The Daily Show fame was an expert lifeline on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire - source
When Norm Macdonald was on Celebrity Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, his lifeline was Kato Kaelin... OJ Simpson's Houseguest during the double homicide... - source