There was a cheating scandal on the British version of Millionaire. It involved a variety of schemes, but primarily involved the wife of the contestant and a friend sitting in the audience and coughing to indicate correct answers when the contestant got stumped.
Yes, we’re getting off-topic here … so I’ll continue the trend.
I don’t trust “ask the audience” either. A few years ago, Regis asked a contestant “What is the subject of the Marvin Gaye song 'Mercy Mercy Me”?
I forget all 4 choices but I remember 2 were racism and ecology. The ‘ask the audience’ reposnse was overwhelmingly ‘racism’. The contestant agreed and of course was wrong in doing so. It’s about ecology. Let’s suppose that show was taped around 2001. That song was a hit around 1971. So, people in the audience 30 and under weren’t even born when that song was a hit. Something to consider about the ‘ask the audience’ lifeline.
Oh and 50/50 ? I sometimes think (maybe unjustly) that they purposely remove the 2 that you would have eliminated anyway. For example "Mount Rushmore is located in a) North Dakota b) South Dakota c) Istanbul d) the Sahara Desert.
Gee I wonder which 2 they’d eliminate ? LOL 
Or, when the contestant says “Well, I really don’t think it’s X or Y, I think I’ll use the 50/50.” They’ll invariably LEAVE X and Y (assuming one is the correct answer of course. Or “Gee, I don’t know…it might be A or it might be B…I’ll use the 50/50.” Yep. You get A and B. Lotsa help.
Some of the people have been amazingly ignorant. One guy who said he had two Ph.D.s lost because of the following $200 or whatever question.
Which of the following is a term for covering something up?
A) White Wash
B) Spread Jelly On
C) Slam the door
D) Run around the corner.
While B-D are just some things I made up to give an idea of the type of nonsense answers given, A was there and that was the actual question. He could not figure out that it was White Wash and it got to the point that Regis was giving him hints. The guy got it wrong and lost. It was painful.
Of note for phone a friend, In one episode the question was asked, “What does such and such measure?” The person used phone a friend and spelled it slowely. The PAF repeated the spelling and shot back with Wind Speed, the correct answer. it was obvious he was doing a web search.
The worst phone a friend I saw was where a guy who was obviously in a room full of people started rambling about the answer. The question was, “Who was in this movie?” and the PAF didn’t know. He then started to ramble on about how even though he did not know, it was a great movie. During that time, the contestant was shouting, “Does anyone else there know?!?! Ask someone else!!”. Regis looked at him and said, “You might want to consider getting a new friend.”
Just some odd interesting moments from the show.
Yes, they do this, and they don’t deny it. Really, the 50-50 is only valuable if you don’t have a clue, and if you just recently passed one of the “safe amounts” so a fifty-fifty chance is a good bet.
On the poll the audience, is everyone required to enter something? I thought you were allowed to abstain, in which case Hal’s idea would be pointless.
If I were ever on the show, I’d encourage five groups of friends/relatives (preferably folks with speaker phones who know how to use them) to host phone-a-parties, and I’d make sure that at least one of them had a high-speed Internet connection and Google skills, and that at least one of them had a stack of reference books and index skills.
I only really watched WWTBAM during its first season. But, I do remember one time when a player was eliminated, but it was later determined that something was wrong with the question. I believe they invited him back to continue for a million, but I’m not sure.
However, have there been any other questions that have been faulty in some way - whether a player got the “right” answer or not? The wording of some of the questions in games sometimes pisses me off, but my mind tends to work differently than most people.
(For some reason, I get the impression that I sometimes think more like a woman than a man in certain situations. In many other situations, however, women can be most confusing and/or frustrating. 
)
Anyhoo…
Yesterday, there was a question I thought was a bit flawed. “In which language do women’s names traditionally end with an ‘a’?” Among the answer choices were Russian and Spanish.
I teach elementary school in a predominantly Spanish speaking area, and my personal experience has been that a lot of the Hispanic girls in my classes have names ending in A (Maria, Louisa, Martina, Marta, Daria, Dania, Sonia, Sofia, Frieda, Maricela, Delia, Celia, Ariana, Selina, Anna, Marina, Erica etc.). That list is just off the top of my head from the last few classes.
The correct answer was “Russian”, but given the prominence of Spanish female names ending in ‘a’, I think this question was at the very least flawed.
On the nightly syndicated version hosted by Meredith Vieira, a couple of contestants who had been “disadvantaged” in some way were recently invited back. One had been knocked out on a question about what type of vegetation was indigenous to a certain area. He had picked “chaparral”, but the writers had designated “scrub” as the correct answer. The contestant had been stunned, but didn’t lodge a protest. However, a fan had contacted the producers to notify them of the error, and the man got his second chance.
By the way, Meredith insists that the 50-50 selection proces is “completely random”. On the prime-time version, Regis has said that the computer eliminates the two weakest choices, but I haven’t heard him make this claim for a few years now.
On a recent episode of the syndicated program, the question was (wording not exact) “Which of these nicknames was applied to the Iraqi Minister of Information?” The choices were Baghdad Bob, Mosul Mike, Basra Bill, and Fajulla Frank. Contestant uses Phone-a-Friend lifeline, reads off pertinent material. Buddy says: “We think it’s Chemical Ali.” Yes, that’s right, the writers deliberately left out the correct answer, but you were wise to their little game… :wally
Every time this topic has come up, I’ve recommended getting a friend who’s a very fast typist and an IRC channel full of dopers. With people like 5 time champ on the boards, I think we could whup Google’s ass speedwise any day.
Right at the moment, I’m watching the Japanese version of the show, “Quiz Millionaire.” When they do phone-a-friend, the show always has a remote camera crew already set up there. Usually, it’s five or six members of the contestant’s family, although just now it was his boss and co-workers. One is on the phone, one has a pen and paper ready, and sometimes one is at a computer. They also have a monitor that shows them the studio, but it’s only turned on when phone-a-friend is chosen. Here’s what usually happens…
Japa-Regis: Hello? Hello? Who’s this?
"friend": Hello! It’s (contestant’s) father/mother/cousin/sister/boss/etc!
Japa-Regis (okay, Mino Monta): (Contestant) is at the ¥5,000,000 question!
"friends:" SUGOOOOII!
Mino-san: Okay, go ahead!
Contestant: What well known scientist was born on Christmas Day? A. Galileo –
person w. paper: Wait, wait, I can’t hear the monitor!
person on phone: One more time, please – slower!
contestant: What well known scientist…
person on phone: “What well known scientist…” (person w. paper madly scribbles)
Contestant: …was born…
p.o.p: “…was born…”
Contestant: …on Christmas Day."
p.o.p: “…on Christmas Day.”
They go through the answers in a similar fashion.
person on phone: um…
contestant: Five seconds!
friends: ara…eto…nani?!
Mino-san: Time’s up!
Meanwhile, I’m screaming at the TV, “NEWTON!!! B!!! AIZAKKU NYUUTON!” but…the contestant picks Einstein.
However, after phone-a-friend is used, they let the friends watch the rest of the taping on the monitor.
Have they ever said whether the host has the right answer in front of him? If so, all you need is telepathy.
Funny you should mention that…
On today’s episode of the Japanese version, host Mino Monta actually read the answer to one question before he got to the question. He was looking at the question, and mumbling to himself, “hmm, the answer’s turtle, huh.” The mike caught this, and the audience broke up laughing. The contestant just grinned and said, “thanks!”
Despite what Hal and astorian think, this is clearly the correct tactic. Sure, the audience will contain its share of the malicious and the plain dumb, but they’ll still be voting if you don’t tell them that you know it’s not Shakespeare. If some still genuinely think that it’s Shakespeare, despite being told that it isn’t, they’ll just get lumped in with the ‘don’t knows’ who have voted for Shakespeare as instructed. Those who think they know the answer for the wrong reasons or who are just guessing are as likely to vote for Dickens as for Hardy and Dickenson so they should just cancel each other out. (Remember that you can think you know what is in fact the right answer for the wrong reasons.) Then there are the malicious who do know that it’s Dickens but who want to confuse you. They should be split randomly between Hardy and Dickenson. This might make a difference if only a few people know for certain that it is Dickens, but if it’s that tight, redistributing the malicious between Hardy, Dickenson and Shakespeare probably isn’t going to make the result that much clearer. Being able to discount the ‘don’t knows’ is the better bet. In any case, if only a few people in the audience know the correct answer, asking them at all is a bit pointless, however you play it.
I think I’m right in saying that on the UK version they randomly distribute the abstentions, but that on the French version you can abstain and that some contestants have used it successfully on the most difficult questions because only the handful of audience members who did know the answer have voted.
Right, it’s not random. They make it clear to all contestants in rehearsal that the 50/50 leaves the right answer and the most seemingly plausible wrong one. Further, they suggest that if one of the remaining ones seems implausible, it’s more likely to be right. They may have changed that for the Vieira version, though.
No, but the desire to play along is hard to resist.
Exactly, except that there’s no time for books. Only brains and Google are fast enough to help. That means having the categories you feel weak in covered by friends who have their own good knowledge of them, so you don’t have to depend on Google - sometimes, those who do run out of time because they haven’t decided on the keywords first.
The right answer is not highlighted on the host’s screen until the contestant says the magic words “Final Answer”. But the hosts aren’t so stupid that they don’t know any of the answers themselves, and sometimes they’ll let one slip. If that happens, a substitute question will be asked and the booboo will not air.
Two quick points:
- Use the “Ask the Audience” first. The audience is going to get progressively dumber as the questions get harder. The audience is far more likely to know, for, $16,000 “Who was the reporter who first broke the Monica Lewinsky story?” than they are to know, for $1,000,000, “What is Cecil Adams’ real name?”
So, for example, if you just got the $16,000 question referenced above, and you’re pretty sure it’s either Isikoff or Bernstein, don’t blow the 50/50. Use the AtA first and save the 50/50 for later.
- With Meredith Viera insisting that the 50/50 choices are random, and with Regis being ambiguous about it, I’d say the best option is to play your cards close to your chest and NOT say what you’re thinking.
This actually happened to me once. I was playing WWTBAM at the Walt Disney World attraction (where you play for merchandise), and the $16,000 question was “Which of the following was NOT a member of the SCTV comedy troupe?”
A. Jim Carrey
B. Andrea Thompson
C. Dave Thomas
D. Rick Moranis
I told the hostess “I’m pretty sure Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis were on SCTV. Let’s do 50/50.” Sure enough, it left Jim Carrey and Andrea Thompson.
FTR, I picked Jim Carrey and was correct.
What a coincidence. I tried googling for the answer during a show last week out of curiousity and got the answer right away. Then again I was pretty sure I knew the correct answer so I included it on the search. The question was which continent does not have a continental divide. I was sure it was Antarctica but the contestant was hemming and hawing over Autralia. So I googled “continental divide” and “Antarctica” and the first several hits all said “all continents except **Antarctica ** have a continental divide”. I was impressed and wondered how many phone a friends have tried that, too. Then again, I suppose it does depend on keyword choices. Had I not included Antarctica in the search I may not have received the answer so easily.
By the way, all the yelling at the TV did not get the contestant to change his answer to what I was now positive was the correct one.
Re ill-conceived questions, there was a famous one here in the UK. On an episode aired on March 8, 1999, Tony Kennedy, a warehouseman from Blackpool, was asked the following question for £64,000:
“Theoretically speaking, what’s the minimum number of strokes with which a tennis player can win a set?”
Options: 12, 24, 36, 48
He chose 24 and was awarded the £64,000. The correct answer was later deemed to be 12. This blunder made front-page news, and the next day an apology was broadcast. Tony got to keep the money anyway.
However, in a further twist, it turns out that none of the four answers provided is correct. The actual answer is 1. You need to know the rules of tennis fairly well to figure out how this would work, but it’s possible.
On the 50/50 thing, here in the UK they still maintain that two of the wrong answers are eliminated ‘at random’, but it does seem awfully as if the system is rigged to be as unhelpful as possible.
I would have thought the correct anser to be 0. Player A serves out. Player B does not return. Player A protests the call to the umpire. The umpire gives a warning. A continues to argue. Umpire awards a point, game, and finally set to B, who wins without swinging her racket.
I believe the question was about surnames, not given names. In Russian, a woman’s surname is traditionally her father’s or her husband’s, plus an “a” at the end.
When I was a contestant on WWTBAM a few years ago (I never made it to the hot seat, never answered any questions, and didn’t win a dime), we got to ask producer Michael Davies about the nature of the 50-50 lifeline.
We all told him what we’d observed, that when a contestant said aloud “I think the answer is either B or D, but I’m not sure- let me have the 50-50,” it was common to see B and D left as his possible answers! So, we all asked “Do you deliberately choose to leave up the two answers you heard the guy say?”
Davies said no- in fact, he said, LONG before the show is taped, the writers have chosen the two answers that will be left up on the board if the contestant asks for the 50-50 option. Now, in the EARLY stages of the game, Davies said, the 50-50 will usually consist of the right answer and an obviously wrong answer. But in the later stages of the game, when the dollar figures are higher, the 50-50 option will give you the right answer and a very plausible wrong answer.
So, just SUPPOSE the question is “What fictional character was in love with Ophelia.” The choices are A. Robin Hood, B. Sherlock Holmes, C. Macbeth, D. Hamlet. The writers have already determined, long ago, that the contestant will be given a choice between C & D if he asks for the 50-50. It doesn’t matter what the contestant SAYS while he’s thinking out loud.