# Number of Reality TV Millionaires **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 21, 2004, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-reality-tv-millionaires/260853 "2004-08-21T15:38:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Roches](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bc8723/32.png) [@Roches](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roches)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2004, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-reality-tv-millionaires/260853/1 "2004-08-21T15:38:29Z")
Since the dawn of reality TV, there have been a lot of shows that offer a prize of a million dollars. Now that it’s been a few years since these shows took over television, I’m wondering how many times one of these shows has given away such a prize. In other words, how many reality-TV millionaires are there in America? What percentage of new millionaires in the last 5 years or so have gained their fortune from a TV show? Not all of these shows give a million-dollar prize to the winner. Some, like _Big Brother_, have smaller prizes, so I think they should be counted separately. However, I would include high-stakes game shows such as _Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?_ and _Greed_ (but not the last season of Jeopardy, because Ken wasn’t offered a million dollars at the outset). I would include shows that give away a million to a group or team, such as _The Amazing Race_, as one prize. I tried searching for this information a bit, and didn’t find anything. It seems like there’s been a whole lot of shows awarding One Million Dollars to someone, and I wonder how many times the prize has been awarded – and how long it’ll be before _I_ get One Million Dollars and a little more than 15 minutes of fame. (This is a factual question about something on TV, but I apologize if it should have been posted to CS.) ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2004, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-reality-tv-millionaires/260853/2 "2004-08-21T17:20:10Z")
Well, remember that these million-dollar winners have to pay federal and state taxes, so they really only net something like $550,000. I suppose some of them are able to make wise investments that eventually earn them over a million dollars, but that doesn’t really count, does it? So the answer to your question is probably zero. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2004, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-reality-tv-millionaires/260853/3 "2004-08-22T12:01:41Z")
_Survivor: Borneo_ Winner: Richard Hatch, $1,000,000 _Survivor: Australian Outback_ Winner: Tina Wesson, $1,000,000 _Survivor: Africa_ Winner: Ethan Zohn, $1,000,000 _Survivor: Marquesas_ Winner: Vecepia Towery, $1,000,000 _Survivor: Thailand_ Winner: Brian Heidek, $1,000,000 _Survivor: Amazon_ Winner: Jenna Morasca, $1,000,000 _Survivor: Pearl Islands_ Winner: Sandra Diaz-Twine: $1,000,000 \*Survivor: All-Stars \*Winner: Amber Brkitch, $1,000,000 _Survivor: America’s Tribal Council_ Winner: Rupert Boneham, $1,000,000 _Survivor: Vanuatu_ Winner: ???, $1,000,000 _Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?_ Prime Time Winners ($1,000,000 each\*) Dan Blonsky John Carpenter Bernie Cullen David Goodman Bob House Kim Hunt Kevin Olmstead\* Joseph Trela \*Ken Olmstead has won $2,180,000, according to [abc.com](http://abc.com), “thanks to the show’s bonus tally.” I’m not really clear on what that means. That makes 17 that I could find. The [website](http://www.millionairetv.com) for the syndicated WWTBAM with Meredith Viera does not list any information about million-dollar winners on their version (I don’t think there have been any, though). Also, I did not search for million-dollar winners of _Greed_. That show was only on for a few months, wasn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Cds456](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@Cds456](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cds456)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2004, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-reality-tv-millionaires/260853/4 "2004-08-22T18:54:35Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > _Survivor: Borneo_ Winner: Richard Hatch, $1,000,000 > > _Survivor: Australian Outback_ Winner: Tina Wesson, $1,000,000 > > _Survivor: Africa_ Winner: Ethan Zohn, $1,000,000 > > _Survivor: Marquesas_ Winner: Vecepia Towery, $1,000,000 > > _Survivor: Thailand_ Winner: Brian Heidek, $1,000,000 > > _Survivor: Amazon_ Winner: Jenna Morasca, $1,000,000 > > _Survivor: Pearl Islands_ Winner: Sandra Diaz-Twine: $1,000,000 > > \*Survivor: All-Stars \*Winner: Amber Brkitch, $1,000,000 > > _Survivor: America’s Tribal Council_ Winner: Rupert Boneham, $1,000,000 > > _Survivor: Vanuatu_ Winner: ???, $1,000,000 > > _Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?_ Prime Time Winners ($1,000,000 each\*) > > Dan Blonsky > John Carpenter > Bernie Cullen > David Goodman > Bob House > Kim Hunt > Kevin Olmstead\* > Joseph Trela > > \*Ken Olmstead has won $2,180,000, according to [abc.com](http://abc.com), “thanks to the show’s bonus tally.” I’m not really clear on what that means. > > That makes 17 that I could find. The [website](http://www.millionairetv.com) for the syndicated WWTBAM with Meredith Viera does not list any information about million-dollar winners on their version (I don’t think there have been any, though). Also, I did not search for million-dollar winners of _Greed_. That show was only on for a few months, wasn’t it? [http://tvgameshows.net/winners.htm](http://tvgameshows.net/winners.htm) has all winners from Game Shows, but not reality shows. But all the CBS websites for Survivor and the Amazing Race are still up.