# What's the deal with "Who wants to be a Millionaire?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 21, 1999, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire/11459 "1999-11-21T02:04:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Viper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b3f665/32.png) [@Viper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Viper)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 1999, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire/11459/21 "1999-11-22T15:22:00Z")
I agree with you to a certain extent Keeves, but it is also about the only show that has virtually no time limit on answering a question and that you can read the question and use all the lifelines and still at the end decide that you will not answer it and will take the money you had last. I think it is one a time waster as mentioned before and also to protect ABC. On Spin City the other night, one of the characters Paul was playing and he got to the $1 Million question and he changed his answer numerous times and even changed whether or not he wanted to answer, in the end he finally said it was his final answer and he got it right. Viper ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 1999, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire/11459/22 "1999-11-22T15:25:00Z")
I Like Greed. On the THur show a guy won $1M but wanted to go for $2.2M He needed four answers out of 7. He got three. That was a humdinger. ---
**Author:** ![JoeBlank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/41988e/32.png) [@JoeBlank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeBlank)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 1999, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire/11459/23 "1999-11-22T15:58:00Z")
Regarding the lifelines, when the IRS guy won the mill he used the phone call to call his dad, then didn’t ask the question, just wanted to tell him he was going to win. When he made the decision to call, I thought “you idiot, you have 3 lifelines and only 1 question, why not use 50/50 before calling anyone, so that you make the most of the call?” If you are willing to use more that one lifeline on 1 question, using 50/50 first seems to be the way to go. Comments? ---
**Author:** ![Keeves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f05b48/32.png) [@Keeves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeves)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 1999, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire/11459/24 "1999-11-22T16:13:00Z")
JoeBlank: Your idea makes sense, **but** … there was an episode last week where a guy did the 50/50 and then called someone. When he made the call, he had to ask the friend **all four** choices. Your idea would make the best use of the phone call by only asking the two remaining choices, but that doesn’t seem to be in the rules. If the phone call has to ask all four choices, then it’s not going to matter what order you use the lifelines in. ---
**Author:** ![Oblio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c4cdca/32.png) [@Oblio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oblio)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 1999, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire/11459/25 "1999-11-22T16:49:00Z")
Would it make a difference if there were 3 questions and Monty was asking instead of Regis 😉 Seriously, I would think that the lifeline callees would be watching the show also and know to ignore the 2 questions eliminated by the 50/50 lifeline. Oblio ---
**Author:** ![Oblio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c4cdca/32.png) [@Oblio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oblio)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 1999, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire/11459/26 "1999-11-22T16:51:00Z")
Sorry, should be ‘choices’ instead of ‘questions’. **proofread before post [SLAP]** ---
**Author:** ![Keeves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f05b48/32.png) [@Keeves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeves)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 1999, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire/11459/27 "1999-11-22T16:51:00Z")
Oblio - It can’t be done. The shows are taped, edited, and then broadcast. ---
**Author:** ![Oblio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c4cdca/32.png) [@Oblio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oblio)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 1999, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire/11459/28 "1999-11-22T16:53:00Z")
Ah, ya got me. I should have figured that out from the previous posts. ---
**Author:** ![Viper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b3f665/32.png) [@Viper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Viper)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 1999, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire/11459/29 "1999-11-22T17:10:00Z")
I am sure they do tape the shows, but one of the first ones was played right after the new Annie movie played and the guy said that he was watching Annie before he came out, so it was almost as if it was live. Probably just a cheap plug by ABC. Viper ---
**Author:** ![Nickrz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbce88/32.png) [@Nickrz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nickrz)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 1999, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire/11459/30 "1999-11-22T17:17:00Z")
## I think the original question has been answered. Please feel free to continue your discussion in MPSIMS. Nickrz GQ Mod ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 1999, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire/11459/31 "1999-11-23T16:21:00Z")
Ah, yesterday after the football game, one question was: ‘At what temperature does water Freeze?’ A: 32F B: 0F Idiots!!! Either of them is right. Should have asked instead: “What is the freezing point of water?” ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 1999, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire/11459/32 "1999-11-23T16:22:00Z")
**handy** : Is that your final answer? * * * Livin’ on Tums, Vitamin E and Rogaine ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 1999, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire/11459/33 "1999-11-24T02:40:00Z")
Hey, has anyone but me noticed how when the person uses a Phone-a-friend, Regis sometimes says: I know you can’t see us right now but. . . Any thoughts? * * * ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 1999, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire/11459/34 "1999-11-24T14:20:00Z")
\*handy: Ah, yesterday after the football game, one question was: ‘At what temperature does water Freeze?’ A: 32F B: 0F Idiots!!! Either of them is right. Should have asked instead: “What is the freezing point of water?”\* Their question was OK. It basically asks at what temperature water turns from liquid to solid, hence the present tense of “freeze”. If they’d asked, “At what temperature is water frozen?” then either temp you listed would be right. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 1999, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire/11459/35 "1999-11-24T14:25:00Z")
\*Garfield226: Hey, has anyone but me noticed how when the person uses a Phone-a-friend, Regis sometimes says: I know you can’t see us right now but. . . \* Probably so the callee doesn’t hurry off to turn on the TV to watch their friend squirm, wasting time they don’t need to. Sadly, there’s probably some people clueless enough not to understand that the show is taped earlier than it’s shown. (During one of the first uses of instant-replay during a football game, the announcer kept explaining that Army hadn’t made another touchdown; they were just showing the last one over.) ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 1999, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire/11459/36 "1999-11-25T06:10:00Z")
I like that guy who used the phone a friend thing & said, ‘I’d like to call you Regis.’ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire/11459.md?page=1)