Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
I can’t believe it’s been 10 years since the hit show Who Wants to be a Millionaire premiered. Regis was the perfect host, the lights and music were captivating and it made Jeopardy! seem like playing the instant lottery vs. the Powerball.
It was so much fun to watch especially when the contestants had to use a lifeline. It seemed that Ask the Audience was the best and 50/50 the worse. Can you imagine the pressure if you were "the friend" being called?
What brings this up is that I finally got to watch Slumdog Millionaire. It was a riveting movie with the premise being a "slumdog" or poor Indian boy growing up around poverty, crime, abuse and just about every other bad thing who got lucky enough to appear on the show, Who Wants to be a Millionaire. With each correct answer, a flashback would play until the story caught up with the final question.
While I’m not going to give away the ending, the $100 question of the day is at what point would you tell Regis "give me the money" and not risk everything to double up? For instance, you got every question right and earned $500,000. Just one more question right and you earn a cool million. But answer it wrong and you pay for cab fare home.
But forget about $500,000. What about $25,000? What about $5,000. At what amount does the risk/reward ratio hit you hardest?
Lucky for us, ABC is bringing the show back for a couple weeks in August based on the success of the movie. It would be nice if the name of the show afterwards changes to Michigan Millionaire.
Happy Monday!
April 27th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
If all of my lifelines are gone, and I am not 100% sure of the answer, I would walk. It wouldn’t matter if I were at $5,000 or $500,000. I’m not much of a risk taker. I would just be happy walking out of there with more than I came in with!
April 27th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
I agree – walking away with a bird in hand is better than two in the bush.
What drives me nuts are the goof balls on Deal or No Deal that push it and push it based on ” feelings” then lose it all –
Most of the time their deal is a life changing amount but greed takes over and they end up getting next to nothing.
I wish we could play Millionaire again at the next meeting.
April 27th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
I would think of it this way. I had nothing to begin with, so if I walked away with 5,000 or if I even made it to 500,000, it’s more than what I walked in with. (way more)
So I guess it’s a matter of how confident you are about your answers. And how happy you would be internally with what you descided to walk away with. Greed can lead to you possibly walking abway with nothing! I’ve seen it happen. So be happy with even the small amounts!
April 27th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
I had no idea what the movie was about (I thought it was some teen gangster flick and had no interest in seeing it). Thanks for the insight, I will have to go rent it.