Wer wird Millionär?
Wer wird Millionär? is a German game show based on the original British format of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. It is shown on RTL on Mondays and Fridays at 20:15. It is hosted by Günther Jauch. The show has broadcast continuously since 3 September 1999 and is one of the longest running versions of Millionaire worldwide.
The main goal of the show is to win €1 million by answering 15 multiple-choice questions correctly. If contestants get the fifth question correct, they will leave with at least €500. If they get the tenth question correct, they will leave with at least €16,000, unless they enabled the fourth 'lifeline'.
Contestants from outside Germany are able to participate if they speak German, with contestants from Austria and Switzerland among previous participants.
Fourth lifeline ('ask one of the audience')
Since 2007, there has been a fourth lifeline, called Zusatzjoker. It can be added to the three normal lifelines "Ask the Audience", "Fifty-fifty" and "Phone-a-Friend". When using this lifeline, members of the audience who think to know the answer can stand up and one of them can talk to the contestant after being chosen by them. If the member of the audience gives the right answer, they will win €500. The contestant can follow the chosen person but they don't have to. If the contestant walks away and does not trust the chosen person but the answer is right, the chosen person will nevertheless win €500 because they got the correct answer. The contestant can add this lifeline before the game starts, however if one does so, there will be no guaranteed prize sum of €16,000 upon getting the 10th question correctly.If a contestant chooses the fourth lifeline, they can also phone a person in Germany selected at random. The contestant can say the gender, age and the town of the person which shall be called. Then, RTL calls to see if the person picks up If the person picks up but does not want to help or cannot help, the phone-a-friend lifeline is considered to be played and is not usable anymore. If the phoned person answers correctly, they will get €500. But the extended phone-a-friend lifeline is only usable with the fourth lifeline. It is an alternative to the normal Phone-a-Friend lifeline. If a contestant has used the extended Phone-a-Friend lifeline, they are not allowed to call one of his previously three selected friends.
Top-prize winners
These are the questions with which people have won the biggest prize.Eckhard Freise Marlene GrabherrMarlene Grabherr died in 2013 at the age of 60.Gerhard Krammer Dr. Maria Wienströer Stefan Lang Timur Hahn – With the help of his brother as a phoned friendOliver Pocher – With the help of 'Ask the Audience'Thomas Gottschalk – With the help of Marcel-Reich Ranicki as a phoned friendRalf Schnoor – He phoned a friend but he did not need his help. He told him he would win the million euros. His behaviour was similar to John Carpenter's, the first ever million winner of the entire franchise.Barbara Schöneberger – With the help of Pankraz Freiherr von Freyberg as a phoned friend.Sebastian Langrock Thorsten Fischer – You could go to the million euro question after reaching question 10 and jump to the €1 Million question. But if you chose this, you could not walk away. Answering incorrectly meant you dropped back to €500. Fischer chose to hear the €1 Million question after reaching question 10 and answered correctly. Nadja Sidikjar – In the jackpot special the total number of money increases, with every players' winning total being added to the prize pool. One contestant wins the entire amount; the rest of them go home empty handed. In the 2nd jackpot special there was a head-to-head between two candidates. The first contestant to answer three questions correctly scooped the total prize. Nadja Sidikjar's last question was:Leon Windscheid Jan Stroh – Every question Stroh had to answer had already been asked in the past 20 years of the show. He also received four lifelines and the guaranteed level at €16,000 which is usually disabled when contestants choose the additional Ask one of the Audience.
- '''Ronald Tenholte '''