The Second Story

This story also originates from the UK but is more recent. On September 4, 1998, UK television viewers watched a new game show that took the country by storm. By 1999, it had attracted 19 million viewers (an unbelievable figure for a small-sized country like the UK) who were glued to their sets during its telecast.Who Wants to Be a Millionaire was a quiz show that was different. It focussed on suspense rather than speed. A participant was asked a maximum number of 15 questions and the prize money doubled with every question. The show was so successful that it became the Number One show in the UK. It was hosted by Chris Tarrant. The show soon made its début in the US with the same name. Starting in August, 1999 on the ABC television network, hosted by Regis Philbin, the US version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire quickly drew over 30 million viewers. The money-winning game show became a phenomenon and inspired local versions in many countries across the globe. In India Kaun Banega Crorepati took off in 2000, with the legendary movie superstar Amitabh Bachchan as its host. Almost overnight, it became the Number One show on Indian television.

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The millionaire-making game show did create quite a few millionaires. Listed below are the names of the winners of the highest prizes in the shows.

United Kingdom

* Judith Keppel, 20 November, 2000
* David Edwards, 21 April, 2001
* Robert Brydges, 29 September, 2001
* Pat Gibson, 24 April, 2004

United States

* John Carpenter, 19 November, 1999
* Dan Blonsky, 18 January, 2000
* Joe Trela, 23 March, 2000
* Bob House, 13 June, 2000
* Kim Hunt, 6 July, 2000
* David Goodman, 11 July, 2000
* Kevin Olmstead, (US$2.18 Million) 10 April, 2001
* Bernie Cullen, 15 April, 2001
* Ed Toutant, ($1.86 Million) 7 September, 2001
* Kevin Smith (First winner of the syndicated version.) 18 February, 2003
* Nancy Christy, (first woman to win US$ 1 million in the U.S. version.) 8 May, 2003

India

* Harshvardhan Navathe (winner of KBC started in 2000)
* Brajesh Dubey (winner of 10 million rupees in KBC II that started in 2005)
* Ravi Saini (winner of KBC junior)

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The shows were extremely popular and generated a lot of comment and discussion. People talked about the shows and the questions, discussed winning strategies, mathematical experts analyzed them to predict the odds of winning the big prize. Some commented on the reasons for the show being such a huge success, others were vocal in protesting against the show, but very few asked the question, “What happened to all those millionaires? How are they today?” In 2005, The Telegraph, an Indian daily, ran an article featuring interviews of the highest prize-winners of Kaun Banega Crorepati. One would think that these top prize-winners must have surely invested their prize money sensibly and multiplied it many times over by making some smart investments in business, property or shares. Wrong! Most of them are doing exactly what they did before the show. Results were similar in other countries too. Very few of these winners and overnight millionaires have actually been able use this money to create additional wealth for themselves. Most of them have squandered it, lost it, or have made bad investments.

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