“Millionaire”‘s Tournament of Ten Begins Today; The Top Ten Are…
The first nine weeks of this season’s Who Wants to be a Millionaire just flew by. We’ve now reached the beginning of the Tournament of Ten. All season thus far the ten highest scorers who completed their game in the shortest length of time have been ranked on a leader board that you can see below. Their time to play for $1,000,000 has come.
The rules are simple. Starting with the tenth seed each of the players will see a million dollar question and will have their entire time bank (time from unused questions in initial run + 45 second base) to make a decision. No Lifelines are available. They can not answer it and keep what they won from their previous game. If they answer it incorrectly they drop back to $25,000. A right answer means they are the current leader to win the million, though. The highest ranking seed to answer the million dollar question will leave as the first $1,000,000 winner on the show since 2004. We absolutely guarantee there will be a $1,000,000 winner.
So this should be pretty exciting all throughout and definitely watch, but the real episode to check out is November 20th when the number one seed Jehan Shamsid-Deen will sit in the seat one more time. She’ll actually have the toughest decision of anyone. Jehan has $250,000 so far. She has to risk $225,000 on the question if she goes for it. If she walks with the $250,000, though, she literally hands someone else the $1,000,000. I was cautious of the whole tournament when I first started but the more this season has gone the more excited I’ve gotten and I can’t wait to see who wins. Jehan has been by far the best player this season and I’ve got my money on her winning, but we’ll see.
Has the tournament worked out the way you have hoped so far? This worked out so much better than I expected. I just saw some $25,000 winners being entered in. Very happy none made it. Also, anyone else have a favorite? The show has a really exciting trailer for the tournament on their website. Click here to check it out.
Don’t forget that the “Celebrity Question” category begins being used today (November 9th). When that pops up a celebrity will be asking the player the question. There are three or four celebrity questions a week and they are in the second tier ($7,500; $10,000; $12,500; $15,000; $25,000). Announced celebrities so far are Senator John McCain, Vanessa Williams (Ugly Betty), Shaquille O’Neal (NBA), Jane Lynch (Glee), Joe Mantegna (Criminal Minds), Donald Trump (Celebrity Apprentice), Robin Roberts (GMA), Regis Philbin (LIVE! with Regis and Kelly), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (New Adventures of Old Christine) and even Cookie Monster (Sesame Street).
All photos courtesy of Valleycrest Productions Ltd.
Danngggg, I hope someone uploads the To10 episodes, because I have school and no TiVo. =(
I'll put my money on Tim Janus. I don't think anybody ranked above him will take the risk of losing their winnings on questions they may not know.
I'm SO pissed that my local affiliate JUST dropped millionaire last week for an extra half-hour of crappy local news.
I feel like it's worth stating that the guy who interrupted Meredith trying to conserve time didn't end up with enough money to make it to the top 10.
Jeff Birt from Louisville. How did they break the tie for 2 & 3 seed?
Was the show *intentionally*, dare I say it, RIGGING the board so nobody would get the million *before* the Tournament Of Ten? What would Davies have done *had* somebody won the million in that time? "Yes, you won a million dollars, but you totally shot our big November Sweeps promotion to hell!"
====
As for the Tournament Of Ten, what if all ten either (A) walk away or (B) get the question wrong? Unless the trailer on the show's site guarantees a million-dollar winner (and I have no interest in watching it at 12:50 AM), there's always the possibility that *nobody* will win the million.
Was the show absolutely banking on *somebody* to get their million-dollar question right?
There's the chance, Davies…….the chance that, like the Million-Dollar Missions on "Deal Or No Deal" that had up to half the board with $1,000,000 cases, NOBODY WINS THE BIG MONEY IN THE "TOURNAMENT OF TEN".
And what if the bottom seeds had $25,000? What then? "Well, you can leave with $25,000 or answer this million-dollar question — if you get it wrong, you leave with $5,000"?
Again, was the show rigging the board to make sure none of the ten entrants had less than $50,000?
I was wondering the exact same thing. Maybe they have it in tenths of a second in their system, just not posted on TV of the website?
I remember checking this on Millionaire's website and if memory serves, If their times are tied at the $100,000 question, the tie breaker is their time after their $50,000 questions, and if there's still a tie going on all the way down until the tie is broken.
I haven't seen the show for awhile so I'm not sure where you getting this "figged" idea from, Daniel. If it appears that way, it doesn't "look" intentional. Honestly, are we gonna revisit those 50's quiz show scandals again? Give me a break!
As for the Tourney, I"m rooting for #8 Sam Murray from Philly. Hopefully, he'll bring us a winner in the city even when our Phillies weren't(And would you PLEASE get that SEPTA strike settle? I can't avoid my radio stations forever!)
"Rigged" might be overstating it, but producers can often adjust the difficulty factor to increase the odds that a game will or will not be won. But if the player is good enough or smart enough, they can still win.
Remember the killer subjects on the board in the early rounds of The $100,000 Pyramid tournament weeks? Stuff like "Things that taste like Lima Beans"? By Thursday and Friday, the subjects were considerably easier. They don't want a winner right away, but they don't want it to drag on for weeks, either. I suspect that Millionaire will do much the same thing with questions. They'll be really hard at first, but not impossible. The deeper they go into the tournament, the easier the questions will be.
First, a question: Suppose the #10 seed, Alex Ortiz, answers the million dollar question correctly. If someone else seeded above her answers the million dollar question correctly, does she drop back to her current winnings of $50K, or all the way to $25K? I would assume $50K, but with the way things seem to go these days, I don't feel so certain.
Second, I'll assume by this 'guarantee of a winner,' we mean that since they've already taped it, they knew there would be a winner. Or, that if they promo-ed that ahead of time, they'd just give it to the top seed. Still, I don't see the big deal about 'guaranteeing a winner' on this. Guaranteeing against what? Is someone prepared to give me my money back?!? :)
You can see them on my YouTube channel. They are uploaded within an hour after they air here (12 noon CST). Channel name is Mecha03.
"They can not answer it and keep what they won from their previous game." — Error?
If a contestant answers the question correctly and gets knocked out by a higher seed, they keep what they've already won.
They would have had a free guess. I don't believe there was any rigging involved.
I read that line wrong, my mistake.
My bet is on Jehan
"$100,000 Pyramid" was different, in that it was simply three contestants who rotated during the Tournament. If "Millionaire" is making the questions tougher for the lower seeds, it's really unfair to them because they see a higher seed's question and go "Wow, my question was obscure…but hers is what our current President's name is!"
Hence, "adjusting the difficulty factor" is a form of rigging. Dr. Joyce Brothers on "The $64,000 Question" had an expertise in Boxing, but was essentially thrown a curveball and was asked a question about a REFEREE. And she got it right!
So yes, it's not impossible to beat the cheating system (50:50 was a good example of rigging on about 90% of the occasions it was used in its last 2-3 seasons) — but the producers can simply switch out an originally-intended question for a much harder one, just so you won't win.
It all goes back to the budget.
====
I'm sorry for being negative, but count me among those who don't like the idea of this Tournament — did Davies even consider the scenarios I described above before putting this into motion, or did he follow "Deal Or No Deal" and try to force a million-dollar giveaway despite those possibilities?
(Oh, and "Things that taste like Lima Beans" sounds like a Winner's Circle category on "Donnymid".)
Alright, but my question still stands — what would happen if all ten Seeds either (A) walk away or (B) get the question wrong? I'm still wanting to know what kind of safeguard Davies had planned in *that* event…
* Give the million to the Seed who took the least amount of time to ponder the question before making a decision?
* Play the Tournament again…and again……and *again*………until somebody answers a million-dollar question correctly?
* Have Meredith, after the #1 Seed misses or walks after the other nine do the same, just flip the bird to the audience?
(I'd pay money to see #3, but that won't happen and I know it.)
NOTE: I just watched that promo — I don't believe that they would actually guarantee a million-dollar winner, especially if that promo was made *before* the Tournament episodes were recorded.
I believe the rules said if no one answers their question right, the prize isn't awarded, to answer your question.
I really hope Jehan wins it all. Oh and Daniel, stop getting your panties in a bunch. There's no rigging in my observation. If there was, Basin or someone else would have a million dollar check already.
@ Daniel: That would be funny if she flipped the bird to the audience. But, if she wave to the audience at the end of the show, I’m sure Jimmy Kimmel will show it so it look like she did on his Friday show (This Week in Unnecessary Censorship).
I'm dropping it, man — I just find it *really* convenient that nobody managed to win the million this season prior to the Tournament. I also find it interesting that, unless the promo on the show's site was taped *following* the Tournament, that it's entirely possible for the million to go unawarded.
Yours would be the first channel I'd check, anyway ^_^ But thanks, I'm soooooo happy now!