Wer wird Millionär? is a German game show based on the original British format of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. The show is hosted by Günther Jauch. The main goal of the game is to win €1 million by answering 15 multiple-choice questions correctly. Wer wird Millionär? has been broadcasting from 3 September 1999 until today. It is shown on the German TV station RTL on Mondays and Fridays at 20:15. 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.
Wer wird Millionär? Payout structure
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.
Timur Hahn - €1 million With the help of his brother as a phoned friend
Oliver Pocher - €1 million With the help of 'Ask the Audience'
Thomas Gottschalk - €1 million With the help of Marcel-Reich Ranicki as a phoned friend
Ralf Schnoor - €1 million 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 - €1 million With the help of Pankraz Freiherr von Freyberg as a phoned friend.
- €1 million
Thorsten Fischer - 15th Anniversary Special Game - 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 dropping back to €500. Fischer chose to hear the €1 Million question after reaching question 10 and answered correctly.
Nadja Sidikjar - €1,538,450 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 homeempty 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 - €1 million
Georges Devalois Yepnang Mouhoutou - €500 Mouhoutou was the first and currently only contestant in the German version of the show who answered question 15 incorrectly. He also chose going for the million after reaching question 10. As he chose playing with all four lifelines and had to answer, he dropped from €1,000,000 to €500. He answered a, but the correct answer is b.
Jan Stroh - 20th Anniversary Special Game - 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.
