I feel safe admitting it here because there’s no way I am knowledgeable enough to actually go on a gameshow: I 100% would expect my phone-a-friend on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire to Google for me.
I mean, of course they would, right? I’m calling them with 30 seconds to come up with an answer that could win me a silly amount of money. Even if they were 100% confident in their answer, they could just have a quick check to make sure they’re absolutely right, surely?
Well, these days, it’s not possible. As much as I was low-key impressed by the Charles Ingram ‘coughing’ scandal that happened almost 25 years ago, such a thing isn’t really possible these days.
How cheating is preventing during phone-a-friend
With advancements in technology and search engines, the production team on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire knew that measures had to be put in place to prevent cheating being done by the people on the other end of these mid-show phone calls.
According to Broadcast: “A small team was put in place to oversee and deploy fully-briefed security officers to each person’s home to ensure fair play. The need for this added a new financial and logistical aspect to the budget.”
YIKES.
If there’s one thing we do in the UK, it’s take our quiz shows perhaps a little too seriously.
However, the new lifeline is a breath of fresh air
With the new addition of Jeremy Clarkson as host came a brand new lifeline: Ask The Host in which you, uh, can ask the host.
Broadcast said: ”‘Ask The Host’ was a terrific way of making the most of Jeremy’s personality and delivering both more entertainment and tension to the format.”
Also, regardless of who is hosting, how exciting must it be to switch the roles and put the host in the contestant’s nervous shoes?
Obsessed.
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire is available on ITV Hub.