ITV’S flagship quiz show Who Wants to be a Millionaire? has been hit by claims that its questions have become harder so that payouts to winning contestants are reduced.
Quiz enthusiasts believe that since the £1 million jackpot was won in September, the number of contestants applying to participate has dropped, leaving show producers Celador with a smaller prize fund.
In the first five programmes of the current 22-show series, just under £1.5 million has already been paid out, compared with £2 million in the previous one. Enthusiasts added that these two factors forced Celador, which is on the verge of selling the programme, to toughen up the questions.
Jean Allen, a director of Britain’s largest grouping of quiz enthusiasts, Quizzing.co.uk, said that the pool of regular applicants had dropped since the jackpot win because they knew the questions would get harder. She added that the show, which has run for 19 series, was nearing the end of its shelf life.
“In its heyday it could cost quizzers £1,000 to get on but now you can get chosen after spending just £20-£40,” she said.
“I think the questions are getting harder. I have had a look at the questions recently and I can now rarely get past £8,000 to £16,000. I could normally get up to £64,000.”
A survey of its members by Quizzing.co.uk concluded that 73 per cent of its members, including three £1 million prize winners, believed that the questions had grown more difficult.
The prize fund is provided by revenue from the premium-rate phone line used by potential contestants, at 60p a minute, plus a contribution from ITV.
Paul Jackson, the head of ITV entertainment, said that it was “categorically untrue” that the company had asked Celador to make the questions harder.
A spokeswoman for Celador denied that it was engineering reduced payouts and said that the difficulty of the questions had not changed since the show’s inception.
She added that the numbers of contestants trying to win a place on the programme had been “fairly consistent”.
Before the £1 million win an example of a £32,000 question was: Which plant takes its name from the Chinese meaning “man”, as its forked root resembles a man’s leg? The possible answers were a: aloe, b: ginseng, c: dandelion and d: witchhazel. The answer is b. After the win a £32,000 question was: Which of these actors starred in the 1933 film Flying Down to Rio? The options were a: Mickey Rooney, b: Jack Buchanan, c: Fred Astaire, d: Nelson Eddy. The answer is Fred Astaire.
There have been complaints that the average prize money won by each contestant has been falling. In a series aired in 2000 the programme’s makers gave away £83,438 per contestant. But in a 2004 series it was £55,593 and the following year it had dropped to £41,844.
