Who Wants To Be A Millionaire finally axed after 13 years
 

YOU can ask the audience or phone a friend, but the answer will be the same… Who Wants to be a *Millionaire is getting the chop after 13 years.

ITV chiefs are pulling the plug on the regular version of Chris Tarrant’s show, which drew in 19 million viewers in its heyday, because ratings have plummeted. They will now only screen *celebrity specials in a bid to create “event” TV.

The decision follows the success of the live spectacular on Christmas Eve which was watched by 6.5 million fans – the show’s biggest audience since 2006.

This contrasts sharply with viewing figures of around three million for the regular programme, featuring everyday quiz fans hoping to become rich.

An ITV source revealed: “We are looking to do fewer shows but make them higher profile. The appetite at the moment is for big specials while the audience has drifted away from the run-of-the-mill *instalments featuring ordinary punters.

“It’s still a popular brand but we need to make sure it remains fresh and relevant. There’s a realisation that having *Millionaire on every week for eight weeks perhaps isn’t the way forward any more.” The move signals the end of an era for the UK’s most successful TV format ever. In a bid to spice up the programme, hosted by Tarrant since it launched in 1998, the format was changed in 2007 with the number of *questions reduced to 12 rather than 15.

Last year bosses introduced another shake-up which saw the departure of Fastest Finger First and the use of a clock to limit the time contestants had to answer the questions.

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But the changes failed to entice new viewers to the show – and annoyed some long-term fans. The source added: “The changes that were made last year haven’t necessarily worked.”

Millionaire, devised by David Briggs and Paul Smith, has run for 27 series and nearly 600 epi-sodes have been shown since it began. Its peak audience figures of 19 million came in 1999 and proved a huge hit for production company Celador, which sold the format to 106 *countries around the world.

ITV made a fortune from people using the phonelines to try to secure a place on the quiz. But the revenue stream has dwindled along with the audience.

In the UK, the show has created five millionaires. The first contestant to sit *opposite Tarrant was Graham Elwell, who won £64,000. Only eight have gone home empty-handed after failing to answer the £1,000 question correctly.

The most money ever lost was £218,000, twice, when contestants answered the 14th question incorrectly, dropping their prize from £250,000 to £32,000.

Stars who have appeared on various celeb versions include Gabby Logan and classical singer Katherine Jenkins.

An ITV spokesman said: “The first ever live edition over Christmas attracted 6.9 million viewers. We are talking to producers, Sony Pictures, about future episodes.”

Read more: http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/tv/ne...#ixzz1AokwND6D

So yet another quiz/gameshow becomes a celebrity version

Sorta seemed to die after the whole cheating thing

Noooooooooooooooooooo!!!! :bawling:

Sadly, this is one ofmy favourite programmes!!

*Expects Weakest Link to follow soon*

Deal or no deal >>>>>>>>>>

cant believe golden balls has been axed :bored:

Oh I loved that so much :sad:

ik :sad:

they were such evil bitches :laugh:

I hated golden balls :/ love How wants to be a millionaire though

:shocked::nono:

:o I loved Golden Balls. I loved when they both split but then I loved when some fat bitch stole because I always hoped the other one would get up and slap a bitch.

Is Divided still on or coming back? That always made me really angry :joker:

I don't watch Millionaire, but it'll be real strange it not being on anymore.

Charles Ingrim lol!! That man was a legend. He also appeared on BBBM. :hugesmile:

Anyway now is that chance to bring back some old game shows!! Like Supermarket Sweep, Wheel of Fortune, Strike it lucky, The Crystal Maze and FORT BOYARD!!!!!!!

Come on!! They were amazing and a lot better than what we have now!

Same fate in France.

It's a shame because I really liked it.

I think it had run it's course, so they tried coming up with all these stupid little novelty ideas like doing a live show and introducing a clock and all that, which just made it worse and it was all too hectic. Never understood why they changed the structure of the payouts either.

I knew when they started changing it, it would be coming to an end. It really has had it's day - and there wersn't many £1M winners anyway.

I wonder if The Weakest Link will be next?

I liked it though not the new format. The age old saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" applies here I think. I'll be sad to see it go but it's run it's course

Good. Deal or no deal can go next. :bored:

Oh and Thomas' Golden Balls (game:o) >>>>>>

I was listening to Tik Tok and then it went over and Time To Say Goodbye just came on the second I clicked this thread :|

My Dad's going to be so pissed off, Oh well there's always Challenge, they put the better shows on there anyway.

It's weird everything's being axed and it's not even 2010 anymore.
I thought the era of 'Axing everything' was over, guess not.

And I literally LOLed so hard at 'The UKs Biggest TV Format Ever'.

Yeah, okay.

Did anyone ever actually get a Million pounds though?

So over rated.
Hope that's axed soon.

This.

Everything is going to drop like flies.

Yeah 5 people, would be 6 but one guy had it taken off him because he cheated :laugh:

Unfortunately, Who Wants to Be A Millionaire here in the US has not suffered the same fate as the one in the UK. Ours used to go from primetime once in a while to 5 nights a week now.

how can anybody cheat on who wants to be a millionaire? i used to like it but its ran its course and the weakest link is better.