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Wer wird Millionär? is a German game show based on the original British format of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. It is shown on RTL on Mondays and Fridays at 20:15 (CET/CEST). It is hosted by Günther Jauch. The show has been broadcast from 3 September 1999 until today.
The main goal of the show is to win €1 million (previously 1 million DM) by answering 15 multiple-choice questions correctly. 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' (added in 2007).
Wer wird Millionär? payout structure
Question number
Question value (Yellow zones are the guaranteed levels)
1999–2001
2002–present
Gamblers' Special (2013–present)
1,500th episode (2021)
3 Million Euro Week (2022–present)
1
100 DM (€51.13)
€50
€100
€1
€100
2
200 DM (€102.26)
€100
€200
€5
€200
3
300 DM (€153.39)
€200
€300
€55
€400
4
500 DM (€255.65)
€300
€500
€111
€500
5
1,000 DM (€511.29)
€500
€1,000
€555
€1,000
6
2,000 DM (€1,022.58)
€1,000
€2,000
€1,111
€2,000
7
4,000 DM (€2,045.17)
€2,000
€4,000
€2,222
€5,000
8
8,000 DM (€4,090.34)
€4,000
€8,000
€4,444
€10,000
9
16,000 DM (€8,180.67)
€8,000
€16,000
€8,888
€20,000
10
32,000 DM (€16,361.34)
€16,000
€32,000
€15,555 (4 lifelines) €33,333 (3 lifelines)
€30,000
11
64,000 DM (€32,722.68)
€32,000
€64,000
€55,555
€50,000
12
125,000 DM (€63,911.49)
€64,000
€125,000
€77,777
€100,000
13
250,000 DM (€127,822.97)
€125,000
€250,000
€133,333
€250,000
14
500,000 DM (€255,645.94)
€500,000
€750,000
€555,555
€900,000
15
1,000,000 DM (€511,291.88)
€1,000,000
€2,000,000
€1,500,000
€3,000,000
Fourth lifeline ('ask one of the audience')
Since 2007, there has been a fourth lifeline, called Zusatzjoker ("additional lifeline"). It can be added to the three normal lifelines "Ask the Audience" ("Publikumsjoker"), "Fifty-fifty" ("Fünfzig-fünfzig-Joker") and "Phone-a-Friend" ("Telefonjoker"). 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 (extended Phone-a-Friend lifeline). 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 (after 30 seconds, the phone call will be interrupted.) 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.
Eckhard Freise (2 December 2000)
1 million DM (15 of 15) – no time limit
With whom did Edmund Hillary stand on top of the Mount Everest in 1953?
⬥ A: Nasreddin Hodscha
⬥ B: Nursay Pimsorn
⬥ C: Tenzing Norgay
⬥ D: Abrindranath Singh
Marlene Grabherr (20 May 2001)
1 million DM (15 of 15) – no time limit
Which of the two Gibb brothers from the popband The-Bee-Gees are twins?
⬥ A: Robin and Barry
⬥ B: Maurice and Robin
⬥ C: Barry and Maurice
⬥ D: Andy and Robin
Marlene Grabherr died in 2013 at the age of 60.
Gerhard Krammer (18 October 2002)
€1 million (15 of 15) – no time limit
Which famous writer, as an architecture graduate, built a pool of water in Zurich?
⬥ A: Joseph Roth
⬥ B: Martin Walser
⬥ C: Max Frisch
⬥ D: Friedrich Dürrenmatt
Dr. Maria Wienströer (29 March 2004)
€1 million (15 of 15) – no time limit
Who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1954 and Nobel Peace Prize in 1962?
⬥ A: Linus Pauling
⬥ B: Otto Hahn
⬥ C: Pearl S. Buck
⬥ D: Albert Schweitzer
Stefan Lang (9 October 2006)
€1 million (15 of 15) – no time limit
Which chemical element makes up more than one half of the mass of the human body?
⬥ A: Carbon
⬥ B: Calcium
⬥ C: Oxygen
⬥ D: Iron
Timur Hahn (8 January 2007) – With the help of his brother as a phoned friend
€1 million (15 of 15) – no time limit
Which sea is named after a mythological king who is said to have plunged into it?
⬥ A: Ionian Sea
⬥ B: Aegean Sea
⬥ C: Adriatic Sea
⬥ D: Caspian Sea
Oliver Pocher (30 May 2008) (celebrity version) – With the help of 'Ask the Audience'
€1 million (15 of 15) – no time limit
The Nagel-Schreckenberg Model provides an explanation for the emergence of...?
⬥ A: Desert
⬥ B: Traffic congestion
⬥ C: Influenza
⬥ D: Stock market
Thomas Gottschalk (20 November 2008) (celebrity version) – With the help of Marcel-Reich Ranicki as a phoned friend
€1 million (15 of 15) – no time limit
What was the name of Franz Kafka's last companion, that he met in 1923, one year before his death?
Ralf Schnoor (26 November 2010) – 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.
€1 million (15 of 15) – no time limit
What is the name of the first German postage stamp, which was brought in the kingdom of Bavaria in 1849?
⬥ A: Schwarzer Einser (One kreuzer black)
⬥ B: Roter Zweier (Two kreuzer red)
⬥ C: Gelber Dreier (Three kreuzer yellow)
⬥ D: Blauer Vierer (Four kreuzer blue)
Barbara Schöneberger (30 May 2011) (celebrity edition) – With the help of Pankraz Freiherr von Freyberg as a phoned friend.
€1 million (15 of 15) – no time limit
What is the name of the boy from whose head Wilhelm Tell shoots the legendary apple?
Who should be familiar with the twenty-past-four position?
⬥ A: Driving instructor
⬥ B: Karate master
⬥ C: Waiter
⬥ D: Agricultural architect
Thorsten Fischer (17 October 2014) (15th anniversary) – 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 you dropped back to €500. Fischer chose to hear the €1 Million question after reaching question 10 and answered correctly.
€1 million (11 of 11) – no time limit
The distance from the German capital Berlin to the center of the Earth is approximately the same as that between Berlin and...?
⬥ A: Tokyo
⬥ B: Cape Town
⬥ C: Moscow
⬥ D: New York
Nadja Sidikjar (13 November 2015) (2nd Jackpot special) – 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 home empty 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:
€1,538,450 (3rd/4th/5th head-to-head question out of 5) – 5 seconds
Which of these instrument names is an abbreviation?
⬥ A: Violin
⬥ B: Cello
⬥ C: Double bass
⬥ D: Guitar
Leon Windscheid (7 December 2015)
€1 million (15 of 15) – no time limit
How many cubes does the cube designed by Ernö Rubik consist of?
⬥ A: 22
⬥ B: 24
⬥ C: 26
⬥ D: 28
Jan Stroh (2 September 2019) (20th anniversary) – Every question Stroh had to answer had already been asked in the past 20 years of the show. He also received four lifelines (Phone A Friend being replaced with a second Ask one of the Audience) and the guaranteed level at €16,000 which is usually disabled when contestants choose the additional Ask one of the Audience.
€1 million (15 of 15) – no time limit
Which fairtytale by the Brothers Grimm does not begin with the words "Once upon a time..."?
⬥ A: Rumpelstiltskin
⬥ B: Hans in Luck
⬥ C: The Star Money
⬥ D: Little Red Riding Hood
Question from 2002
Ronald Tenholte (24 March 2020)
€1 million (15 of 15) – no time limit
The classic, standardized EUR-pallet EPAL1 consists of 78 nails, nine blocks and how many boards?
⬥ A: Nine
⬥ B: Ten
⬥ C: Eleven
⬥ D: Twelve
Top-prize losers
Georges Devalois Yepnang Mouhoutou (17 October 2014) (15th anniversary) – Mouhoutou is currently the only contestant in the German version of the Millionaire franchise who answered the final question incorrectly. He also chose to go for the million after reaching question 10. As he chose to play 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.
€1 million (11 of 11) – no time limit
What was invented within a radius of 20 kilometres within 5 years?
⬥ A: Otto engine & Diesel engine
⬥ B: Basketball & Volleyball
⬥ C: Gyros Pita & Doner Kebap
⬥ D: Toothbrush & Toothpaste
Notes
In this version, the possible wins are increased significantly. However, if you use a lifeline before the tenth question, all other lifelines will be taken away as well. Also, there is no second guaranteed sum at question 10.
not applicable in case of choosing the fourth lifeline/selected before the beginning
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