Read the text below and do the exercise 1-3


1) Are there any 'big money' TV quizzes in your country?
What do you have to do, and what kind of prizes do you win?


2) Read the text below about TV quiz shows. Note:


  1. the name of two 1950s quiz shows
  2. when Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? began.
  3. the names of the three lifelines on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
  4. the name of the first $million winner.
  5. why Lertlak Panachanwapron was both lucky and unlucky.

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Getting Rich Quick:
The Rise of the TV Quiz Show


Quiz shows first became popular in the USA in the late 1950s, with radio and TV shows such as The $64,000 Questions and Twenty-One pulling in huge ratings. But scandals about feeding correct answers to the contestants (later the subject of the Robert Redford movie, Quiz Show) undermined the public's faith in the shows, and the TV quiz went into temporary decline - in the us at least. With the growth of television in the '60s and '70s, the prizes gradually got bigger - and the formats for the shows more lavish and imaginative.
A key breakthrough came with the British quiz, Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? which first appeared in 1998. The formula was simple - 15 multiple-choice questions of increasing difficulty, with the contestant in the hot seat having three lifetimes if they're stuck - 'phone a friend', 'Ask the Audience' and '50:50', where the computer takes away two wrong answers, and leaves the correct answer and one remaining wrong answer. The big prize money that attracted viewers to the show was funded by an equally simple idea: would-be contestants paid a small charge to call telephone hotlines to enter their names for the show. These proved so popular that viewer had to phone dozens of times to stand any chance of appearing. This ingenious formula proved so successful that the show has been sold to more than forty countries worldwide. In fact, it's probably being shown somewhere in the world as you read this!
John Carpenter became the first $million winner on the American show in 1999 - but things haven't always gone according to plan. On the Thai version of the show, Lertlak Panachanawapron had exhausted her three lifelines by the fifth question when she was amazed to see the answer she thought was correct highlighted on her monitor screen. She picked it and continued choosing the highlighted answer until she had answered all fifteen questions, winning 1 million baht in the process. 'I didn't notice anything,' said the presenter. 'Just that she was very smart despite not having much education.' unfortunately, the show's producers were more suspicious and Lertlak later confessed to noticing the highlights around the correct answers - the computer was mistakenly showing her the host's screen! After her winner's cheque had been returned, she was given another chance ... and failed on the fourth question.
However, contestants have come up with other ingenious ways of reaching that elusive million....



3) Discuss these questions in groups.