Last week, I went to Las Vegas – for a little business and a whole lot of pleasure. One of the highlights, without question, was attending a taping of “Who Wants to Be A Millionaire?”
Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Millionaire” tapes in Vegas?
When I told people I was going to Vegas, they didn’t know that’s where “Millionaire” films – and neither did cab drivers and friends I met up with… who live in Vegas.
This show is the best kept secret in one of the biggest tourist attraction cities on the planet.
“Millionaire”, which was taped in NYC during the Regis Philbin and Meredith Vieira runs – and Stamford, CT through the brief stints of Cedric the Entertainer and Terry Crews – re-located to Vegas in Summer 2016: the start of year 2 for “Bachelor” host Chris Harrison.
The ’16-’17 season was filmed at Bally’s before moving around the Strip to Caesar’s Entertainment Studios – a large white tent where, for 7 weeks a year, the show films 175 episodes.
I saw 3 episodes (set to air during “Millionaire”’s second week of its new season in September), and it was quite an experience. The set, as you might expect, is smaller than it looks on TV, with four rows of seats on each of the three sides – holding about 150 people total.
Before heading into the studio, about 100 of the day’s audience members chose to take the test to try and become a contestant. As we all found-out a few hours later, only 3 people passed. It must be a really hard test.
Harrison appeared cool and confident on the arena stage, keeping the (very) nervous contestants as calm as possible – and an eye on the clock. The episodes are only 22 minutes each, but since contestants might take a long time on certain questions, segments will certainly be edited down.
Harrison schmoozed with a few audience members and took two or three pictures (you could take photos at any time – except during the segments), but his focus was clearly on the show itself (the producer held up a cue card reading “BREAK”, signaling that Harrison would toss to commercial once the contestant answered the current question).
As someone who has watched “Millionaire”, in its many forms, for nearly his entire life (and who has met and become great friends with the original two hosts), I was genuinely excited and nervous – the music, the money, the contestants, the lights (Harrison briefly closes his eyes when they rise and fall over his face) before he asks a question starting at the $7,000 level.
I can’t divulge how the contestants did, but I can say that the graphics are different for the new season – and these are three intense, must-watch episodes, with some surprising answers to challenging questions. And the contestants used their Ask the Audience lifeline, which means I got to press either A, B, C, or D on a keypad: a game show dream come true.
Audience members got to take photos on the “Millionaire” set after the shows, and I even spotted one of the old Hot Seat chairs (used during Regis’ 10th Anniversary Celebration episodes).
If you’re in Vegas during the rest of the summer and wanna see “Millionaire” in action, visit MillionaireTV.com.