Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (Thai game show)

Studio of เกมเศรษฐี

เกมเศรษฐี (English translation: Millionaire Game, transliteration: Kemṣ̄ers̄ʹṭ̄hī) was a Thai game show based on the original British format of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. The main goal of the game was to win 1 million Thai baht by answering 12 multiple-choice questions correctly (earlier 16 questions). There were three lifelines, all other than in the original version - Double Dip (contestant can choose the answer two times), Help of Audience Members (help of two members of the audience who believe that they know the correct answer) and Switch The Question (contestant can change the question). Earlier the lifelines were: Fifty Fifty, Ask The Audience and Switch The Question. The answer area is round, not rhombus, and the answers are not "A, B, C, D", but "1, 2, 3, 4". เกมเศรษฐี was shown on the Thai TV station iTV.

The game's prizes

These are the prizes of the new version of the game:

• 1. question • ฿500
• 2. question • ฿1,000
• 3. question • ฿2,000
• 4. question • ฿5,000
• 5. question • ฿10,000
• 6. question • ฿20,000
• 7. question • ฿50,000
• 8. question • ฿100,000
• 9. question • ฿125,000
• 10. question • ฿250,000
• 11. question • ฿500,000
• 12. question • ฿1,000,000

• If you missed Answer in the new format the prize is cutting 50% at the latest question value.

These are the prizes of the old version of the game:

First version

• 1. question • ฿1,000
• 2. question • ฿2,000
• 3. question • ฿3,000
• 4. question • ฿4,000
• 5. question • ฿5,000 (Guaranteed Sum)
• 6. question • ฿10,000
• 7. question • ฿20,000
• 8. question • ฿30,000
• 9. question • ฿40,000
• 10. question • ฿50,000 (Guaranteed Sum)
• 11. question • ฿75,000
• 12. question • ฿150,000
• 13. question • ฿300,000
• 14. question • ฿500,000
• 15. question • ฿1,000,000

Second version

• 1. question • ฿5,000
• 2. question • ฿6,000
• 3. question • ฿7,000
• 4. question • ฿8,000
• 5. question • ฿9,000 (guaranteed sum)
• 6. question • ฿10,000
• 7. question • ฿20,000
• 8. question • ฿30,000
• 9. question • ฿40,000
• 10. question • ฿50,000 (guaranteed sum)
• 11. question • ฿100,000
• 12. question • ฿200,000
• 13. question • ฿300,000
• 14. question • ฿400,000
• 15. question • ฿500,000
• 16. question • ฿1,000,000

The Lertlak Panchanawaporn affair

In 2002, Lertlak Panchanawaporn, 44-year-old street vendor won the grand prize on the show. The show's producers were impressed with her, since she had only a fourth-grade education, however it was later discovered that the cable feeds to the presenter and contestant's screens had been switched, meaning the contestant's screen had shown the right answer to Panchanawaporn each time a question was asked. The show's producers rescinded her prize, but she was allowed to play again, winning 25,000 baht. The mistake received some international media coverage from organisations including the BBC and Deutsche Welle. Rick Broadhead subsequently wrote about the mistake in his book Dear Valued Customer, You Are a Loser: And Over 100 Other Embarrassing and Funny Stories of Technology Gone Mad by .^[1][2]

References

1. ↑ Dear Valued Customer, You Are a Loser: And Over 100 Other Embarrassing and Funny Stories of Technology Gone Mad, Rick Broadhead, pages 136-137, chapter Rags to Riches
2. ↑ BBC.co.uk