As ABC airs another edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire — with pairs of celebrities playing for charity this time around — the game show is hitting a milestone anniversary.
The American version of Millionaire debuted 25 years ago, on August 16, 1999, with then-host Regis Philbin putting players in the hot seat. A week later, contestant Michael Shutterly became the first contestant to reach the $1 million question, Question #1 below. And that November, contestant John Carpenter became the first $1 million winner, offering the correct response to Question #2 below.
Since then, the ABC version of the show has had nearly three dozen players (including some famous folks) reach the final question, according to the show’s Fandom wiki. Some won the $1 million, many more chose to take the $500,000 and walk away, and only one, Ken Basin, gave an incorrect “final answer,” losing $475,000 on Question #31 below. In fact, the August 14 episode, just days before the anniversary, saw Ike Barinholtz and Alan Barinholtz correctly answer the $1 million question (Question #36 below) to take the prize money for charity.
See how well you do with these ultimate Millionaire challenges… and check the answer key at the bottom of the page when you’re done.
1. On February 22, 1989, what group won the first Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance?
A. Metallica
B. AC/DC
C. Living Color
D. Jethro Tull
2. Which of these U.S. presidents appeared on the television series Laugh-In?
A: Lyndon Johnson
B: Richard Nixon
C: Jimmy Carter
D: Gerald Ford
3. In what language was Anne Frank’s original diary first published?
A: Dutch
B: English
C: French
D: German
4. The Earth is approximately how many miles away from the Sun?
A: 9.3 million
B: 39 million
C: 93 million
D: 193 million
5. In what country are all U.S. Major League baseballs currently manufactured?
A: Costa Rica
B: Haiti
C: Dominican Republic
D: Cuba
6. What Shakespeare character says, “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark”?
A: Hamlet
B: Marcellus
C: Horatio
D: Laertes
7. Which insect shorted out an early supercomputer and inspired the term “computer bug”?
A: Moth
B: Roach
C: Fly
D: Japanese beetle
8. Which of the following pieces of currency was the first to use the motto “In God We Trust”?
A: Nickel
B: One dollar bill
C: Two-cent piece
D: Five dollar bill
9. Who was the first NFL player to answer “I’m going to Disneyland” in the popular series of TV ads?
A: Doug Williams
B: Marcus Allen
C: Phil Simms
D: Joe Montana
10. Playwright Anton Chekhov graduated from the University of Moscow with a degree in what?
A: Law
B: Medicine
C: Philosophy
D: Economics
11. Before the American colonies switched to the Gregorian calendar, on what date did their new year start?
A: March 25
B: July 1
C: September 25
D: December 1
12. Which of the following men does not have a chemical element named for him?
A: Albert Einstein
B: Niels Bohr
C: Isaac Newton
D: Enrico Fermi
13. Which of the following landlocked countries is entirely contained within another country?
A: Lesotho
B: Burkina Faso
C: Mongolia
D: Luxembourg
14. In the children’s book series, where is Paddington Bear originally from?
A: India
B: Peru
C: Canada
D: Iceland
15. What best-selling author was born Howard Allen O’Brien?
A: Danielle Steel
B: Anne Rice
C: J.K. Rowling
D: Toni Morrison
16. In the U.S., the Sony Walkman personal cassette player was originally marketed in 1979 under what name?
A: Soundabout
B: Listener
C: Eardrummer
D: Stowaway
17. According to the United Nations, in what year was the world’s population half of its present total?
A: 1950
B: 1960
C: 1970
D: 1940
18. During the Cold War, the U.S. government built a bunker to house Congress under what golf resort?
A: The Breakers
B: The Greenbrier
C: Pinehurst
D: The Broadmoor
19. What plant is named after the first U.S. ambassador to Mexico, who brought it to the U.S.?
A: Fuchsia
B: Juniper
C: Camellia
D: Poinsettia
20. Which of these network news anchors began his career at age 9, hosting a children’s radio show?
A: Peter Jennings
B: Tom Brokaw
C: Dan Rather
D: Ted Koppel
21. Who is the only winner of the Nobel Peace Prize to decline the prize?
A: Albert Schweitzer
B: Le Duc Tho
C: Andrei Sakharov
D: Aung San Suu Kyi
22. People who have a marked physical reaction to beautiful art are said to suffer from what syndrome?
A: Proust Syndrome
B: Jerusalem Syndrome
C: Stendhal’s Syndrome
D: Beckett’s Syndrome
23. Who is credited with inventing the first mass-produced helicopter?
A: Igor Sikorsky
B: Elmer Sperry
C: Ferdinand von Zeppelin
D: Gottlieb Daimler
24. What letter must appear at the beginning of the registration number of all non-military aircraft in the U.S.?
A: N
B: A
C: U
D: L
25. In the TV series The Brady Bunch, what is Carol Brady’s maiden name?
A: Martin
B: Tyler
C: Nelson
D: Franklin
26. How many days make up a non-leap year in the Islamic calendar?
A: 365
B: 400
C: 354
D: 376
27. What club did astronaut Alan Shepard use to make his famous golf shot on the Moon?
A: Nine iron
B: Sand wedge
C: Six iron
D: Seven iron
28. Who is the only Nobel laureate to win an Academy Award?
A: John Steinbeck
B: Jean-Paul Sartre
C: George Bernard Shaw
D: Toni Morrison
29. Famous pediatrician and author Dr. Benjamin Spock won an Olympic gold medal in what sport?
A: Swimming
B: Rowing
C: Fencing
D: Sailing
30. During WWII, U.S. soldiers used the first commercial aerosol cans to hold what?
A: Cleaning fluid
B: Antiseptic
C: Insecticide
D: Shaving cream
31. For ordering his favorite beverages on demand, LBJ had four buttons installed in the Oval Office labeled “coffee,” “tea,” “Coke,” and what?
A: Fresca
B: V8
C: Yoo-hoo
D: A&W
32. On the periodic table, there are four different elements named after what?
A: Antoine Lavoisier’s pet cat
B: A moon of Neptune
C: Marie Curie’s maiden name
D: A Swedish mining village
33. When scientists tested it with an electroencephalogram, which of these food items produced readings similar to a human brain?
A: Wint-O-Green Life Saver
B: SPAM
C: Lime Jell-O
D: Jet-Puffed Marshmallow
34. Which of the following is not the title of a country song released by Netflix phenomenon Joe Exotic, aka the “Tiger King”?
A: I Saw a Tiger
B: Big-Hearted Cat
C: Here Kitty Kitty
D: King of the Beast
35. Although he and his wife never touched a light switch for fear of being shocked, who was the first president to have electricity in the White House?
A: Ulysses S. Grant
B: Benjamin Harrison
C: Chester A. Arthur
D: Andrew Johnson
36. Not including blanks or bonus spaces, the highest-valued three-letter Scrabble word is “zax,” which is a what?
A: Rare species of African antelope
B: Ceramic container for holy water
C: Letter in the Arabic alphabet
D: Tool for cutting roofing slates
Answers: 1. D: Jethro Tull, 2. B: Richard Nixon, 3. A: Dutch, 4. C: 93 million, 5. A: Costa Rica, 6. B: Marcellus, 7. A: Moth, 8. C: Two-cent piece, 9. C: Phil Simms, 10. B: Medicine, 11. A: March 25, 12. C: Isaac Newton, 13. A: Lesotho, 14. B: Peru, 15. B: Anne Rice, 16. A: Soundabout, 17. B: 1960, 18. B: The Greenbrier, 19. D: Poinsettia, 20. A: Peter Jennings, 21. B: Le Duc Tho, 22. C: Stendhal’s Syndrome, 23. A: Igor Sikorsky, 24. A: N, 25. B: Tyler, 26. C: 354, 27. C: Six iron, 28. C: George Bernard Shaw, 29. B: Rowing, 30. C: Insecticide, 31. A: Fresca, 32. D: A Swedish mining village, 33. C: Lime Jell-O, 34. B: Big-Hearted Cat, 35. B: Benjamin Harrison, 36. D: Tool for cutting roofing slates
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Wednesdays, 8/7c, ABC