| Alt Name: | Millionaire |
| Genre: | Game show |
| Creator: | David Briggs |
| Director: | Peter Ots |
| Presenter: | Mike Hosking |
| Composer: | Keith Strachan Matthew Strachan |
| Country: | New Zealand |
| Language: | English |
| Num Seasons: | 1 |
| Num Episodes: | 10 |
| Company: | 2waytraffic |
| Location: | Richmond, Victoria, Australia |
| Runtime: | 60 minutes (with commercials) |
| Network: | TV ONE |
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? New Zealand was a New Zealand game show based on the original British format of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. The show was hosted by Mike Hosking.[1] The main goal of the game was to win one million New Zealand dollars by answering 15 multiple-choice questions correctly. There were four "lifelines". It was broadcast on the TVNZ station TV ONE. The show was taped in Melbourne, Australia on the set of the Australian version of the show.
One contestant, Kristin Castle, made New Zealand television history after walking away with NZ$250,000, the highest amount of money ever given to a single person on New Zealand television.[2] The show received wide media coverage after the first ever contestant on the show, Courtney Washington, walked away with nothing after incorrectly answering the question about BMW supplying New Zealand's new fleet of ministerial limousines.[3]
As in the syndicated United States' version, contestants were selected for the show through a qualifying test instead of the traditional "Fastest Finger First" as seen on the British version. Contestants sit in the "Hot Seat" and are asked increasingly difficult general knowledge questions by the host. Questions are multiple choice and contestants choose between a possible four answers, sometimes with the aid of lifelines. On answering a question correctly the contestant plays for a bigger sum of money, getting ever closer to the maximum amount of one million dollars.
The traditional 15-question money tree was used and there was no clock.
The complete sequence of prizes is as follows. Guaranteed safe levels, where the contestant is guaranteed this amount of money to take home, regardless of any subsequent questions they may get wrong, are in bold.
| Prize levels | ||
|---|---|---|
| Question number | Question value | |
| (Yellow zones are the guaranteed levels) | ||
| 1 | $100 | |
| 2 | $200 | |
| 3 | $300 | |
| 4 | $500 | |
| 5 | $1,000 | |
| 6 | $2,000 | |
| 7 | $4,000 | |
| 8 | $8,000 | |
| 9 | $16,000 | |
| 10 | $32,000 | |
| 11 | $64,000 | |
| 12 | $125,000 | |
| 13 | $250,000 | |
| 14 | $500,000 | |
| 15 | ||
If at any point the contestants are unsure of the answer to a question, they use one or more "lifelines". After using lifelines, contestants can either answer the question, use another lifeline, or walk away and keep the money (except for the Switch lifeline).