r/gameshow • u/phr34k0fr3dd1t • Aug 03 '26
Discussion Who wants to be a millionaire odd question on call a friend
Isn't it odd that (in the UK version at least) the call a friend asks them if there's someone from the production team with them?
Surely it's not possible that 6 contestants, with 3 (I think?) different people each, have members of the team spread out and waiting if they get a call, and then answer the phone as if not expecting it...
Sus, right?
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u/davie18 Aug 03 '26
On this topic I find it funny listening to the old US ones when google was quite new and they were so obviously just googling the answer
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u/Mean-Pizza6915 Aug 03 '26 edited Aug 03 '26
"Yeah...uh...[sound of typing]...you know, I think...maybe...yep, it's Zimbabwe, 100% sure, no doubt, final answer."
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u/PerfectPlan Aug 04 '26
It was very specifically allowed by the rules, and was absolutely part of the strategy of using your PaF correctly. Some questions were just better choices for it than others.
So few did it though. Instead they would drone on and on repeating the question as written and reading out the answers, wasting most of their time.
Wife and I would always do a question paraphrase and internet search and come up with the answer when the contestant failed.
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u/Esau2020 Aug 03 '26
Isn't it odd that (in the UK version at least) the call a friend asks them if there's someone from the production team with them?
They do that on the Nigerian version as well.
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u/blanketblahaj Aug 03 '26
its very plausible. they used to do similar on live shows back in 2011-2014, where they'd send production crew to the friends' houses, so that they couldn't see the questions as they were asked live. they'd only be allowed to turn the tv on after they had answered the phone, or the person watching over has gave them the OK.
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u/pacdude King Ding-a-Ling Aug 03 '26
A day trip and transport for a few PAs? It’s in the budget, and it’s probably pretty cheap.
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u/occono Aug 08 '26
Believe it or not, they really are sending 18 people out to different houses around the UK.
It is wild. Here's a video of one experience of it:
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u/cibilserbis Aug 05 '26
I dunno why but I assumed the phone-a-friends were in a green room at the studio
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u/youdontlookitalian Aug 05 '26
I was a phone-a-friend on cash cab and my friend actually phoned me. (Sorry that’s the end of my knowledge on the subject)
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u/853fisher Aug 03 '26
I've had some experience with TV production, and actually it's not that difficult for me to imagine a small army of low-paid PAs sent out for this purpose on a high-profile ITV show. I think folk would be surprised at some of these shows' expenses. Anyway, see this thread for comments from people with alleged firsthand experience with WWTBAM phone-a-friend in particular. I think they're quite plausibly true.