million dollar winner who wants to be a millionaire
John Carpenter
title: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (U.S. game show) text: Millionaire?" franchise. The original U.S. version aired on ABC from August 16, 1999, to June 27, 2002, and was hosted by Regis Philbin. The daily syndicated version of the show began airing on September 16, 2002, and was hosted for eleven seasons by Meredith Vieira until May 31, 2013. Later hosts included Cedric the Entertainer in the 2013–14 season, Terry Crews in the following season (2014–15), and Chris Harrison, who began hosting on September 14, 2015. As the first U.S. network game show to offer a million-dollar top prize, the show made television history by becoming one of the highest-rated title: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (U.S. game show) text: which began airing December 18, 2017. Various special editions and tournaments have been conducted which feature celebrities playing the game and donating winnings to charities of their choice. During celebrity editions on the original ABC version, contestants were allowed to receive help from their fellow contestants during the first ten questions. The most successful celebrity contestants throughout the show's run have included Drew Carey, Rosie O'Donnell, Norm Macdonald, and Chip Esten, all of whom won $500,000 for their respective charities. The episode featuring O'Donnell's $500,000 win averaged 36.1 million viewers, the highest number for a single episode of the show. title: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? text: answer questions; and the amount offered increases as they tackle questions that become increasingly difficult. The maximum cash prize offered in most versions of the format is one million of the local currency. The original British version debuted on 4 September 1998, and was aired until its final episode on 11 February 2014; a revived series of seven episodes to commemorate its 20th anniversary in 2018, were aired from 5 to 11 May. Since its debut, international variants of the game show have been aired in around 160 countries worldwide. The format of the show was created by David Briggs, title: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? text: on 19 November 1999. Carpenter did not use a lifeline until the final question, using his Phone-a-Friend not for help but to call his father to tell him he had won the million. Other notable top prize winners include Judith Keppel, the first winner of the UK version; Kevin Olmstead from the U.S. version, who won a progressive jackpot of $2.18 million; Martin Flood from the Australian version, who was investigated by producers after suspicions that he had cheated, much like Charles Ingram, but was later cleared; and Sushil Kumar from the Indian version, who is often referred to in title: John Carpenter (game show contestant) text: John Carpenter (game show contestant) John Carpenter (born c. 1968) is an American game show contestant and IRS agent. He is best known for becoming the first top prize winner on the United States version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire". He held the record for the largest single win in United States game show history, until it was broken by Rahim Oberholtzer who won $1.12 million on another U.S. quiz show, "Twenty One". Carpenter was also the first top prize winner among all international versions of the "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" series. On the November 19,