'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire': Covid-19 frontline workers and essential service operators play to win $1M
The new season of the long-running game show 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire' is about to go down in television history for making an attempt to help lend a hand to people who went above and beyond to keep society functioning when the global coronavirus pandemic shut down major parts of the world. According to an Access Hollywood report, the show is doing it's bit to reward essential and frontline workers who will sit opposite host Jimmy Kimmel, on the hot seat and attempt to win $1M, the ultimate prize money that can be theirs if they are able to answer 14 questions correctly. In a conversation with the outlet, Kimmel said that this decision is something that holds personal significance. “I think it’s important to remember, and this is something I learned when I was in the hospital with my son, is that these people are doing this all the time, not just now,” Jimmy said. “And that they work so hard when we need them the most.”
Last week, the season kicked off with Tiffany Haddish playing for She Ready Foundation and later firefighter Oliver Fry joined Kimmel to play for $1M dollars and will be continuing to play the game this week (Oct 25) too. It was also revealed that each contestant this season would be taking home a minimum of $32K and Oliver couldn't hold back his tears hearing this announcement. “That’s more than some people make in a year,” Oliver said. “I could help out people.”
A nurse, an ambulance driver, other essential workers are about to be a part of the show this season and even though all of them will win a minimum of $32K, Kimmel is still going to find this "nerve-wracking". This is because he doesn't have the heart to see any of these people lose and wishes that they go back home with the ultimate prize money. "I very much want each of these people to win,” Jimmy said. “I do not want to see anybody lose. I have yet to see that happen, it rarely happens, when it does I don’t even know what it must feel like. But I do want to hand that giant check to somebody – preferably a nurse or somebody who’s been driving an ambulance or somebody who really could use it," he said.
'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire' airs Sundays at 9 pm ET. Tune in to the Oct 25th episode to watch Oliver Fry continue his winning streak and later catch 'Modern Family' star Julie Bowen play the game for Baby2Baby.