Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is one of the most famous game shows in the history of television. While the American version continues to run, it was at its cultural peak in the early 2000s, with Regis Philbin serving as the original host.
Like most trivia-based shows, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? contained a great mix of easy and hard questions. As per the show's concept, the questions get harder the further up a contestant gets on the money ladder. And while watching someone go the distance was exciting, the fails often proved just as entertaining. Embarrassing, yes, but very entertaining.
That's The Last Stick
On January 23, 2006, contestant Paul Weir Galm was given the opportunity to compete. The very first question read, "Which of these phrases is a common way of saying "I can't take it anymore!"? The correct answer was C, which read, "That's the last straw!" However, Paul was very quick to answer A, "That's the last stick!" Host Meredith Vieira let out a groan of disbelief, and Paul immediately recognized his horrible mistake.
Water Flow
Chase Sampson is one of the most popular contestants in Millionaire history. Even if someone has never seen the show, they likely recognize Sampson's face from the numerous memes and jokes that were made at his expense. This college student was another first question outer, having been given the question "Homeowners buy surge protectors to protect their possessions from unexpected surges of what?" A sleep-deprived Sampson answered "water flow" and immediately realized his mistake, resulting in one of the funniest faces in game show history.
Watery
Water-based answers always seem to trip contestants up. Chris Mazza is another contestant who fell victim to a water-based answer, and he too was eliminated on the very first question. Mazza was given the question, "Slightly inebriated is a common definition for which of these words?" The answers, from A-D, were milky, watery, beery, and jello shott-y, with beery being the correct answer. Mazza spent ten of his fifteen seconds thinking about the answer before going with "watery". Vieira could hardly believe it.
Slam Dunk
College student Vassiliki Yiannoulis made it to the $4,000 mark and was given the question, "Denny's restaurants offer a signature breakfast dish named after what sports team?" When answer A was unveiled (Slam Dunk), Yiannoulis nodded her head in agreement.
She obviously got it mixed up with the correct answer, Grand Slam. She was very quick to answer Slam Dunk but immediately noticed her mistake, covering her mouth in regret. She could barely contain tears, but at least she walked away with $1,000 in winnings.
ACHOO
Sometimes, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? literally gives contestants the answers. And sometimes, contestants are too nervous to realize it. Bryant Michel was given the question, "Autosomal-dominant Compelling Helio-Ophthalmic Outburst syndrome, whose initials offer a clue, is the need to do what when seeing the Sun?" All he had to do was look at the initials, which obviously spell out ACHOO (meaning the answer was C, sneeze). And despite doing so, and despite saying "Oh, I see! Achoo!", Michel answered D, hiccup.
Owl Ink
Poor Lovi Yu, despite being a very friendly and enthusiastic contestant, is another member of the One Question Club. Her first and only question read, "When attacked by predators, which of these animals will often activate a large gland known as an ink sac?" The options were cheetah, squid, owl, and Paris Hilton. Obviously thinking that owls squirt ink, Lovi went with C. The answer proved so obvious that the audience audibly gasped in disappointment when Lovi went with owl. Lovi could only cover her mouth in shock and shake her head, looking legitimately shell shocked.
Mainezoil
Contestant Stefanie Payne made it to the $300 question before dropping out over oil. She was given the question, "A nod to the location of the oil fields where it was first produced, a well-known brand of motor oil has what state-inspired name?"
The answers were Rhodezoil, Mainezoil, Pennzoil, and Connzoil. Pennzoil is a very popular brand of motor oil (as the question suggests), and the other three obviously don't exist. However, Payne went with Mainezoil, and she walked away with nothing.
First Trip To Rome
This is undoubtedly one of the most infamous wrong answers in Millionaire history, having long made its way around the web. Contestant Brenton Andreasik was given the first question, "Snapping selfies in kitchens you can't afford and taking 'a meatball break' are two things BuzzFeed says every twentysomething does on their first trip where?" Because he associated kitchens and meatballs with Rome, he answered C, Rome. The correct answer was obviously D, Ikea, and Andreasik hung his head in embarrassment and defeat.
And Many More!
New York's Kevin Brown clearly hasn't heard many iterations of Happy Birthday. After successfully answering the first question, Brown was given the $200 question, "'And many more' is a line commonly sung at the end of what traditional ditty?" The answers given were Old Macdonald, Jolly Good Fellow, Happy Birthday, and Home on the Range. Quite confident in his answer, Brown went with B, Jolly Good Fellow. The answer was obviously Happy Birthday, and Brown walked away with $0 in winnings.
Aw Shucks
Contestant Linda Cohen-Schofield was given the question, "When used as an adjective, 'aw-shucks' describes a person with which of these traits?" The answers were greed, modesty, self-confidence, and jealousy. While not the easiest question in the show's history, the answer is still quite obvious given that "aw shucks" is something people playfully and modestly say when complimented by another. Regardless, Cohen-Schofield went with jealousy. This was the $300, meaning she walked away with nothing.