How to Appear on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire"

So you want to get rich quick - like in one night? Here's how to become a contestant on the popular television game show.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Travel Guides
• Touch-Tone Telephones
• Answering Machines
• Televisions
• Trivial Pursuit Games
• Who Wants To Be A Millionaire Game
• Cellular Phones

1. Check the Related Site, "Be a Contestant," for the dates during which new players are selected.
2. Call the "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" Contestant Hotline at [phone] during that time period. Call daily if necessary. The phone lines are open from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. EST.
3. Enter your gender, date of birth and the last four digits of your Social Security number when prompted to do so.
4. Successfully answer three multipart questions of increasing difficulty. Each question has multiple answers that must be placed in the correct order based on instructions given in the question. For example, you might be given the names of four U.S. Secretaries of State and asked to put them in order according to when they served. There is a 10-second time limit for each question.
5. Choose a specific tape date and episode slot from the options given. Provided you make it that far, this could be your date with destiny. Information for the next phone call will also be provided.
6. Cross your fingers. At this point, you'll be entered into a computerized random drawing with other contestants who successfully answered the questions and who selected the same date and episode. Forty such contestants are selected.
7. Answer the phone. If you are selected, a representative of the show will make two attempts to reach you between 12 p.m. EST and 3 p.m. EST on a day specified during your initial phone call. You must personally receive the eligibility phone call and meet its requirements. If deemed eligible, you will be given further instructions and advance to the semifinal round playoff game.
8. Answer the five semifinal playoff game questions accurately and quickly. Following the usual question format, your answers and timing will be compared to those of other semifinalists. The top 10 scorers win the prize: an all-expenses-paid trip to New York and a chance to win $1 million.

Tips & Warnings

• Click on ABC.com's official "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" Web site (see Related Sites) for game rules and further explanation.
• The questions asked on your initial phone call come from many categories - world leaders, capital cities and Shakespeare, for example.
• Set aside some time for the initial phone call. With so many competing callers, you'll likely have to try many times just to get through.
• Entries are limited to one per day. The day you phone in corresponds to a later taping date for which you must be available.
• Don't get your hopes up too high. It's estimated that 7 percent of the 240,000 daily participants correctly answer the three initial questions in the time provided.
• Eligibility phone calls cannot be made to pager numbers.