Crash, breakdown, pure ignorance: WWM is not a celebration on Rose Monday, even without a taboo costume. “It was a long day,” complains one lady. “They don’t make it shorter,” says Jauch. The Bundesbanker is cold-bloodedly playing her way to the huge Munich party.
In the end, all Günther Jauch could do was sarcasm. “The forgotten genius,” joked the host of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” (WWM), when the last candidate of the evening was finally chosen. Eight selection questions were necessary to determine four candidates – and that for broadcast on Shrove Monday in the carnival stronghold of Cologne. Some viewers might then prefer to check again to see whether the costume might fall under the gun law.
Somehow it was fitting that this edition of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” started with a failure. After overhang candidate David Siebert from Munich said goodbye with 32,000 euros after two questions, game inventor Frank Müller initially seemed to be on the road to success. The father of two small sons from Friedberg, also in Bavaria, had no idea that Daniel Günther was the Prime Minister of Schleswig-Holstein for 16,000 euros.
WWM: Crash due to orgasm spell
But Jauch generously ticked it off as a “Bayern bonus”. But then the nervous candidate dared to do too much despite being clueless. “By far the most famous quote from which hit movie comes from a character who only says this one sentence in the entire film?” asked Jauch for 32,000 euros. We were looking for the orgasm-loving restaurant visitor from “Harry and Sally”. But Müller, with the help of his telephone joker, stuck to “Terminator 2” without having a quote in mind. The consequence: crash to 500 euros.
“Ms. Schnitzler is not smart, she just knows better,” Jauch had to admit appreciatively to the next candidate. This gave him the opportunity to reminisce about a windfall. Charlotte Schnitzler is responsible for public relations at the Bundesbank in Munich. “Who was the only advertising medium in the history of the Bundesbank?” asked the moderator, and of course he meant himself.
In 2001, Jauch was supposed to encourage the Germans to exchange German marks for euros. Keyword “sleeping coins”. “It was my best advertising job,” Jauch remembered. “Because the task was: Please come to the photographer unkempt, unshaven and with a sleepy, bleary-eyed expression on your face. It wasn’t difficult for me.” After five minutes he was finished: “If I convert it to the minute, I’ve never earned so much money again.”
What the Bundesbanker didn’t know about Jauch, she was able to deduce. This is also the case with the 8,000 euro question as to which carnival costumes could cause problems with a law. Schnitzler first thought about an anti-discrimination law, then a ban on veiling, but quickly landed on “Sheriff and Pirate.” Paragraph 42a of the Weapons Act prohibits the use of deceptively real dummy weapons.
The Munich woman was lucky with her jokers in the following rounds. A colleague on the phone immediately knew that in 1984 the West German First Lady named Veronica (Carstens) had a successor named Marianne (Weizsäcker). The studio audience was then very familiar with schnapps and the majority guessed that sake is not distilled, but brewed. Then the Bundesbanker found the time was right to gamble.
Banker gambles
Schnitzler proved once again that the security variant is a candidate on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” can take you far. When Jauch asked for a piece of the clarinet with a fruit name for 125,000 euros, she had a vague idea to take the full risk. “I’ll just take the pear. If it’s not right, then at least I have 16,000,” said the Münster native dryly and was one round further.
“I’m not giving up, I’m content.”
Schnitzer preferred to leave unanswered the fact that “ring resistance” means a clear coat of paint on furniture that prevents water rings when asked the question for 500,000 euros. “And give up?” Jauch assured himself. “I’m not giving up, I’m content,” the mother of four children aged 13 to 30 corrected him. She wants to use her winnings for a family trip to Iceland and a big celebration in a rented location. “It’s going to be a great party,” said Jauch – not yet knowing what was about to happen.
Selection question number three could not be answered by any of the four remaining applicants. “Then you’re right to be left behind,” Jauch teased, still relaxed. Instead, he asked about celebrities’ milestone birthdays this year – but candidates and viewers were asked a different question. At least Rick Leinichen from Hanover was able to answer selection question number six. “You could have done 30 seconds,” commented Jauch on the quick login.
The freelance video game translator learned from “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” that Munich vehicle owners can also choose “MUC” in addition to the “M” on their license plate. The M combinations were becoming scarce, explained Jauch. The 30-year-old needed at least one joker in every round starting with the 8,000 euro question and left with 32,000 euros. In the end, he didn’t know that the electric pioneer Nikola Tesla has been depicted on the back of regular Eurocent coins since 2023.
The conclusion of this edition of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” then proceeded appropriately. The remaining three women were unable to answer selection question seven. “It’s been a long day,” one of them justified herself. “You don’t necessarily make it shorter,” said Jauch. A colleague had to bring the moderator a new stack of question cards. “It’ll never happen,” he said.
But at least Simone Beckmann from Göttingen was able to correctly answer the eighth and final selection question of the evening. Jauch was under so much time pressure that he didn’t even introduce the candidate. Luckily, the horn sounded after the 200 euro question. “You have fulfilled your target for today,” Jauch dismissed the exhausted candidate and was probably a little relieved himself.