Millionaire fans say show ‘took a nosedive’ as Sophia Bush pockets $250,000 on ‘depressingly easy’ question

WHO Wants To Be a Millionaire fans were left demanding answers after actress Sophia Bush and her teammate made $250,000 on a jarringly easy question tonight.

Jimmy Kimmel hosts the weekly game show revival with two pairs of celebrities vying for up to $1 million for charity.

ABC

ABC

ABC

The One Tree Hill star and comedian Alex Edelman took to the hot seat first on Wednesday night.

The pair breezed by most of the game (stumbling on the previous question using two lifelines), reaching the $250,000 question.

The $250,000 question was, “Ranked No. 2 on a Rolling Stone list of the best songs by fake bands, “Scotty Doesn’t Know” is lip synced by Matt Damon in what raunchy teen comedy?”

The options were A: “Eurotrip,” B: “Hot Tub Time Machine,” C: “American Pie 2.” and D: “Van Wilder 2.”

“It’s Eurotrip,” Alex instantly said. “I think he’s right!” Sophia echoed.

They locked it in immediately, and Jimmy told them they were correct as they lept up from their seats and hugged.

‘DEPRESSINGLY EASY’

Fans took to social media, saying the question was “easy” to be worth $250,000 and didn’t hold back their hot takes.

“”I get it… but lord are the questions on Celebrity Millionaire depressingly easy,” one fan wrote on X as the show aired.

“Scotty doesn’t know from Eurotrip for $250,000, lol this show has taken a nosedive,” wrote another.

The duo instantly hit a roadblock on the next question for $500,000.

It was a few notches up in difficulty and about U.S. Presidents- so they walked away with their locked-in amount for their charity.

The new season premiered on July 10, and new episodes air on ABC at 8 p.m. ET every Wednesday.

Millionaire 2024 Contestants

Here's who else is taking to the Millionaire stage in celebrity pairings this season on Wednesday nights

• Rosie O’Donnell and Lisa Ann Walter
• John Stamos and Dave Coulier of Full House
• Ray Romano and Brad Garrett
• Zach Braff and Donald Faison
• Lil Dicky and GaTa
• Kelly and Jack Osbourne
• Ike Barinholtz and Alan Barinholtz
• Sebastian Maniscalco and Omar J. Dorsey
• Nicole Byer and Sasheer Zamata
• Sophia Bush and Alex Edelman
• Gillian Jacobs and Danny Pudi
• Natasha Leggero and Jason Ritter
• Ron Funches and Reggie Watts
• Jeff Ross and “Cousin” Sal Iacono.

MODERN MILLIONAIRE

Jimmy, a veteran talk show and Oscars host (well, not this year ) has helmed this revival of Millionaire since 2020.

Not all fans like Millionaire’s new format , focusing on celebrities.

Fans have said having celeb contestants instead of average Joes removes any stakes and seems to go against the show’s concept.

“One big issue is the lack of regular non-celebrity contestants,” one X user recently posted in a thread of show complaints. “Bring back the real-life drama and life-changing storylines.”

Others have had issues with the episode structure, which consists of two pairs of A-listers stuffed into an hour and has removed the show’s former fluidity.

“So much of the show is sloppy and frankly, bad,” another person recently wrote. “Writing is rough. Questions have typos. Pacing is bad. Editing is very rough. Sound design is lacking. Feels rushed/no room to breathe. Forcing two games an hour removes any drama. It’s confusing how it turned into this.”

“It feels so compressed like they won’t even let Jimmy talk to the contestants a little coming back from break,” a third fan agreed.

That said, the current season is pulling great ratings and the first few episodes have had their moments.

On the Season 3 premiere, John Mulaney and Nick Kroll went viral on X after botching an “easy” Succession question – not knowing Cousin Greg’s girlfriend’s ludicrously capacious bag.

In Episode 2, Parent Trap’s Lisa Ann Walter amazed fans by winning $250,000 after nailing a tricky geography question with no lifelines.

‘WE’RE STILL HERE’

Season 3 of the Millionaire revival also marks the first time Jimmy has hosted with a studio audience.

The revival’s first two seasons of the once-number one-rated show were filmed during Covid.

Contestants would bring their phone-a-friend to the studio, and they had to stand in the back along the set wall.

Kimmel acknowledged things aren’t the same during the Season 3 premiere, “This show went on the air in the summer of 1999 hosted by the late great Regis Philbin.

“It was the most popular show in the world by far, and now I’m the host, and it’s not anymore,” the audience nervously laughed.

“But we’re still here. Because of the pandemic I’ve never hosted the show with an audience, we did two seasons with nobody here so welcome!”

PRE-RECESSION MILLIONAIRE

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire premiered on ABC in 1999 and instantly became a mega-smash.

Regis Philbin hosted the show, which became so popular that it was commissioned as a regular series a year later.

By 2002, nine savvy citizens had won the grand prize, three more during its syndicated run as popularity waned

But who could forget its first winner John Carpenter, who iconically used the phone-a-friend lifeline just to call his dad and tell him he was about to win the million?

Meredith Vieira hosted from 2002 to 2014, and Terry Crews, Cedric The Entertainer, and Chris Harrison have also taken turns.

Millionaire’s current celebrity edition premiered in 2020 on ABC and was put on an indefinite hiatus in 2022 – now it’s back .

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Millionaire