Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (WWTBAM) is an intercontinental game show of British origin fashioned by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill, and Steven Knight. The game franchise adapted by Nigerians in its original format is a game show where large prices are offered for answering random series of multi choice questions correctly with an increasing level of difficulty. It first aired on 8 October 2004, and after thirteen years of non-stop coverage, it ended with a hope of continuity on the 25th June 2017.
MTN Nigeria has pulled out of the sponsorship of the game show and WWTBAM has secured a deal with Airoplay, a global international payments operator who would be partnering with Ultima Studios to start a new season in September.
Surprisingly, Frank Edoho, broadcaster, and Compere, who, in Nigeria, has become the face of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, would no longer be the host of the show. According to the representative of Ultima Studios, the producer of WWTBAM, Frank feels it is time for him to move on, and not because of any grievances. To which, Frank Edoho responded on his twitter account, that he had declined the offer made to him.
Although previous game shows have been successful in rebranding their franchise, there are many others that lose their audience engagement and drive, because the expectations have not been met. Game shows which are a genre of reality television require, sometimes, the host as its brand ambassadors which the audience can relate with. Many times, the new host struggles with the expectations required by the audiences as it has been created subconsciously by the previous host.
It should be noted that the prize money which was doubled by MTN Nigeria to Ten Million Naira has drastically been reduced to Five Million Naira. We watch in earnest for the fate of the television show for the next thirteen years.
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3TVCHANNEL
