On the 4th of September 1998 the British channel ITV1’s viewers saw the programme Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? for the first time. Back then nobody could guess that the phrase of the host Chris Tarrant: “Is it your final answer?” would become world-famous. The game has immediately won the viewer’s popularity and rose to the top rating lines.

At present the licence for the game production belongs to over 100 countries in the world. Now any person from Slovakia to India, from Australia to Iceland, from Columbia to Russia after hearing the phrase “Phone-a-Friend” immediately understands what the matter is about. In the USA the programme Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? has provoked interest to the game show format and dominated in the tough competition of the TV market for a long period of time. In India for several weeks after its launch the quiz broke all imaginable TV records.

Since 2001 the programme has been on Channel One Russia, and Dmitriy Dibrov has been its host since December 27, 2008.

In September 2010 the game moved to a new format: the logo, the studio decorations, music and graphic design as well as the rules of the game were changed.

The episode of June 11, 2011 with participation of the Buranovskiye Babushki was nominated for the TEFI-2011 award.