Stage millionaire offers cash prize

A stage version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? is to offer a £1m (€1.44m) cash prize, it was announced today.

The live show had been criticised because, rather than winning money, punters amass points which are exchanged for prizes. A maximum score of one million points wins an X-type Jaguar.

Producers Celador have now announced there will be a grand final on the last night of the tour in Torquay.

Anyone who has made it to the hotseat during the tour will be entered into a special Final Cash Game on September 3, where the prize really will be £1m in cash.

Show presenter Eamonn Holmes said: “To be able to play for £1m like the TV show is amazing. I didn’t think we could ramp the tension up any higher on this tour – but we just have.”

The theatre show has so far toured in Britain with presenters Les Dennis and Paul Ross.

As with the ITV show, contestants compete in Fastest Finger First rounds before taking their place in the hotseat, where they play for a range of prizes.