After watching Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, did you find yourself brimming with a bunch of head scratchers of your own? No need to phone a friend. Below, EW answers all of your nitty-gritty queries about this intriguing quiz show.
How can I become a contestant on the show?
You can start by picking up the phone and playing a three-question qualifying game (the toll-free number will be announced Nov. 1 on ABC and www.abc.com). Millionaire exec producer Michael Davies offers the following pointers on how to gain the inside track: ''I'm not going to tip off exactly how to do it,'' he teases, ''but you want to prepare yourself with a pen, paper, and a chart [for] the four possible answers before you make the phone call.''
How do they come up with the questions?
A team of 12 writers and researchers has at its disposal a $300,000 specially stocked library teeming with computers and reference books, ranging from Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence to Eyewitness Handbooks: French Cheeses. Thousands of questions are whipped up and triple-sourced for accuracy before being stored in a database. (Since the infamous ''Lake Michigan'' error, a further last-minute check has been added.) ''For every 1,000 questions that are approved, there are only 100 that I will ever consider programming,'' says Davies. ''A lot of game shows have 60 questions per half hour; we have 12 to 13 questions per half hour and they sit on the screen for a long time, so they've got to hit you where you just go, 'Oh my God, I should know that, but I have no idea.'''
How can I cram for those big-money questions?
''The people who are really good players have an incredibly wide range of interests,'' hints Davies. ''Spend a lot of time in the library, but you also better find some time to watch televison. This show is as much ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY as it is Discover or literary journals.'' And what if someone reaches the hot seat? ''This is sort of like SAT advice,'' he continues. ''Take your time. Read the question. Figure out exactly what we're looking for. Run through the answers very carefully. And go with your original instincts. Often the multiple choice tends to confuse people, when usually they'd instantly know what we're looking for.''
C'mon, doesn't Regis know all the answers?
Nope. After someone wins the ''Fastest Finger'' competition (in which one of the 10 contestants earns a place in the hot seat by giving the speediest correct answer), Philbin retreats to the computer room, where he reviews the pronunciations of all the ensuing questions and multiple answers -- but isn't told the correct responses. Later, when a contestant gives the final answer, a light flashes on Regis' computer: green means it's correct, red equals a flub. Why leave Reege in the dark? ''It's important he's a neutral force asking them the question at face value,'' says Millionaire supervising producer Ann Miller. ''If they thought he knew, they could be reading a lot of stuff into that.''
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