ABC’s revamped Super Millionaire is only two nights old and the show has already had two big winners.
Monday night, 33-year-old Robert Essig won $1 million. Essig used his three "lifelines," for outside help, to answer the $100,000, $500,000, and $1 million questions correctly. Essign ultimately walked away from the $2.5 million question.
The show’s first night won the evening, drawing an average audience of 17.5 million viewers and a 5.7 rating/13 share in adults 18-49, according to Nielsen’s fast affiliate ratings. During that show, 31-year-old Todd Kim won $500,000.
ABC has brought back Super Millionaire for five nights during February sweeps. In the new version, contestants can win a $10 million grand prize, up from $1 million when the program was a prime time staple three years ago.
Contributing editor Paige Albiniak has been covering the business of television for nearly 25 years. She is a longtime contributor to Next TV, Broadcasting + Cable and Multichannel News. She concurrently serves as editorial director for entertainment marketing association Promax. She has written for such publications as TVNewsCheck, The New York Post, Variety, CBS Watch and more. Albiniak was B+C’s Los Angeles bureau chief from September 2002 to 2004, and an associate editor covering Congress and lobbying for the magazine in Washington, D.C., from January 1997-September 2002.
