Miljoenenjacht (Netherlands)

For the Belgian version, also called Miljoenenjacht, see Miljoenenjacht (Belgium).

Postcode Loterij Miljoenenjacht
Format	Game show
Created by	John de Mol
Starring	Linda de Mol
Country of origin	Netherlands
Language(s)	Dutch
Production
Running time	75 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	RTL 4
Original run	November 25, 2000[1] – present

Miljoenenjacht (English: Hunt For Millions; Dutch pronunciation: [mɪɫjunənjɑxt]), officially Postcode Loterij Miljoenenjacht, is a Dutch game show, sponsored by the country's postcode lottery, where a contestant and at-home viewer could win up to €5,000,000 (approx. $7,070,000 or £4,380,000) or as little as €0.01. The show is broadcast at various times, spanning across six episodes for each set. The program was originally shown by TROS on Nederland 2, but moved to creator John de Mol's channel Tien in 2005. After the channel was discontinued after its sale to the RTL Group, the program moved to RTL 4.

The format of the programme's final round has been exported worldwide by Dutch producer Endemol under the title Deal or No Deal, a title also used for Miljoenenjacht's lower-stakes sister spinoff on RTL 5, which is based more off the global format and removes the additional elements.

Airings

The show has been airing since late 2000. The show airs two series of about six episodes each per year: One in spring and the other in winter. The Fall 2010 season premiered on November 14, 2010.^[2]

Quiz rounds

Settings

Five hundred audience members are seated in an arena-style set. The audience is divided into two sections of 250 each, one red and one blue. Each section is then divided into five sections of 50. The five red blocks are numbered 1 to 5 and the blue blocks are numbered 6 to 10. These blocks of 50 are further divided into two blocks of 25, with the top 25 labelled "A", and the bottom 25 "B". Linda de Mol, the host, enters the studio through vault doors and begins this quiz round section.

Preliminary rounds

In the first round, de Mol asks the contestants a multiple choice question with three possible answers, which they have 10 seconds to answer using their keypads. Each correct answer gains their team of 250 (red or blue) a point, with a wrong answer worth nothing. Points are announced after each question and the team with the most points after three questions advances to round two. The other team of 250 is out of the game. (Starting in 2008, everyone on the winning team receives a small prize valued at about €100.)

In round two, the five blocks of 50 compete against each other in the same fashion as above, with the winning group proceeding.

Finally, round three sees the two blocks of 25 battle each other, with the winning half continuing to the next round.

In 2009, after each round, one player from the losing section was randomly chosen and given the option of taking home a valuable prize or taking a seat in Round 4. If the contestant took the seat in Round 4, the prize rolled over to the next round, so after Round 3 someone could have gone home with about €15,000 in prizes.

Starting in 2010, after each round, one of the eliminated players is randomly selected and given the opportunity to pick one of three colored briefcases (red, white or blue). Two of them have a valuable prize inside. If one of these is chosen then everyone in that block of 25 wins that prize. The other contestant has a "Chance at €5 Million" and, if this is picked, the contestant then takes a seat in Round 4.

Round 4

Five different variations of Round 4 have existed during the show's current run.

Variation used until 2005

The 25 audience members in the winning block, along with one random audience member from the remaining 475 contestants, are placed on podiums in the middle of the set. Ten questions are given to the 26 players - the first three have two possible answers, the next three questions have three, and the final four questions have four. All players key in their answers. If a player answers correctly, they receive one point for each contestant who answered incorrectly. All players who choose a wrong answer receive nothing. The two highest scorers at the end of the round move on to the final quiz round, Round 5.

Variation used in 2005 and 2006

Starting in 2005, the five best players from the winning block plus one randomly selected audience member take their place at one of six podiums. Linda gives the players a series of clues one at a time that pertain to a certain person, place, or object. If a player buzzes in and is incorrect, they will leave the game. If a player buzzes in and is correct, however, that person must select an opponent to eliminate from the game by pressing one of five buttons on their podium. However, the player who is about to be eliminated still has a chance to win some money. If they feel they have been chosen to be eliminated, they can press their buzzer. The first person that does chooses a coloured suitcase. These contain amounts from €1,000 to €22,000. Whatever is in the case is what that player wins, however, they must then leave the game. If no-one chooses to take the bribe, the player who was selected to be eliminated leaves without any money. The game continues until two remain.

Variation used in 2007 and 2008

The five best players from the winning block plus one randomly selected audience member take their place at one of six podiums. Linda asks the players questions. The answers to these questions are always numbers. The players type in their answer. The one whose answer is furthest away from the correct answer gets eliminated. However, like in the variation used in 2005 and 2006, the player who is about to be eliminated still has a chance to win some money. Before Linda reveals the answer, they are given a chance to press their buzzer and bail out of the game. This person can then choose between four coloured suitcases (red, blue, green, orange). The four suitcases together contain €40.000. Whatever is in the case is what that player wins, however, they must then leave the game. If no-one chooses to take the bribe, the player whose answer was furthest away leaves without any money. The game continues until two remain.

Variation used in 2008

Just like in the previous variation, the five best players and a randomly selected audience member take place at one of six podiums and answer four questions, to which the answers are always numbers. The only difference is that the players have no possibility to press their buzzer and choose one of the suitcases. Instead of this the player whose answer is furthest away from the correct answer wins a small sum of money (€1000 for the first eliminated, €2000 for the second, €3000 for the third and €4000 for the fourth).

Variation used from 2009 onward

As in the previous two variations, the six players—those who turned down prizes from the previous rounds, plus the best players in the quiz—will answer questions with numerical answers. The difference is that the questions are now based on audience polls. Linda will ask a yes-or-no survey question to either the entire studio audience or a particular part of it (men, women, married men, married women, etc.) and once everyone has entered his answer, she will ask the players to guess how many people answered yes to that question. Whoever is furthest away from the actual number is eliminated, but will win a sum of money as stated above.

Round 5

The two remaining contestants face each other at a single showdown-style podium, with two buzzers and a neon bulb in the centre. A mystery suitcase, which is spinning, is placed on the set's stairs. The contents can be given to one of the players if they eliminate themselves from the game, therefore giving the other player a chance to win from €0.01 to €5,000,000. Its contents can include trips, cars, and a variety of other prizes. If no-one chooses to take the contents of the suitcase, which they will not know until it is open, Linda asks one more multiple-choice question (with three possible answers). If a player buzzes in and answers correct, that player wins the game and moves on to the bonus round. If a player buzzes in and answers incorrect, the other player may answer with one of the two remaining choices. If both are wrong, the player who buzzed in first proceeds, and the other is eliminated.

During the first 2008 series, however, the mysterious suitcase was no longer the prize one of the two players left could take. Starting from 0, the amount of money awarded to a player who eliminates themselves rises up to a certain amount, chosen beforehand, after which the players cannot eliminate themselves freely anymore. If a player buzzes before the money rise has ended, the player will receive the amount of money it had risen to up to that point. If no player eliminates themselves, the contestants will receive a calculation, which they will have to answer correctly to proceed to the final round. If an incorrect answer is given, the other contestant will proceed to the final round.

Final round

Variation used until 2002

The winner is set on an elevated chair set high in the air. The winning contestant will be guaranteed at least ƒ1, but can turn it into ƒ10,000,000. To do so, Linda will ask seven multiple-choice questions. For each one they get right, a zero will be added to their winnings. They are asked the questions back-to-back however. After answering all seven questions, the show goes to commercial and after the break, they are notified how many questions they correctly answered and their total winnings. Here is the ladder for the amount of winnings:

Questions answered correctly	Amount of money won
0	ƒ1 (€0.45)
1	ƒ10 (€4.53)
2	ƒ100 (€45.37)
3	ƒ1,000 (€453.78)
4	ƒ10,000 (€4,537.80)
5	ƒ100,000 (€45,378.02)
6	ƒ1,000,000 (€453,780.22)
7	ƒ10,000,000 (€4,537,802.16)

Variation used from 2002 onward

For the format of Deal or No Deal in general, see Deal or No Deal.

€0.01
€0.20
€0.50
€1
€5
€10
€20
€50
€100
€500
€1,000
€2,500
€5,000

€10,000
€25,000
€50,000
€75,000
€100,000
€200,000
€300,000
€400,000
€500,000
€750,000
€1,000,000
€2,500,000
€5,000,000

On December 22, 2002, the format of the final round was changed.^[1][3] Twenty-six ladies, with identical outfits and hair (wigs are used) enter the studio from the vault doors. Linda and the winning contestant make their way to the stage, where the winner chooses one of the briefcases, numbered from 1 to 26, to become theirs. They also state their postcode for use later in the show. After the selection, the players have a brief talk with the show's independent adjudicator. Linda and the qualified contestant then make their way to the middle of the stage (where the quiz portion had earlier taken place, but with the podiums moved). The other contestants from the winning section in round 3, plus the randomly selected person for round 4 (or without this person if it had been the winning contestant in round 5), are each given a different suitcase from the 25 remaining ones. They are seated in a special section on set in the order of their case numbers. The winning player chooses cases to be opened, however if they open a case, they will no longer be able to win that amount of money (unless they accept it in a deal, see below). Each round calls for the contestant to eliminate a set number of cases:

Six cases are removed in the first round, each round removing one less case, and after 6 rounds of offers, the cases are opened one at a time.

The player selects a case, and the eliminated player holding it guesses which value from the remaining ones on board it contains. If they are correct, the player wins €1,000 for each unopened case, so if the first selected panel member guesses correctly, they win €26,000. This was discarded starting in the Winter 2010 season, as the models open up the cases now. After the selected number of cases for the round are opened, an alarm sounds, and a bank offer is placed on the screen using an on-screen graphic. The offer corresponds with what round it is, what is left on the board, the luck and emotions of the player, how many cases are left on the set, and probability of removing a giant amount. The longer the large values remain on the board, the higher the offer will be. The player in this bonus round has a friend sitting on the set (much like the Who Wants to be a Millionaire? companion seat) to help with the decision. Once seeing the offer and considering it, the player either says "Deal", in which case the player sells their briefcase for the bank offer, or "No Deal", in which case the player opens the next round's amount of cases, before the next offer. Play continues until the player says "Deal" or until all cases are opened, and in this situation, the player leaves with their briefcase's contents. A random at-home viewer will also be given the same amount of money as the contestant's win.

Later seasons see the identical ladies replaced by twenty-six men, clad in tuxedos, but their role remains basically the same.

In most other versions of Deal or No Deal which use 26 models, the models wear identical dresses and shoes, although the style may be changed for each episode; because of that regulation, the models don't wear wigs in most other versions which use 26 cases. In later seasons, the models of Miljoenenjacht did the same, therefore removing the wigs. For the Winter 2010 season, the show went even further and had the models open up the cases instead of the contestants.

Random Remote of Doom

An item of the show known by fans as the "Random Remote of Doom" has almost become a trademark of the show. Sometimes, de Mol has the remote in her hand, which seemingly appears from nowhere. She presses one of its buttons, a red light flashes on it and someone from the audience is selected randomly. It can be used for a variety of things, including finding the sixth player for Round 4 and picking someone to win a cash prize.

Extreme prizes (theoretically and factual)

Each show Miljoenenjacht can, theoretically, give away more than three times the jackpot of the case game, €5,000,000. This happens when:

• The in-studio player has the opportunity to win €5,000,000 in the case game.
• A random at-home viewer, who plays in the Postcode Loterij, and has selected the same "number" as the briefcase chosen by the end game player, is given an amount equal to what the in-studio player wins, which could also be €5,000,000.
• When a player selects their briefcase in the final round, that person states their postcode. The following week, whatever the in-studio player wins, that person's postcode dwellers win a portion of the top prize too. When all values are given away to each person in the postcode, it totals up to €5,000,000.
• If all the briefcase holders correctly guess the amounts in their briefcases (see Final Round section), a further €350,000 will be given away.
• In round four, if all of the four contestants chosen to be eliminated take the bribe, a further amount of money will be given away.

When all these amounts are summed, the total is €15,350,000 plus the money from the 'bribes', which is more than three times the top prize of €5,000,000.

Extreme winners:

• The show's biggest winner is Arno Woesthoff. He won ƒ10,000,000 (€4,537,802) in the episode of September 2, 2001. In a previous episode of Miljoenenjacht he had already won ƒ1,000,000 (€453,780), to a grand total of ƒ11,000,000 (€4,990,000). With that, he holds the record of Dutch quiz show winnings.
• The show's second to biggest winner is Helma. She won €1,495,000 (US$2,147,723 or £1,211,700) with the amounts of €1,000, €75,000, €2,500,000 and €5,000,000 remaining on the board. As per normal, she continued picking cases after she dealt, to see how much she would have won had she carried on. She removed the €5,000,000 on her next pick, thus ending up having a 'perfect' game. Her briefcase turned out to only have had €1,000. This was reportedly one of the biggest wins in worldwide traditional game show history.
• The show's smallest winner is a man from Venlo who won €10.
• The show's biggest loss of a deal occurred on November 21, 2010; the contestant accepted €460,000 for his case, which turned out to have the top prize in it. A male contestant on June 1, 2008 and a female contestant on April 4, 2010 accepted €1,050,000 and €1,000,000 respectively for their cases, which also had the top prize.

Fall 2010 changes

Quiz Round

The 500 players are divided into 10 sections of 50, each from a pre-selected postal code.^[4] Linda asks 5 multiple-choice questions, each with 3 possible answers. [The third question is accompanied by a video related to the subject of that question.] Players have 6 seconds to enter their answers via keypad. The player in each section who answers the most questions correctly in the fastest time moves on to Round 2; the remaining players in each section receive a consolation prize, such as a digital video camera.

Round 2

The ten winners from the Quiz Round are then paired into a series of 5 one-on-one matchups, with Linda polling the studio audience, or certain members of that audience, on a particular question for each matchup. After the audience members electronically answer yes or no, the contestants, using keypads, will guess how many of the audience members answered "yes". The player closest to the actual number moves on to Round 3. Guessing the number exactly wins a brand-new car.

Round 3

The five winners from Round 2 play another question round, placed 1st through 5th, based on how well they did in the first 2 rounds. Linda asks a series of general-knowledge questions for players to buzz in and answer. A correct answer moves a player up one place [i.e., from 2nd to 1st], while an incorrect answer moves a player down one place [i.e., from 1st to 2nd]. A player in last place who answers incorrectly is blocked from answering the next question. After 100 seconds, the 5th place player is eliminated and wins €1,000. The process is then repeated for two more rounds, with the 4th place contestant winning €2,000 and the 3rd place contestant winning €3,000.

Round 4

The last two contestants from Round 3 are shown a jackpot starting at €1,000 and increasing irregularly up to a predetermined amount. Whoever buzzes in first takes whatever money is shown on the counter while the other player goes on to the Final Round. If no one buzzes in when the predetermined amount is reached, Linda would ask a math question, with the first to buzz in and answer correctly advancing to that Final Round.

Final Round

The final round is played as before, but instead of audience members holding the briefcases and guessing how much theirs is worth, the models are holding the cases, as in the US and Philippine versions of Deal or No Deal. Prior to this round, a randomly-selected audience member is given a handbell to ring, during the first two briefcase-picking rounds, if that audience member thinks a briefcase chosen by the contestant has a lot of money. If the briefcase holds €50,000 or more, the audience member wins €50,000, but anything less, and the audience member wins that amount.

Whatever each contestant wins is also won by a randomly-selected viewer, and is also divided amongst lottery players in the winner's postal code.

Random Remote of Doom variation

A couple of times in each episode, audience members are randomly selected to win a cash prize, such as €10,000.

External links

• Official Website
• Postcode Loterij "Miljoenenjacht" Website
• Watch "Miljoenenjacht" live (when its next season airs)
• View archived episodes of "Miljoenenjacht" when they are available
• Postcode Loterij Miljoenenjacht at the Internet Movie Database

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Bother's Bar - The Cellar - March 2006". http://www.bothersbar.co.uk/cellar/March2006.htm. 
2. ^ "Nationale Postcode Loterij - Miljoenenjacht". http://www.postcodeloterij.nl/TV/Miljoenenjacht.htm. 
3. ^ "The Official International Deal or No Deal Website - Countries - Netherlands". http://www.dealornodeal.com/news/countries/?id=2#country_name. 
4. ^ Miljoenenjacht (11/14/2010) - Game Show Forum