Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, the most successful British game show of all time, takes to our screens tonight, when Gay Byrne will quiz contestants vying for the £1 million grand prize. The show is being broadcast in 30 countries around the world.
This time, however, Uncle Gaybo will not be promising one for everyone in the audience.
Of the 100,000 hopefuls registered on the premium-rate phone lines over the last two weeks, just 10 were chosen by computer to take part and only a handful of those will then get to compete for cash.
The hour-long show on RTE 1 will be split into two sections, at 7.30 p.m. and 8.30 p.m., with a half-hour episode of Fair City in between.
Fifteen questions stand between the contestant and £1,000,000. Contestants have four possible answers to choose from and three lifelines: phone a friend, 50/50, or ask the audience.
Sounds easy? Seven million pounds has already been won on ITV, which first screened the show in September 1998. But its first £1 million winner has yet to be found.
Last night Paddy Power bookmakers were offering odds of 200-1 that someone would scoop the grand prize in the opening show.
Eircell has sponsored the show to the tune of £7 million over two years, to cover prize money and production costs. In return, the company receives an undisclosed fraction of the cost of the premium rate phone calls made by viewers to register.
The company yesterday denied media reports that it was making huge profits from the calls. It said its decision to raise the cost of its premium rate mobile calls from 58p to 85p per minute was in line with a similar move by ESAT Digifone last week.
"Up to the beginning of November we were effectively subsidising the calls and making a loss. The decision to adjust rates was designed to cover our costs," said a spokeswoman.
The first Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, Irish style, was taped under lock and key in RTE at 7.30 p.m. yesterday in front of an audience of 150.
Producers were anxious that no details of the results would be leaked to the media.
During rehearsals the 10 contestants took turns in the hot seat and were said to be "jelling" well together.
The show typically goes into the top three of the TAM ratings of whatever country screens it. RTE and Tyrone Productions hope for similar success in Ireland. "The highest viewing figures ever were 1.3 million viewers for the last Late Late Show under Gay Byrne, so we're hoping he'll come back in the same way he want out," said an RTE spokeswoman.
She said Gay was free to put his own stamp on the production, "but he knows the show is the main thing." With a worldwide weekly audience estimated at 39 million people, is it possible this show will be bigger than its host? Is that your final answer?