NEW YORK (April 16, 2012) — “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire,” with Emmy Award-winning host Meredith Vieira, will present “American Pride Week” (April 30 – May 4 and Monday, May 7), a specialty series devoted to celebrating everything that makes America great! Throughout the week, “Millionaire” will feature members of the U.S. military, firefighters and teachers as contestants, and will also host U.S. Olympic athletes who will play the game and try to win one million dollars to benefit charity. Check local listings or go to http://www.millionairetv.com for time and channel.
Episodes airing Monday, April 30 – Thursday, May 3 will feature contestants pulled from a very special studio audience filled with truly inspiring Americans — members of the U.S. military, firefighters and teachers – who will all be dressed in red, white and blue. Host Meredith Vieira will call down unsuspecting members of the specialty audience, giving them the opportunity to play the game right on the spot and possibly walk away millionaires!
“”American Pride Week’ ended up being some of my favorite shows of the entire season,” said Vieira. “Not only were we able to give away ‘Millionaire’ money to some very deserving people, but we were honored to have given these distinguished Americans some well-deserved recognition and to thank them for their contributions to this country,” she added.
On Friday, May 4 and Monday, May 7, Vieira will host American heroes of a different type – U.S. Olympic medalists! Featured Olympians will include gymnasts Dominique Dawes and Jonathan Horton and Olympic swimmers Dara Torres and Ryan Lochte. The Olympians will play “Millionaire” as two-person teams and will donate their winnings to the U.S. Olympic Committee. Each team is guaranteed to win a minimum of $10,000 for the USOC, an organization whose mission involves training and assistance for U.S. athletes preparing for the Olympics.
Gymnast Jonathan Horton won a team bronze medal and individual silver medal (high bar) in the 2008 Olympics. For his “Millionaire” appearance, he will partner with veteran Olympian Dominique Dawes, who medaled in all three Olympic games in which she competed, including a team gold medal and individual bronze medal (floor exercise) in Atlanta in 1996.
Olympic swimmer Dara Torres is one of the most accomplished athletes to have ever represented the United States. She has competed in five Olympic games (1984, 1988, 1992, 2000 and 2008) and is a twelve-time Olympic medalist (four gold, four silver, four bronze). Torres will play “Millionaire” with fellow Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte. Lochte has competed in two Olympic games (2004 and 2008) and is a six-time Olympic medalist (three gold, one silver, two bronze).
About “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire”:
“Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” with host Meredith Vieira is currently in its tenth season. Vieira has hosted the daytime version of “Millionaire” since the show debuted in 2002. She is a multi Emmy Award-winner and has won two Daytime Emmys for her work on “Millionaire” (2005 and 2009). Throughout her ten seasons on the show, Vieira has hosted over 1,800 episodes and handed out more than $70 million in winnings to “Millionaire” contestants. “Millionaire” is produced by Valleycrest Productions Ltd. and is distributed by Disney-ABC Domestic Television. Rich Sirop is the executive producer. In addition to serving as the host of the show, Meredith Vieira serves as co-executive producer. Visit “Millionaire’s” website at http://www.millionairetv.com.
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