A game of wit, chance & luck

MANILA, Philippines - After Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, TV5 presents a new franchise in primetime game shows with The Million Peso Money Drop. The show is popularly seen in other countries like the US and UK.

Locally, The Million Peso Money Drop is a weekly game show that airs every Sunday night. It is hosted by Vic Sotto, who also hosted Who Wants To Be a Millionaire (currently not airing to give way to the new game show). However, The Million Peso Money Drop is an Endemol program like another recent TV5 franchise, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition Philippines.

The Million Peso Money Drop is heart-pounding for every episode, with the million pesos right before the contestants’ eyes at the start of the show. The money is theirs. Naturally, all contestants aspire to win and bring home the cash. But first, they must answer the multiple choice questions and bet their money.

They can risk the cash in the trap door which they feel contains the correct answer. They can stop the clock in case there’s still time left and they already finished answering the question. Then they can advance to the next question and get much closer to winning whatever is left of their one million pesos.

“Ang hirap palang mag-transfer ng one million,” said one contestant who had to take time in transferring one million pesos to the trap door. The transfer of their bundles of money to the trap door entails only one minute or they can use the one-time quick change within the game.

Quick change gives contestants a chance to change their answer for another 30 seconds. They can use the quick change only once for questions one to seven. The final question will give them the chance to take home whatever money they have left in the game.

If they are not sure about their answer, they can distribute their money in the trap doors, leaving only one. If they give a wrong answer, the cash placed on the trap door will fall down in “money drop.”

No team has since won the full million pesos at the end of the game. A team of two male friends from the University of the Philippines won P275,000, so far the biggest money taken home by players in the show. Meanwhile, a couple also won P150,000.

The pilot episode featured brothers Eric and Epi Quizon, who displayed their know-how in answering the questions. They were able to haggle all eight questions but still ended up empty-handed at the end of the game.

Other celebrities who joined were the teams who participated in The Amazing Race Philippines — Alabang housewives Pamela and Vanessa and bombshells Dani and Mish, the third and fourth team eliminated from the race, respectively. Both teams ended up with no money left when they joined the game show.

It’s a game of wit, chance and luck. If you know the answers to all the questions, then you can take home the million pesos. However, there’s a big possibility that you have to risk your money or part of your money when you answer the questions, so that’s the gamble you have to make.