The popular presenter and actor Martin Nikodým accepted an invitation to the Marquesas Telerán, where he reminisced about the iconic show Millionaire. At the time of its greatest glory, the whole of Slovakia lived through this competition. Nikodým still has powerful moments engraved in his memory, and one of them is the success of contestant Róbert z Handlova, who became the first millionaire thanks to the show.
The presenter recalled the moment that almost deprived the player of a fabulous win. “I have the feeling that the question before, or somewhere in there, he had a question about Maria Theresa. He listed exactly how many sons she had, how many daughters she had, only then, in the stress, he miscounted them somehow.” he recalled that at that time he did not have a headset to receive instructions from the director, so he had to act on his own.
He never told himself that he couldn’t let Róbert fall to the guaranteed limit and so he subtly indicated to him to check his numbers, because they did not suit him. The contestant realized his mistake and immediately chose a different answer, which ultimately changed his life. “Thanks to that, he moved on and finally became our first millionaire. We were already dreaming of such a player who would get there for that million.” he confided.
He was given a rough manual for the Millionaire, which he had to study and was also guarded and watched by a person from the company that owned the license. “The rule was, sometimes you’re a friend, sometimes you’re a tempter. You never advise, you are completely impartial, but be human. And then I said to myself that there is room for humanity to prevail. That you really move this person,” admits years later.
In the end, everything turned out well, and Nikodým even earned praise from London for his approach. According to the moderator, Millionaire was revolutionary in that it was the first quiz in which the time limit was abolished. Next, he highlighted the music. “Someone very artfully made it so that during the interview, when we were thinking about the question, the music… few realized that it was a heartbeat. And that always set you up for the tension,” he continued.
If you thought that Nikodým knew the questions in advance, you are wrong. He read them for the first time when they also appeared to the player. “We had an agreement – it’s such a secret with the director – since everything is read differently in French than it is written, so I say: ‘Please, when there’s a French question, don’t let me completely embarrass myself and show me the pronunciation of these words or names ahead of time’.” revealed in Telerán.
