Ken Jennings and Matt Damon teamed up for an unforgettable triumph on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, with their big win drawing a record-breaking. The episode has been hailed as a masterclass in gameplay and star power, solidifying its place as a television milestone.
Ken Jennings and Matt Damon’s Big Win Fuels Best ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?’ Ratings in Five Years
Disney
Matt Damon and Ken Jennings won big earlier this week on ABC’s “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” — and it turns out, so did the show. “Millionaire,” hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, was up week-to-week in total viewers, to 4.46 million (up 5% from last week’s season premiere of 4.24 million).
That made it the most-watched episode of “Millionaire” in five years — since 6.52 million on June 4, 2020 (during the first season that Kimmel took over as host).
On Wednesday’s episode, Damon and Jennings won the $1 million prize in support of Damon’s charity Water.org, which is focused on universal access to clean water. They won with the question “Which of these words is used to describe one of the most beautiful auditory effects on Earth, the sound made by the leaves of trees when wind blows through them?” The correct answer, which Jennings knew, was “susurrus.”
The solid showing made “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” the top program of the night for the second week in a row; “Millionaire” also maintained its same adults 18-49 rating (0.38) from its season premiere the previous week.
“Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” was ahead of the night’s No. 2 broadcast program, CBS’s “Big Brother” (3.02 million), by 48% (3.02 million). ABC won the night among broadcast networks in total viewers (2.86 million).
According to ABC, its top two entertainment telecasts this summer are now the “Millionaire” week 2 episode (4.46 million) and season premiere (4.24 million).
“Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” returns next week on Wednesday, August 6, at 8 p.m. ET with the teams of “Community” duo Joel McHale and Jim Rash and “Severance” stars Tramell Tillman and Zach Cherry.
