The Most Shocking Moments In Reality TV History

A Famous Name

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When Who Wants to Be a Millionaire debuted in August of 1999, it immediately gripped the nation. A quiz competition offering a grand prize of $1 million, Millionaire didn’t have a grand-winner for the first few months it aired. On November 19, 1999, John Carpenter made history. Carpenter breezed through the show and arrived at the million-dollar question without utilizing any of his three lifelines. After Regis Philbin read the final question aloud, Carpenter decided to use his Phone-A-Friend lifeline. However, Carpenter didn’t actually need help — he simply called his father to tell him he was about to win one million dollars. Talk about confidence.