My experience as a contestant on Germany’s “WWM”
Jul 17, 2025 9:09:41 GMT -5
RegisFan, FinalAnswer19, and 7 more like this
Post by arman on Jul 17, 2025 9:09:41 GMT -5
Last year, I received a random phone call from a number in Cologne. I couldn’t answer the phone due to classes, so I called the number back after I was done. It turned out: It was a casting producer of Germany’s “Wer wird Millionär?”.
I was shocked and didn’t know what to expect.
After making it through the casting process, I got a call saying that I made it into the contestant pool for the show! I was so excited, thinking that my childhood dream could FINALLY become reality.
A few months afterwards, I got a call from the same casting producer, asking if I was available for the recordings of the upcoming “3-Million-Euro-Week”. I obviously said yes, because what else would you say to that! After that, I was told that I would be a replacement contestant on standby in case one of the other eight contestants couldn’t come in. I was okay with that, because I got the chance to look behind the scenes regardless of what would happen.
Fast forward to the day of the first taping: We arrived and were greeted by the show’s staff, including the show’s Executive Producer. I had my Celador Millionaire jacket on that I got from a friend from the UK. Once that happened, I was told that I was no longer a replacement contestant and that I had become one of the “main” 8 ones. I was in a state of shock and fear, because nobody had informed me about that until that day. I also had a breakdown in my dressing room. 😂
The taping of the first episode started and I surprisingly wasn’t that nervous… Until 30 minutes before the taping ended. It was down to the wire between me and three other contestants. I managed to answer the FFF question correctly in the fastest time of 2,69 seconds. I had already known that I got it right prior to the reveal, as Jauch has a weird hint on his screen with the fastest player.
When I saw that, I started getting really nervous because I knew that my 15 minutes of fame were coming. Jauch was completely surprised by my Millionaire jacket and my background.
For the ones that don’t know: I moved to Germany 5 years ago and I managed to learn to speak the language fluently - even with a proper German accent.
Long story short, I managed to win 16k (Q10) and qualify for the grand finale the day after.
The second day was quite chaotic. 15 of us were in the final and we obviously knew that the competition was going to be quite big: A lot of contestants had interesting stories and were quite interesting in the Hot Seat, so you could assume they would get asked to play again.The taping started and shortly before that, I got a weird feeling that I would get asked to play again. The intro began and Jauch introduced all of us. Right after that, Jauch asked the contestant with the most money if he would like to play again. Once he rejected, Jauch proceeded to go to the block with the 16k winners and… Well, he asked me.
I was sure that I wouldn’t want to play again, as 16k is a lot of money for a 20-year-old. But then again, I thought: I could get the chance to play again, but I’m only here once. Jauch asked me if I would like to play and I had to give up all of the money I had previously won. I agreed to do it and, in the end, I managed to win 50k euros.
There was one specific moment that really scared me, though. On the 50k question, I locked in an answer all of a sudden and the audience was FLABBERGASTED. Right in that moment, Jauch said that we were going to a commercial break. I was so scared in that moment, despite sort of being confident about being right. When we returned and when he said that I was right, I started running around and I almost started crying. It felt like a huge relief!
It was a REALLY amazing experience and Jauch really sympathized with me. We had a lot of funny moments and you could tell that he really enjoyed it! The show aired on April 23rd and 24th of this year.
Here are some pictures.
Photo material: RTL / Stefan Gregorowius
I was shocked and didn’t know what to expect.
After making it through the casting process, I got a call saying that I made it into the contestant pool for the show! I was so excited, thinking that my childhood dream could FINALLY become reality.
A few months afterwards, I got a call from the same casting producer, asking if I was available for the recordings of the upcoming “3-Million-Euro-Week”. I obviously said yes, because what else would you say to that! After that, I was told that I would be a replacement contestant on standby in case one of the other eight contestants couldn’t come in. I was okay with that, because I got the chance to look behind the scenes regardless of what would happen.
Fast forward to the day of the first taping: We arrived and were greeted by the show’s staff, including the show’s Executive Producer. I had my Celador Millionaire jacket on that I got from a friend from the UK. Once that happened, I was told that I was no longer a replacement contestant and that I had become one of the “main” 8 ones. I was in a state of shock and fear, because nobody had informed me about that until that day. I also had a breakdown in my dressing room. 😂
The taping of the first episode started and I surprisingly wasn’t that nervous… Until 30 minutes before the taping ended. It was down to the wire between me and three other contestants. I managed to answer the FFF question correctly in the fastest time of 2,69 seconds. I had already known that I got it right prior to the reveal, as Jauch has a weird hint on his screen with the fastest player.
When I saw that, I started getting really nervous because I knew that my 15 minutes of fame were coming. Jauch was completely surprised by my Millionaire jacket and my background.
For the ones that don’t know: I moved to Germany 5 years ago and I managed to learn to speak the language fluently - even with a proper German accent.
Long story short, I managed to win 16k (Q10) and qualify for the grand finale the day after.
The second day was quite chaotic. 15 of us were in the final and we obviously knew that the competition was going to be quite big: A lot of contestants had interesting stories and were quite interesting in the Hot Seat, so you could assume they would get asked to play again.The taping started and shortly before that, I got a weird feeling that I would get asked to play again. The intro began and Jauch introduced all of us. Right after that, Jauch asked the contestant with the most money if he would like to play again. Once he rejected, Jauch proceeded to go to the block with the 16k winners and… Well, he asked me.
I was sure that I wouldn’t want to play again, as 16k is a lot of money for a 20-year-old. But then again, I thought: I could get the chance to play again, but I’m only here once. Jauch asked me if I would like to play and I had to give up all of the money I had previously won. I agreed to do it and, in the end, I managed to win 50k euros.
There was one specific moment that really scared me, though. On the 50k question, I locked in an answer all of a sudden and the audience was FLABBERGASTED. Right in that moment, Jauch said that we were going to a commercial break. I was so scared in that moment, despite sort of being confident about being right. When we returned and when he said that I was right, I started running around and I almost started crying. It felt like a huge relief!
It was a REALLY amazing experience and Jauch really sympathized with me. We had a lot of funny moments and you could tell that he really enjoyed it! The show aired on April 23rd and 24th of this year.
Here are some pictures.
Photo material: RTL / Stefan Gregorowius
