Miljoenenjacht (; ), officially Postcode Loterij Miljoenenjacht, is a Dutch game show, sponsored by the country's postcode lottery, where a contestant and at-home viewer could win up to €5,000,000 (approx. $5,583,720 or £4,390,423) or as little as €0.01. The show is broadcast at various times, with around six episodes for each season. The program was originally shown by TROS on NPO 2, but moved to creator John de Mol's channel Tien in 2005. When the channel was discontinued after its sale to the RTL Group, the program moved to RTL 4. In 2019, Miljoenenjacht moved to SBS6 due to the transfer of Linda de Mol from RTL to SBS (owned by Talpa).
Originally based on the German game show Die Chance deines Lebens, the format of the programme's final round, used since 2002, has been exported worldwide by Dutch producer Endemol under the title Deal or No Deal, a title also used for Miljoenenjacht lower-stakes sister spinoff on RTL 5, which is based more on the global format and removes the additional elements.
Airings The show began airing in late 2000. In the first season, which aired from November 2000 to September 2001, there was only one show per month (seven shows plus one special edition in total). Since the Deal or No Deal endgame was introduced, Miljoenenjacht airs two seasons of about five episodes each per year: one in the spring and the other in the fall. A New Year's Eve special aired in 2017 and a New Year's Day special aired in 2019. SeasonFromToNo. of episodesSpring 2004Miljoenenjacht 21 maart a.s. (Miljoenenjacht is coming on March 21), March 12, 2004March 21, 2004April 25, 20046Fall 2006Nieuwe Reeks Postcode Loterij Miljoenenjacht Van Start (New series of Postcode Loterij Miljoenenjacht starts), November 16, 2006November 19, 2006December 17, 20065Spring 2007May 6, 2007Miljoenenjacht returning to Tien in May, April 8, 2007June 3, 20075Fall 2007November 25, 2007December 30, 20076Spring 2008May 4, 2008June 1, 20085Fall 2008November 16, 2008December 28, 20087Spring 2009March 29, 2009April 26, 20095Fall 2009November 15, 2009December 13, 20095Spring 2010March 28, 2010April 25, 20105Fall 2010November 14, 2010December 12, 20105Spring 2011April 3, 2011May 1, 20115Fall 2011November 20, 2011December 18, 20115Spring 2012April 8, 2012May 6, 20125Fall 2012November 11, 2012December 9, 20125Spring 2013March 17, 2013April 14, 20135Fall 2013October 6, 2013November 10, 20136Spring 2014February 9, 2014March 9, 20145Fall 2014September 28, 2014October 26, 20145Spring 2015March 15, 2015April 12, 20155Fall 2015October 25, 2015November 22, 20155Spring 2016March 13, 2016April 10, 20165Fall 2016October 2, 2016November 6, 20166Spring 2017March 19, 2017April 16, 20175Fall 2017September 10, 2017October 8, 20175New Year's Eve special 2017December 31, 2017December 31, 20171Spring 2018March 18, 2018April 15, 20185Fall 2018September 2, 2018September 30, 20185New Year's Day special 2019January 1, 2019January 1, 20191Spring 2019March 3, 2019March 31, 20195Fall 2019September 8, 2019October 6, 20195Spring 2020(cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic)Fall 2020August 30, 2020October 4, 20206Spring 2021March 7, 2021April 4, 20215Fall 2021September 5, 2021October 10, 20216Spring 2022 (cancelled)Fall 2022September 4, 2022October 16, 20227Spring 2023March 5, 2023April 2, 20235Fall 2023September 3, 2023October 1, 20235Spring 2024March 10, 2024April 14, 20246Fall 2024September 29, 2024November 3, 20246New Year's Day special 2025January 1, 2025January 1, 20251Spring 2025March 9, 2025April 13, 20256Fall 2025September 14, 2025October 26, 20257
Quiz rounds
Original rules (2000–2001) Every season, one thousand contenders were introduced, each representing their neighborhood. The first round consisted of four multiple-choice questions, each with three possible answers. The contenders were given keypads to answer each of the questions within six seconds. For this round, they were divided into two teams of 500 – a red team (blocks 1–5) and a blue team (blocks 6–10). Each right answer gained their team a point. The team with the most points after four questions (red or blue) advanced to the second round, while the other team was eliminated from the contest. In the second round, the five victorious sections from the first round played each other exactly the same way as in the previous round, with only one of the five sections proceeding to the next round. This pattern continued into Round 3. Whenever two teams achieved the same score, the tied teams were given an additional question where the speed of answers is used as a tie-breaker.
The 20 winning contenders made it to Round 4 where they faced each other in trivia question duels – in each duel, a question with four possible answers was asked. Contenders buzzed in when they thought they knew the answer. If no-one buzzed in every 10 seconds, one of the wrong answers disappeared. The first contender to buzz in was given the right to answer. If the contender was right, they proceeded – otherwise, they were eliminated and their opponent advanced to the next round. Effectively, only 10 contestants were allowed to proceed.
Round 5 consisted of estimation guess questions (trying to guess the exact quantity of an unclear value, e.g. the weight of an object.) After each question, the contestant with the best guess was announced. This player was automatically qualified for the next round. Five questions were asked - again halving the competition.
The five remaining contenders had to put six historical events into chronological order. This game was played twice – after each game, the worst player was eliminated. Only three players proceeded to Round 7 – the Photo Quiz. (In later editions, the game has only been played once, with the two worst players getting eliminated).
At the Photo Quiz, the three contenders were shown 25 pictures, each one showing a celebrity (later only 15 pictures) – each photo was an answer to one of the following questions. Open-ended questions were asked in this round – contenders again had to buzz in when they thought they knew the answer. If a contender was right, they gained two points. In case of a wrong answer, their two opponents received one point each. The first two players to 15 points (later changed to 10 points) each made it to the semi-final.
The semi-final consisted of two parts. In the first part, an amount of money starting at 10,000 guilders (about $5 586.59USD in 2004) rose to an unknown amount. As the amount rose, contenders could buzz in and take the money – the first contender to press their buzzer received the current amount and left the game, which meant that their opponent proceeded to the show's endgame. If neither player buzzed in before the rising of the money stopped, they move on to the second part where the two competitors receive a calculation. If one contender buzzed in with the correct result, they won and advanced to the endgame. If a player buzzed in with the incorrect answer, the opponent moved on to the endgame (for the rules of the endgame, see below).
Three times during the game (after round 4, 5 and 6), the remaining contenders were given the chance to leave the game with a valuable prize. (The value of the prize was increased round by round – starting with FL. 10,000 in the first bonus round, followed by a long-distance trip in Round 2 and climaxing in Round 3 which offered a brand-new BMW luxury car) They were given a secret amount of seconds (indicated by a giant neon bulb at the center of the Temptation Table) to press their buzzer – the first one to do so was given the prize and left the game. He was then replaced by an audience member selected by the Random Remote of Doom (see below). If none of the contenders decided to leave the game, the Random Remote of Doom picked out an audience member to win the prize instead.
In 2002, the format of Miljoenenjacht has been changed and the "Deal or no Deal" final round was introduced. These are the new rules used for the show from 2002 on.
Settings Five hundred contestants (plus one friend or family member for each of them, so 1,000 audience members in total) are seated in an arena-style set. The contestant audience is divided into two sections of 250 contenders each, one red and one blue. Each section is then divided into five sections of 50 players each. The five red blocks are numbered 1 to 5 and the blue blocks are numbered 6 to 10. These blocks of 50 are further divided into two blocks of 25, labeled A (the lower half of the section) and B (the upper half) respectively.
Preliminary rounds In the first round, the host asks the contestants a multiple-choice question with three possible answers, which they have 5 seconds to answer using their keypads. Each correct answer gains their team of 250 (red or blue) a point, with a wrong answer being worth nothing. Points are announced after each question and the team with the most points after three questions (from 2002 to 2003: four questions) advances to round two. The other team of 250 is out of the game. (Starting in 2008, everyone on the winning team receives a small prize valued at about €100.)
In round two, the five blocks of 50 compete against each other in the same fashion as above, with the winning group proceeding.
Finally, round three sees the two blocks of 25 battle each other, with the winning half continuing to the next round.
After each of those three rounds, there may be the possibility of an additional question if two or more teams are tied, with only the tied teams contending. If the tie can not be broken, the speed of the players locking in their correct answers will decide which group will proceed.
In 2009, after each round, one player from the losing section was randomly chosen and given the option of taking home a valuable prize or taking a seat in Round 4. If the contestant took the seat in Round 4, the prize rolled over to the next round, so after Round 3 a contestant could have gone home with about €15,000 in prizes.
Starting in 2010, after each round, one eliminated player is randomly selected and given the opportunity to pick one of three colored briefcases (red, white or blue). Two of them have a valuable prize inside. If one of these is chosen then everyone in that block of 25 wins that prize. The other case contains a "Chance to win € 5 million" sign and, if this case is picked, the contestant then takes a seat in Round 4.
Round 4 Six different variations of Round 4 have existed during the show's current run.
Variation used from 2002 to 2003 The twenty-five players from the winning block in Round 3 proceed to the next round where they get joined by another contender selected completely at random from the remaining 475 players. Originally, the fourth round consisted of two parts. In the first part, the contenders had to answer seven multiple-choice questions, each one with two possible answers. They had five seconds to answer each of the questions and, in case of a correct answer, received one point for each incorrect answer from their opponents (e.g. if 11 contenders answered correctly and 15 gave a wrong answer, the 11 players with the right answer received 15 points each). After seven questions, the names of the 10 best players were announced. These contenders moved on to the second part of the game. In this second part, the rules were equal to those in the first part, but now there were four possible answers for each question instead of two. After the second part of the game, the two highest scorers moved on to the final quiz round, Round 5.
Variation used until 2005