Frank Edoho, the Nigerian TV host, has revealed why the
popular game show ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (WWTBAM)‘ went off air.
The show, which debuted in October 2004 with a N10 million
grand prize, was cancelled in 2017 after its major sponsor withdrew funding.
In an interview on the KK podcast, Edoho said the sponsor
had been hit with a hefty fine by the federal government and could no longer
afford to support the programme.
Edoho added that when new sponsors later showed interest in
a revival, he sought an executive producer role, believing his years of service
deserved greater recognition.
According to him, negotiations broke down, and after a
newspaper falsely reported that he had been dropped, he felt his contributions
were unappreciated and chose to leave.
“Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? came to an end when our
sponsor withdrew after supporting the show for a decade. I think the federal
government fined them. I believe it was a punitive measure over a corporate
issue that occurred,” he said.
“I can’t go into details, but that affected the sponsorship
of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? They told us, ‘Guys, we can’t continue
because we have to pay an enormous amount of money to the federal government’.
So, the show stopped.
“I entered into negotiations because we heard other sponsors
were interested, and I wanted to become an executive producer. I wanted to have
a stake in the show because I felt I had built myself up to the point where I
had become an asset to it.
“However, we had differences during the negotiations. Then a
newspaper reported that I had been dropped from the show because, when it was
relaunched under a new sponsor, I wasn’t part of it. Naturally, people drew
that conclusion.
“The newspaper announced that I had been dropped, which
wasn’t true at the time. I released a statement explaining my position. In the
end, I felt I had been thrown under the bus after all the years I had invested
in the show, so I walked away.”
Edoho hosted WWTBAM from its inception on October 8, 2004,
until September 2, 2017.
He left the show following a breakdown in a contract
negotiation that would have seen him rise to the position of executive producer
of the show.
But in 2022, organisers of the game show announced that
Edoho would rehash his role as the anchor of the rebooted programme.
Before he was recalled to anchor the show, there were
rumours that he was sacked for undisclosed reasons.
The TV presenter, however, dismissed the rumours, stating
that he was never sacked.
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