''The Secret Millionaire'' is a reality television show which originated in the UK, in which millionaires go incognito into impoverished communities and agree to give away tens of thousands of pounds (or tens of thousands of dollars in the US and Australian versions). Members of the community are told the cameras are present to film a documentary. The UK version is produced by production company

RDF Media Banijay (formerly Banijay Entertainment and later Banijay Group) is a French television production and distribution company which is the world's largest international content producer and distributor with over 120 production companies across 22 ...

. It first aired in 2006 on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

, with further series in subsequent years.

Format

In each episode, a millionaire leaves his/her luxurious life behind, takes on a secret identity and lives undercover in a much much poorer area of the country for a week to ten days (in the US version, it is 6 days). Living on a limited budget (Usually less than $150) with no modern conveniences they must forge their own way in the community – working and volunteering alongside the locals and finding individuals or projects whom they think deserve a cut of their fortune. On their final day, the millionaires come clean and reveal their true identity to the people they have chosen, surprising them with gifts of thousands of pounds or US dollars to improve their lives. They must donate at least $100,000 in total. William Du was the first millionaire to donate off camera in which was not aired.

UK version

The first millionaire to appear in the series was 26-year-old

Ben Way Ben Way is a serial entrepreneur and author best known for his appearance on ''Secret Millionaire'', '' The Startup Kids'' and as a cast member on '' Start-Ups: Silicon Valley'', he started his first company at the age of 15. He went on to raise ...

. A third series of the show began on Channel 4 on 5 August 2008. The first episode of Series 3 featured businessman

James Benamor James Benamor (born 18 May 1977) is a British businessman. Business activities Benamor became one of the wealthiest young people in the United Kingdom after starting his loan brokerage company, the Richmond Group, in 1999 at the age of 21.

, who has been criticised in the media for investing in the sub-prime market, and sharp practice in his company the Richmond Group. Andrew Feldman was the youngest millionaire to appear on the show at the age of 24 in the final episode of series 10 shown on 24 June 2012 and made the second largest donation a single charity had received, of £100,000, to Little Heroes; a charity that supports children with cancer.

US version

An American version of the show premiered on 3 December 2008 on

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

.Reality TV World: "Fox announces the identities of 'Secret Millionaire''s rich participants"''
by Christopher Rocchio, 5 November 2008 Like the British version, the Fox show features wealthy benefactors each week who go undercover in the most deprived neighbourhoods of the United States. For one week, the millionaires mingle within the community and live on a very tight budget; this being the very first time doing so for many of them. At the end of the show, the millionaires reveal their identities and proceed to donate a minimum of $100,000 (which they sometimes divide among the recipients). Fox has aired six episodes of the hour-long series, including a two-hour premiere. The millionaires have included Internet advertising tycoon

Gurbaksh Chahal Gurbaksh Singh Chahal (born July 17, 1982) is an Indian-American internet entrepreneur who is the founder of several internet advertising companies. Chahal founded his first advertising network at an age of 16 and two years later, became a mill ...

; Todd and Gwen Graves, of the restaurant chain

Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers is an American fast-food restaurant chain specializing in chicken fingers founded in Baton Rouge, Louisiana by Todd Graves and Craig Silvey in 1996. History Founders Todd Graves and Craig Silvey were both enrolled ...

; Century Software founder Gregory Haerr; ''

DUB Magazine ''DUB'', founded in January 2000, is a North American magazine covering urban custom car culture and also features celebrities and their vehicles. The magazine also launched the DUB Magazine Custom Auto Show & Concert, a nationwide car show and ...

'' founders Myles and Cynthia Kovacs; attorney, broker and

sportswear Sportswear or activewear is clothing, including footwear, worn for sport or physical exercise. Sport-specific clothing is worn for most sports and physical exercise, for practical, comfort or safety reasons. Typical sport-specific garments ...

entrepreneur Gregory Ruzicka, and his son Cole; and

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, Maryland civic leader and

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays its ...

NFL

cheerleader Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ente ...

Molly Shattuck. Season one aired on FOX. Season two consists of six hour-long episodes broadcast on ABC.

Australian version

The first season of the Australian series (listed in local TV guides as ''The Secret Millionaire Australia'', to prevent confusion with the US version which had been broadcast earlier that year) aired in 2009 on the

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

. It consisted of five episodes, and was narrated by

Russell Crowe Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is an actor. He was born in New Zealand, spent ten years of his childhood in Australia, and moved there permanently at age twenty one. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maxi ...

; in a ''

Herald Sun The ''Herald Sun'' is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the Murdoch owned News Corp. The ''Herald S ...

'' interview, Crowe discussed his work on the show and his personal approach to charity. Millionaires featured in the series included the now fugitive Albert Bertini (of failed property development firm Trivest), Derek Leddie (founder of market research firm The Leading Edge),

Peter Bond Peter Bond is an Australian mining and energy executive, best known as the former Executive Chairman of Linc Energy and creator of the world's first synthetic crude oil. He is now a director of renewable energy company Infinite Power and ranke ...

(managing director of

Linc Energy Linc Energy was an Australian energy company that specialised in coal-based synthetic fuel production, as well as conventional oil and gas production. It was engaged in development and commercialisation of proprietary underground coal gasificat ...

), Naomi Simson (founder of

RedBalloon RedBalloon is an experiential gifts company. History RedBalloon was founded in 2001 by Naomi Simson. Simson began the company out of her house with a $25,000 personal investment. She grew the company to forty six employees by 2011. The busines ...

), and Danny Wallis (founder of DWS Advanced Business Solutions). A completed sixth episode was withdrawn from the broadcast schedule due to financial issues faced by the featured benefactor. More than $750,000 was given away in grants to individuals and community groups. Season 2 first aired on Nine on Monday 23 August 2010, also narrated by Russell Crowe. Millionaires featured in the second series include Carly Crutchfield (founder/CEO of CCorp), Karl Redenbach (founder of nSynergy), Sean Ashby (founder of aussieBum), Alf & Nadia Taylor (founders/directors of TNA Solutions), Christian Beck (founder/CEO of LEAP Legal Software), and Denis McFadden (founder/CEO of Just Cuts). Episode 1 benefactor, Sydney property developer Carly Crutchfield, was the focus of a ''

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...

'' article discussing the return of the series. Episode 3 benefactor, Sean Ashby, was featured in an article in ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' regarding his involvement in the show.

Season 1: 2009

Season 2: 2010

Irish version

Annual series are produced by

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...

since 2011 and are shown on RTÉ1 in September and October. During the year, repeats of the series have been shown on Channel 4 as ''Secret Millionaire Ireland''.

Series 1: 2011

Series 2: 2012

Awards

The British version of ''Secret Millionaire'' won the

Rose d'Or The Rose d'Or ('Golden Rose') is an international awards festival in entertainment broadcasting and programming. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) first acquired the Rose d’Or in 1961, when it was created by Swiss Television in the lakes ...

Award in 2007 for best reality series. ''Secret Millionaire'' won the award for the best "Docu Soap" at the ''National Reality TV Awards'' for series 10 in August 2012.

Footnotes

External links

Video clips
at

''Secret Millionaire''
at Fox
''The Secret Millionaire''
at

ninemsn Nine.com.au (formerly Ninemsn) is an Australian news and current events website, owned by ASX-listed company, Nine Entertainment Co. It was originally established as a 50:50 joint venture between Microsoft and PBL Media (now Nine Entertainment ...

''Secret Millionaire'' Trailer
at Fox (Viewable in the US only)
''Yahoo! News'' article on U.S. premiere
* *
Secret Millionaire on ABC Season 2

Secret Millionaire on ABC Season 2 with America's Favorite Millionaire, Dani Johnson

Information About The Secret Millionaire TV Show Premiering 6 March on ABC

Secret Millionaire 2011
{{DEFAULTSORT:Secret Millionaire, The 2000s American reality television series 2006 British television series debuts 2008 American television series debuts 2009 Australian television series debuts 2010 Australian television series endings 2010s American reality television series 2000s British reality television series 2010s British reality television series 2011 Irish television series debuts 2012 Irish television series endings American television series based on British television series 2000s Australian reality television series 2010s Australian reality television series Channel 4 original programming English-language television shows Fox Broadcasting Company original programming Nine Network original programming Television series by Banijay Television series by Rocket Science Laboratories