Two and a half decades after its first edition, in 1999, the Million Show returned to work for Globo last Sunday (27). The board was responsible for making the Silvio Santos Program take the lead and play the rival for second place –just when the film Suicide Squad (2016) was showing on Domingo Maior.

It is not the first time that the attraction presented by Patricia Abravanel takes first place in Ibope, as it imposed some embarrassment on the reality show Estrela da Casa. The season presented by Celso Portiolli in 2021 also bothered the Marinho network, giving up to twice Record’s ibope.

Part of the success is easily attributed to the affective memory of those who followed Silvio Santos (1930-2024) ahead of Show do Milhão. To this day, some expressions used by the presenter in the competition are part of popular culture — such as “may I ask?” or “are you sure about this?”.

But the new version reaches much more than the viewer who still “asks college students for help” before answering a more delicate question. One of the strengths is precisely to adapt the format to the reality of its audience, in a path opposite to that of Globo’s Quem Quer Ser um Milionário?

Luciano Huck has always included a speech about “meritocracy” in the format, in which it looks for who really deserves the R$1 million prize. Despite some easier questions in the first phase, the panel addresses topics somewhat unrelated to the audience itself. It’s difficult to create proximity with the viewer by talking about Risorgimento [a reunificação da Itália] or the Portuguese Geringonça [frente de partidos de esquerda que governou o país].

The great thing about Show do Milhão is to insert the viewer into the game. Even in the most difficult levels, there is a character of curiosity that helps to place the program in daily conversations – as in the victory of Sidiney de Moraes, who got the president’s date of birth and registration correct. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and, as a result, took home R$1 million.

Often, the repercussion of the painting is linked to the fact that the viewer knows the answer and is irritated by the lack of knowledge — or the nervousness — of the aspiring millionaire. In recent weeks, a question about the holiday that begins Lent has gone viral on social media.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? It is already finding it more difficult to resonate, especially because it is difficult to get the public to meditate on questions such as “Tsu Chu and Harpastum were sporting practices that gave rise to which sport?”.