On Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, a tie occurs when two or more contestants post the exact same fastest time in Fastest Finger First. This is resolved by a tiebreaker where those contestants answer a second Fastest Finger question, repeating until one contestant gets the fastest time whether their opponent is wrong or not.
Famous tiebreakers
One of the most memorable tiebreakers in Millionaire's history was June 2000, when Kim Hunt and Beth Rohr both posted a fastest time of 4.69 seconds. Hunt won the tiebreaker beating Rohr by 1.8 seconds and eventually became the fifth U.S. top prize winner. Around that same time Marga Lumbers won Australia's first WWTBAM tiebreaker beating out Trevor Ward and was the first woman in the show's history to win a tiebreaker. Hunt remains the only person to date to win a Fastest Finger play-off and also collect the top prize. In third time, on March 9, 2001 Paul Pearson and Brett Beach answer this question (D, B, C, A) at the same fastest time of 3.80 seconds. In fourth time, on November 26, 2001 Kevin Bacon and Jon Faver answer this question (B, D, C, A) at the same fastest time of 8.69 seconds.
The first UK tiebreaker was on March 26, 2002 during a twins special when Andy & Steve Burton and Adam & Charlie both posted a time of 5.62 seconds. Andy & Steve won the tiebreaker and would walk away with £16,000. This has been repeated twice, most recently on March 18, 2006 with Mike Reeves winning against Gary Morewood.
Four tiebreakers were in the Czech Republic. They are 192nd (on September 20, 2002), 247th (on April 15, 2003), 274th (on July 18, 2003) and 356th (on May 21, 2004) episodes. In first time Pavel Gadas and Tomáš Trubka both posted a time of 5.73 seconds. Pavel Gadas took the money and won 160,000 Kč. Later Jaroslava Turková and Zdeněk Texl both posted a time of 9.53 seconds. Jaroslava Turková won 10,000 Kč. In second time Vladimír Pilař and Kateřina Tomanová both posted a time of 5.50 seconds. Vladimír Pilař took the money and won 80,000 Kč. In third time Miloš Dražan and Antonín Dalloš both posted a time of 5.08 seconds. Miloš Dražan answered the 12th question wrong, lost 320,000 Kč and won 320,000 Kč.
Occurred in Countries
- United States (5)
- Australia (2)
- United Kingdom (3)
- Czech Republic (4)
- Vietnam (1)
Tiebreakers
- Unknown First Tiebreaker – 1999-2000 (U.S.)
Kim Hunt and Beth Rohr – June 18, 2000 (U.S.)
- Trevor Ward and Marga Lumbers – June 12, 2000 (Australia)
- Paul Pearson and Brett Beach – March 9, 2001 (U.S.) top prize: $2,060,000
- Kevin Bacon and Jon Favreau – November 26, 2001 (U.S. Celebrity Edition)
Andy & Steve Burton and Adam & Charles – March 26, 2002 (UK)
- Pavel Gadas and Tomáš Trubka - September 20, 2002 (CZ)
- Jaroslava Turková and Zdeněk Texl - April 15, 2003 (CZ)
- Vladimír Pilař and Kateřina Tomanová - July 18, 2003 (CZ)
- Doug Ralls and Liz Simon – February 23, 2004 (Super Millionaire)
- Miloš Dražan and Antonín Dalloš - May 21, 2004 (CZ)
- Steve Wilson and John Rimmer – October 16, 2004 (UK)
- Gary Moreword and Mike Reeves – March 18, 2006 (UK)