Stars who join Millionaire for charity

It’s the season of fires. Last Thursday morning, the Viva TV studio in Parañaque that houses both Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and The Weakest Link burned down due to faulty electrical wiring.

The two shows now have to order new sets (very expensive) from London and this may take a while. I hope the sets and equipment arrive before the two shows run out of canned episodes.

Maybe what the two shows can do is air a Best of… series. The Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? celebrity episodes would be of interest to viewers. So far, a lot of personalities have participated in the show’s celebrity episodes: Rosanna Roces, Eddie Gutierrez, Annabelle Rama and, of course, Sharon Cuneta who won a million pesos last December.

Another option (although I don’t know how feasible this would be) is to air episodes from abroad. You see, a lot of celebrities have played in the US edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (basically for charity). Below are the names of some of the contestants who have played, how much they won and for what charitable institution:

Rosie O’ Donnell – $500,000 (for The All Kids’ Foundation); Ray Romano – $125,000 (for the NYPD Dare Unit); David Duchovny – $32,000 (for East Harlem School @ Exodus House); Vanessa Williams – $32,000 (for Dance in Education Fund); Gladys Knight – $125,000 (for American Diabetes Society); John Carpenter – $250,000 ($125,000 of amount to Sara Foundation); Alec Baldwin – $250,000 (for PAWS); Charlie Sheen – $54,000 (for Michael J. Fox Foundation); Valerie Bertinelli – $125,000 (for Silver Lining Foundation); Melissa Gilbert – $32,000 (for Los Robles Hospital Volunteers); Ted Lange – $125,000 (for Preventive Care Pathways); Cindy Williams – $125,000 (for Feed the Children Inc.); Gene Simmons – $32,000 (for Neil Bogart Foundation); Chaka Khan – $32,000 (for Chaka Khan Foundation); Kathie Lee Gifford – $32,000 (for Assoc./Children@Cassidy’s Place); Maurice Green – $125,000 ($62,500 of amount to UNICEF); Marion Ross $32,000 (for the Actor’s Fund); Martin Short – $32,000 (Financial Aid Scholarship Program of Loyola High School); John Leguizamo $32,000 (Eastern Harlem Tutorial Program).