The program "Who wants to become a millionaire?" is a popular game show that everyone probably knows about. She became an analogue of the English TV quiz called Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? In this program, everyone has the opportunity, thanks to his knowledge and, of course, luck to win 3 million rubles. The show involves both celebrities who are regularly invited to shoot in the popular game, as well as viewers who decide to try their luck in this game show. There were lucky people who managed to win a decent amount of money, and we will talk about one of them in this article. The program, in which Igor Sazeyev played, "Who wants to become a millionaire?"
The story of the show
The program was first broadcast on NTV under the title "Oh, lucky one!" Then the leader was Dmitry Dibrov. The program became very popular, and its ratings were increasing more and more, but there were no winners who reached the main prize. Later, the program moved to Channel One under the more familiar name "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" The comedian Maxim Galkin was cast on the role. It happened in 2001, but in 2008 Dmitry Dibrov again became the leader. Since 2005, the amount of winnings has been increased - now the main prize was 3 million rubles.
Rules of the game
So, for those who do not yet know, let us recall the rules: in the game, as mentioned earlier, there are only 15 questions. Moreover, they can be associated with completely different areas of knowledge, so the player must truly have a great outlook, at least to get to the main, cherished 15 question.
In each question there are 4 possible answers: the player needs to choose the only correct one from them. There are three hints: 50 to 50 (when two incorrect answers are removed from the list of answers provided), a call to a friend (everything is clear here), and also help from the audience, which should show erudition to help a player who has difficulty in choosing an answer.
The questions are not all complicated. For example, from the 1st to the 5th they are mostly comic, and answering them will not be difficult, although, of course, here you are lucky. On the 10th there are already questions of an average level of complexity of the general theme. But then it will become much more difficult - it will require a lot of knowledge in specific industries and it will take a lot of effort to reach the victorious end. In the history of the show, by the way, there were such people, albeit in very small numbers. Now let's talk about the first millionaire who was able to win the main prize.
How did the future millionaire get the idea of participating in the game?
He began to notice that during the viewing of the house of this TV show he often answered many questions correctly, while the participants did not know the answer. His wife in some way inspired him to go to Moscow and risk playing in the show “Who wants to become a millionaire?”, Where Maxim Galkin then became the leader. Igor Sazeyev positively accepted this idea and went to the capital to fight to the end for the main prize.
Life to the million
Having received university education, Igor Sazeyev, a participant in the KHSM show, came to work at the Institute of Silicate Chemistry of the USSR Academy of Sciences, where he worked until the mid-90s. Then he took up the layout of books, and later became an editor at a publishing house. At the time of participation in the transfer, he already had four children from his second marriage, and one from the first. The second wife is Anna, sons - Yura, Sasha, Timothy and Vasily. The fifth child is the eldest son Maxim from his first marriage.
Beginning of the road to a million
The residence of such a once-popular millionaire as Igor Sazeyev is St. Petersburg. He is the father of five children. To the program "Who wants to become a millionaire?" got thanks to the "Komsomolskaya Pravda". At first he tried to get through to the transfer, but nothing worked, then he saw the number of cards in this newspaper. Thanks to this, he was able to get on the list of winners who were sent to the program "Who wants to become a millionaire?" And finally, Igor Sazeyev is a millionaire: in that first issue of the television quiz, which began to be broadcast on Channel One, he got to question 15.
Game preparation
As Igor Sazeyev later said - a millionaire who won the main prize in a television program, he was more prepared for the qualifying round than for the game. He was afraid that he would not pass it, so he trained very carefully, for example, he studied the history of the Russian Federation. He also studied many reference books. The zeal and that considerable work that he put into preparing for the game did their job - he held out with honor and dignity throughout the show, answering all the questions. He hoped that he would reach the tenth question: then he didn’t count on more. Despite the confidence in knowledge in various fields of activity, a victory in such a popular game was truly a surprise for him.
Answers on questions
The only thing he doubted was the question that concerned the work "Eugene Onegin." Subsequently, in an interview, the player admitted that he actually took him by surprise, since of course he read Pushkin’s works, but many years ago. He gave confident and clear answers to other questions, so during this game he showed excellent erudition and endurance.
Igor Sazeev: biography of the lucky
At the time of the win Igor Sazeyev was 39 years old. He was born in 1962, December 21. He graduated from the graduate school of Leningrad State University, Department of Chemistry. By profession - a typesetter, makes mock-ups of books. As already noted, he is married and has five sons. His eldest son Maxim from his first marriage lives with his mother in Germany, at the time of the release of the program, he had not seen him for two years. Igor Yurievich Sazeev has a musical education, his childhood dream is to become a composer.
Hobbies of Igor Sazeev
He loves to play sports, in particular, enjoys playing football and basketball. He believes that he is a gambler. Favorite directors - F. Coppola and A. Tarkovsky. From books prefers fiction. Music lover in various genres: listens to both classical and rock, jazz. Favorite performer is Louis Armstrong. Winnie the Pooh is a favorite literary hero (he likes this character for his optimism). He considers hippos to be the most beautiful animals on Earth: he created a whole collection of these toy creatures, of which he has about 100 copies.
How did Sazeyev react to his unexpected luck?
It was a surprise for him that he had to pay 35% of his winnings, in total this came out 350 thousand rubles, which he had to give to the state treasury. According to the rules, it is necessary to transfer part of the funds won, which are levied in the form of tax and are sent to the state.
How did you manage your winnings?
The date of March 12, 2001 became significant for him, because on this day he not only won the biggest prize in the game “Who wants to become a millionaire?”, But also became its first winner. Thus, it is forever recorded in the history of the most popular game. He disposed of the money in the following way: first he bought a bike for his youngest children, spent a part looking for his eldest son, whom he had not seen for a long time, went on a romantic trip with his current wife to Austria and Italy, made a purchase of a Renault car, bought a computer, and also rested in Crimea with the whole family. Also, part of the money was invested in repairs.
In addition, Igor wanted to open his own business and part of the money, thus invested in it, but was burnt out. While in Germany, he visited with his eldest son Maxim as part of a tourist group in Belgium and Holland.
Happy Release Transmission
The premiere of the updated version of the program, now broadcast under the title “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”, Took place on February 19, 2001, and was broadcast on March 12 only. This happened for the reason that the audience might have doubts about honesty, since Igor Sazeyev won a million in the first issue. Then, with his victory, he led the organizers into shock, winning the main prize so easily. He received a win on the air of Good Morning: then he was handed a suitcase with money. After the transfer, instead of cash, he was presented with a card, opened a bank account for him.
Gambler
Igor Sazeyev considers himself a gambler, ready to take risks. Before that happy game, he decided for himself that if he was lucky enough to get to the fifteenth question, he would answer it, even if he was not sure of the answer. At the very least, he will be the first person in this program who risked reaching the end, rather than taking the amount out of lack of confidence in the last answer.
By the way, in the end he was asked a question about the teachings of Zen, namely, what direction of religious philosophy it belongs to. Sazeyev was helped to win in the transfer of his knowledge, because he is a broad-minded person, very well-read, erudite and intelligent, but the fact that, as he later claimed, came across questions that were convenient for him. They were not all simple, but for the most part the answers to them did not cause him much difficulty.
Unsuccessful business investment
After Sazeyev got a decent win at that time, albeit not in the amount of 1 million rubles, but 650 thousand after taxes, he began to think about how best to spend the money. His acquaintances then persuaded to invest in a business, namely in a trucking company. He spent a considerable amount on this matter - about 250 thousand rubles. Then, in an interview, he admitted that he knew little about business and took a chance then, trusting his comrades. But his acquaintances simply let him down, and his investments burned out. After that, of course, he regretted his decision.
Renault car
Igor spent part of the winnings on a Renault car: he was supported, his age at the time of purchase was already 11 years old, and his mileage was 130 thousand kilometers. Although the minivan was an old one, the big family of Igor Sazeev was then needed. The joy, however, from buying a car was not long, after some time serious problems began with him. Either one or the other part began to fail. Spare parts for a foreign car are expensive, so I had to spend a lot on repairs.
Igor Sazeev: second game
After several years after a loud victory, Igor Sazeyev was again called to the program “Who wants to become a millionaire?”: Then a special issue was organized. The second time, however, he failed to break the record. He settled on the amount of 32 thousand rubles, incorrectly answering the 13th question, as a result, a fireproof amount remained. The transfer was charitable, and Igor Sazeyev sent the won funds, albeit small ones, to the Novgorod region for the construction of the temple of the Prophet Elijah.
Other winners of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?"
The next millionaires after Igor Sazeyev in 2003 was the Chudinovsky family. By an interesting combination of circumstances, the second winner Yuri studied at the same school as Sazeyev. In 2006, the winner, who won 3 million rubles, was Svetlana Yaroslavtseva from the Moscow Region, and then the same amount in 2010 was won by Timur Budaev, who lives in Pyatigorsk.