Millionaire quiz show a hit with Afghan audience

KABUL: In a cold television studio on the outskirts of Kabul, one of the world’s most successful television gameshows has found a new home.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? has reached Afghanistan a decade after it first appeared on British television and spread to more than 100 countries. Starting this week, Afghan contestants like their counterparts around the world, will be given the opportunity to ask the audience and confirm to their host that yes, that really was their final answer.

In one of the poorest countries in the world, more than 20,000 people have already registered to play a game which promises to make them millionaires.

Shams Group International, a Kabul-based company, has paid for the rights to the phenomenally successful show and from this week plans to record 52, hour-long episodes.

The show’s host is the charismatic young Aryan Khan, an Afghan singer, dancer, model and Tae Kwon Do master.

To highlight his talents, the producers have added a song routine at the beginning of the show where he sings about the qualities needed to become a millionaire.

To cater for the country’s two main ethnic groups, the show will be presented in both Pashtu and Dari and the theme song will alternate from week to week.