Axed Channel Nine quiz heads for reboot at rival network - but will host Eddie McGuire be back?
Originally airing on Nine, the network gave the fan favourite the axe in 2024 after 25,00 episodes.
Now, producers of the reboot have announced a casting call with entries closing on September 15.
And in an added twist, there is strong speculation among TV insiders that the new host will be a woman.
According to a report in the Herald Sun on Sunday, network rumours have been 'bubbling for months' that plans are well underway to snare a female for the prized role.
The producers, Curio Pictures - the makers of Shark Tank and the streaming drama The Artful Dodger - announced to hopefuls that the show will begin filming next month in Melbourne.
'Come and show off your smarts for the chance to win big,' the call for entries announced on the producer's website.
'We're casting energetic, confident trivia lovers from all walks of life...Your trivia obsession could be your ticket to serious cash – if you've got what it takes!'
Channel Ten has not confirmed when the quiz reboot will air.
'We look forward to making the 2026 content announcements for both 10 and Paramount+, at our Upfront presentation in the next few months,' the network said in a statement.
Fans were deeply disappointed when Nine announced it was putting Millionaire Hot Seat on hiatus back in 2023.
The longest-running game show on Australian television has given away millions over the years to contestants.
'It's with great pride and joy and also sadness that I announce this morning Millionaire Hot Seat will go into hiatus at the end of January next year,' Eddie said on 3AW at the time.
'There will be a replacement show at 5pm on the Nine Network after we will hit our 25th anniversary as we go into 2024.'
Eddie said he loved being the host of the show because he got to meet people from all walks of life across Australia
'I love the fact so many people would come and say, I sat there with my grandparents and we did these things together [watched the show].'
'There were four millionaires in total, two from each show… But so many people won $250,000 and $500,000,' Eddie added.
Eddie said he loved being the host of the show because he got to meet people from all walks of life across Australia.
'What I love about it is I've seen multicultural Australia, people who have come out in their sexuality, coming on the show and feeling really free to do so. I've seen a snapshot of Australia,' he said.
'Every person's got a story, they've got battles in their life, they don't want a big handout, they just want a bit of sunshine come their way.'
Who Wants to be a Millionaire switched to the Hot Seat version in 2009.
Eddie had hosted Who Wants to be a Millionaire since its premiere in 1999.
The show returned with reruns in January 2024 and was ultimately replaced by Tipping Point.
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The Guardian
7 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Every cinephile in Australia wanted to be David Stratton. His passion was infectious – and his legacy lives on
For a long time, every cinephile in Australia – myself included – wanted to be David Stratton, the beloved critic who has died at age 85. And not just because that would involve being paid to watch and talk about movies – Stratton, of course, being beamed into lounge rooms across the country with fellow critic Margaret Pomeranz. We wanted to be him, aspired to be him, because of the values he represented and the manner with which he held himself. Stratton was deeply learned but approachable; polite but at times wonderfully feisty; and above all else deeply passionate about film. That passion was infectious, and his contributions to cinema culture in Australia are immeasurable. Stratton had many strings to his bow, including a long-running stint as director of the Sydney film festival (from 1966 to 1983), and an even longer stint teaching a film course at the University of Sydney's Centre for Continuing Education, which he ran for 35 years. But for me, as a teenager in the 1990s – in the earliest years of cutting my teeth as a critic – it was his film reviewing on TV that I found most inspiring. Like many others, I tuned in religiously to 'David and Margaret', as we fondly referred to the Movie Show and, later, At the Movies. They had excellent chemistry: the former a little more mannered, the latter a bit more playful, and the combination irresistible. I spent much of the time waiting, hoping for them to argue with each other (you know you did, too). All critics are strongly opinionated and perhaps a little sniffy-sounding from time to time; it's in the job description. One of the great things about Stratton was that you could always feel his criticism coming from the right place – a place of passion and love. I met him for the first time, many years ago, at a Melbourne film festival opening night party at the (long gone) Greater Union cinema on Russell Street. I nervously introduced myself; he was affable and very easy to talk to. I remember asking him, perhaps a little cheekily, whether his well-known distaste for handheld photography might be partly a generational thing. I expected him to demur, but he said this may well have been the case. Stratton was like that: he always seemed willing to consider another person's perspective, and to reassess his own. When I spoke to him for the last time in November last year, he reflected on changing his mind about the classic Australian comedy The Castle. Stratton told me he initially 'thought it looked like a telemovie' and awarded the film one and a half stars. But after returning to it a couple of times, he came to the party: 'I think Tiriel Mora is hilarious, talking about 'the vibe',' he said. 'Things can improve when you look at them a second or third time.' Once, many years ago, Pomeranz invited me as her guest to a film critics event held at Paddington RSL in Sydney. When Stratton joined us for a few wines beforehand, we had a wonderful time and I discovered a more comedic, slightly acerbic side to him. He could be quite funny – sometimes in self-deprecating or unexpected ways, privately as well as publicly. Take, for example, Stratton's hilarious cameo in the satirical comedy series Review With Myles Barlow, about a TV host who reviews absolutely anything. In one scene, Stratton zings 'the best thing for you to do would be to review your own retirement,' before he and Barlow get into a (very realistic-looking) punch-on. There's also the title of Stratton's 2008 memoir, I Peed on Fellini. In the preface, he recounts a story about how the legendary Italian auteur stood next to him at a urinal at the Venice film festival in the 1960s. In his excitement to introduce himself, Stratton 'turned towards the great man' and 'peed all over his shoes'. But perhaps the part of the book that best represents Stratton's character, and his insatiable desire to share his love for motion pictures, arrives at the very beginning. He dedicated the book to his children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, as well as 'all young people passionate about cinema'. He made so many of us passionate about cinema. His legacy lives on.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
David Stratton, legendary film critic who championed Australian and international cinema
At last count, the film critic, writer and cinephile David Stratton had seen and critiqued at least 25,000 films, not counting those he watched more than once. His goal was to see one new film every day, a childhood habit that developed into a career spanning six decades that celebrated and advanced the Australian film industry. Stratton, who has died aged 85, had an incomparable passion for celluloid storytelling. As a seven-year-old boy in England watching his childhood hero Chips Rafferty wrangling cattle in The Overlanders, Stratton had little idea that Australian films would transform his life. He left England in 1963 as a '10-pound Pom' intent on exploring Rafferty's outback for himself, but, like the protagonist John Grant in Wake in Fright, one of Stratton's favourite films, he found it menacing and dark. Instead, he was drawn to the Sydney film festival and the prospect of seeing films for free as a volunteer usher. Three years later, in 1966, he became its director and remained so for 18 years. Much to his father's disappointment, Stratton chose to make Australia his home and the support and promotion of the Australian film industry his life's work. Since Australia had no recognised film industry at the time, Stratton's first task as festival director was to launch short film competitions and promote untapped talent. Entries were received from names now synonymous with some of the country's best and most successful movies. By the 1970s, federal funding was in place, and with it came the rise of Australian cinema's new wave. Stratton ensured that classics such as Picnic at Hanging Rock (he saw it 'dozens of times'), Mad Max and Newsfront received international exposure, thus drawing the world's spotlight to the unique qualities of Australian cinema and its stories. In one memorable stunt at the opening night of the 1975 film Sunday Too Far Away, 40 sheep were brought in and a city street closed off so the film's star, Jack Thompson, could give a shearing demonstration. '[Stratton] was a warrior in the cause of finding an audience for Australian films, which was, and remains, difficult,' the writer and broadcaster Phillip Adams said. A fan of French cinema since his teens, Stratton was also keen to introduce Australian audiences to the diversity of world cinema. 'I still vividly remember seeing Truffaut's first feature, 400 Blows, for the first time and walking out of the cinema feeling I'd seen something extraordinary,' he said. Programming a series of Soviet films for the festival in the late 1960s resulted in Stratton being put under surveillance by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (Asio), who photographed him outside the Soviet embassy in Canberra. When he became aware of it, Stratton declared it 'a complete and staggering waste of time and money'. He had been there getting a visa to attend the Moscow film festival. In bringing international films to Australia – and with the emerging local film industry gaining momentum – Stratton found his focus turned to overthrowing what he called the country's 'draconian censorship' laws of the 1960s. 'It was films of real stature and real importance that were being attacked by the philistines at the film censorship board at the time,' he said. 'They were ignorant, stupid people.' Stratton was most recognisable as the white-bearded, bespectacled and avuncular co-host of The Movie Show on SBS, which ran from 1986 to 2004, and then At The Movies for a further 10 years. The good-humoured repartee between the no-nonsense Stratton and his cheerful (and stylish) co-host Margaret Pomeranz as they sparred over their star ratings and favourite films won them a devoted audience and led the Guardian to label them 'the head and heart of Australian film culture.' Their star ratings were divisive, with fans declaring themselves either 'a David' or 'a Margaret'. One director not happy with Stratton's review of his film, Romper Stomper, was Geoffrey Wright, who called him a 'pompous windbag' and, two years later, flung a glass of wine over the critic. David James Stratton was born on 10 September 1939 in Melksham, England, the oldest son of Wilfred and Kathleen Stratton. During the second world war, his parents were absent, his father posted overseas and his mother volunteering with the Red Cross. His grandmother became his primary carer, and every afternoon she would take David to the cinema to see a matinee. He left school in Salisbury at 16, spending his time with local film societies when not working in the family grocery business, Stratton Sons & Mead, established in 1830. In the 2017 documentary of his life, Stratton became emotional talking about the 'fractious relationship' he had with his father, who had groomed his son to take over the family business and could not understand his interest in films. Stratton's younger brother, Roger, said the relationship between David and his father was difficult in part 'because my brother didn't know him for the first five or six years of his life because when he came back from the war, he was a stranger'. From 1984 to 2003, Stratton wrote reviews for the US entertainment magazine Variety, earning a reputation as their fastest critic. He had been reviewing films since he was a boy and continued to do this for every film he saw throughout his life, recording typed or handwritten details on cards filed in wooden drawers. He was a member of the international jury at the Berlin, Montreal, Chicago and Venice film festivals and served twice as president of the international film critics jury at Cannes. He was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2015, and in 2001 a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters, France's highest cultural honour, for his services to cinema. His 2008 autobiography, I Peed on Fellini, describes an unfortunate meeting with the famous Italian director after Stratton had drunk copious amounts of champagne. He wrote several books about his favourite movies, and in 1990 began teaching film history at the University of Sydney, where he received an honorary doctorate in 2006. He was intensely private and lived in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, for many years with his wife, Susie Craig. No further details of his family are available. David Stratton, film critic, born 10 September 1939; died 2025.
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Footy star says anyone who disagrees with the AFL hiring Snoop Dogg to play at the grand final is a RACIST
Critics of the AFL 's decision to hire Snoop Dogg as the halftime entertainment at this year's AFL grand final are motivated by racism, a former AFLW star has claimed. The league divided fans and commentators when the official announcement was made on Tuesday, with some saying the hip-hop icon's extreme lyrics fly in the face of the AFL's commitment to opposing sexism and homophobia. Ex-Fremantle, Richmond and Hawthorn star Akec Makur Chuot hit back at Snoop's detractors, saying their complaints are fuelled by racism. 'For the first time, we have this precedent where a black artist is coming to headline one of the biggest sporting events in Australia and you have all this propaganda and hate towards him when that has never been done when it was Katy Perry or any other caucasian people,' she said. 'This comes back to this casual racism and blunt racism that continues to happen in sports. 'How can we expect our fans to not be racist to the players when you are now being racist towards someone who is literally a legend? 'We nitpick when it suits us, that's my problem. 'Do we have to sit and look at all the lyrics of everyone who's come here?' Chuot shot down people who have complained about the rap superstar because they believe local artists should be prioritised for the grand final gig, saying that sentiment 'should not come at the expense of somebody like Snoop Dogg'. 'It's one thing to be like, he does this or does that, but a lot of them do,' she said, pointing out that many musicians are known for their controversial lyrics. Soon after Tuesday's announcement, 3AW radio star Tom Elliott hit out at the AFL for abandoning its platform of respecting women by hiring Snoop. 'Snoop Dogg's lyrics - and we have been going through some of his songs this morning - are the absolute opposite of what the AFL is on about,' Elliott said. 'For example, this coming Thursday, the AFLW season starts ... the AFLW stands for diversity and inclusion. 'They've got two weeks of pride rounds in the men's game. We respect people of different races and cultures and ethnicities.' Elliott then read out the lyrics to the Snoop Dogg song 'Girls, Girls, Girls'. 'I like tall ones, white ones, fat ones, black ones, short ones, cute ones, bad ones, good ones. 'I'm tryin' a creep with 'em, individually want to sleep with 'em, I do 'em, I did 'em, I hit 'em and quit 'em. 'That's how I get rid of 'em, welcome to my world, girls, girls, girls.' He then summed up the lyrics with, 'So basically it's OK to hit women and then get rid of them. 'This is at odds with what the AFL is constantly lecturing us about - you know, respect towards women. 'I can tell you, in the hip-hop culture they have anything but respect towards women. Women are objects to be used and abused and chucked away in the world of Snoop Dogg. Some footy fans voiced the same opinion when the AFL broke the news of Snoop's performance on social media. 'If the AFL didn't have double standards, they'd have no standards at all,' one wrote. 'Like Snoop but I don't think he's suitable for grand final entertainment,' another commented.
