Another distinctive aspect of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is that the game allows its contestants to use outside help in the form of three "lifelines." In the first lifeline, called "50/50," a computer erases two of the four multiple-choice questions. Another lifeline, "ask the audience," polls the audience regarding the correct answer to a question. While the audience guesses are often correct, in some instances contestants have relied on the audience and answered a question incorrectly. The final lifeline, "phone a friend," allows contestants to make a call to one of five preselected friends who possess expertise in an area relevant to the question. These lifelines provide an interesting link between the contestant, the studio audience, and the home audience. Besides the role the lifelines play in the competition itself, they create a close involvement for both the studio and the home audience. This participatory aspect creates a distinctive text-audience relationship that sets Millionaire apart from most other shows of its kind.

     Millionaire is also particularly pleasurable in  its use of contestants considered average or "common people." This seems to create easy identification with on-air contestants and also allows audience members to imagine that they might be in the hot seat rather than the current contestant. This impression is further enhanced by the easy access to the initial selection process via telephone and by the availability of an online version of Millionaire hosted by ABC.go.com. Ideologically, the easy identification with highly successful contestants reinforces the myth that within U.S. capitalist culture it is possible for everyone to become successful and rich, the belief that everyone can become a millionaire.

     While the structure of the show is generally the same in both the British and U.S. versions, the difficulty level seems to have been lowered in the United States to allow more contestants to win high amounts of prize money and create additional public attention. At the same time, publicity surrounding the program often emphasizes the intellectual capabilities of the most successful contestants. The first $1 million winner, John Carpenter, appeared on Millionaire on November 19, 1999, and received significant media attention highlighting his superior mental abilities. Perhaps to generate particularly high ratings for Millionaire, host Regis Philbin announced this event on his other show, Live with Regis and Kelly, on the morning of the November 19 broadcast.

     The fall 1999 and spring 2000 season of Millionaire marked the highest ratings for the show, peaking at an audience share of 30 percent. By the fall of 2001, the ratings of Millionaire had dropped  significantly. While the show had been broadcast up to four times a week at its peak of success, it was reduced to two broadcasts on Monday and Thursday, scheduled against other highly competitive shows. Some of Mil­lionaire's ratings in the fall 2001 season were as low as a 10 percent share. While the future of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire as a prime-time network show might be in doubt, a syndicated daytime version, with Meredith Viera as host, has been highly successful in the United States.