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MMillion Dollar MMoney Drop on M&Ms

Update: Some readers have raised doubts about a question on Thursday's episode of Million Dollar Money Drop. Minor Spoiler.

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Minor Spoiler: Some readers have raised doubts about a question on Nine’s episode of Million Dollar Money Drop which aired last night in all cities except Melbourne (presumably due to AFL competition).

Q: “According to M&M’s Australian website, there are more of which colour, on average, in a pack of Original M&M’s?”

There were two multiple choice answers: Blue or Yellow.

While the contestants chose Yellow the correct answer was “Blue.”

Some readers have protested that “Blue” was introduced in 1995 so was therefore not an “original” M&M:

– The answer to the last question was wrong.

– I used to eat M&M’s many years ago as a child and I couldn’t remember any blue M&M’s and thought that yelllow was the correct answer.

– Since Blue was not introduced until 1995, I can’t understand how the contestants could be incorrect in choosing yellow.

Nine says the wording of the question indicated “Original M&M’s” is part of the brand.

On the Mars, Incorporated website the product is described as variations of “M&M’s”® Milk Chocolate Candies including sentences of ‘the original “M&M’s”® Milk Chocolate Candies’ and ‘the original “M&M’s”®.’

It’s clear on the site that Blue is more frequent in a packet, at 22.25 vs 11.1% for Yellow, but interpretation of the word “Original” may not be quite so sweet.

UPDATE: A Nine spokesperson said there was no ambiguity on the part of the contestants.

“The page on M&M’s Australian website from which the information was sourced clearly states: ‘Get the lowdown on the M&Ms that started it all – the original M&Ms Milk Chocolate Candies.’”

47 Responses

  1. These people need to be brought back for another episode of Drop.
    The answer was clearly wrong by channel nine. As there were no Blue M&M’s In the original Packets.

  3. The show should bring these people back, it appears to be a grey area: mms.com/us/about/mmshistory/ blue was voted in in 1995.

    Most of the public I have spoken with think the show is full of it, and that they have duped these people of $640K on a technicality.

  4. The original colors were red, yellow, green, brown, orange and violet. (Whoa! Violet?) Yep, apparently back in 1949 tan had a better PR agent than it does today, because it knocked violet out of the line up. Tan managed to hang onto its place in the spectrum until 1995, when it was replaced by blue. In case you’re wondering, there is a specific amount of each color in the mix; for the milk chocolate candies (since 2000 they are no longer called “plain” – I know it always bothered me that I was eating candy marketed as “plain”) it is 30% brown, 20% each of yellow and red and 10% each of orange, green and blue. Even though M&M’s didn’t use the particular red food color that was being blamed for the ills of many children, from 1976-1987 red was removed from the mix “to avoid consumer confusion”.

  5. Million Dollar Drop did it again tonight… they asked what was the first digital channel… the contestants said 7two so they would have got it wrong anyway. But the actual answer was ABC2.

  7. We would at least expect channel 9 this show to be run with integrity, the original MnM’s had no blue…our contestants were clearly robbed. No more million dollar flop for me 🙂

  8. seeing as the blue m&m wasnt introduced until 1995, it’s not an original m&m and the contestants should go back and get their money, it’s unfair and a trick question. This isnt fair and these poor people are being cheated!! go back and get your money, we’re on your side 🙂

  9. Looks like the US version had a similar question: examiner.com/celebrity-headlines-in-national/m-m-colors-discussed-on-million-dollar-money-drop

  12. “Get the lowdown on the ‘M&M’s’ ® that started it all–The original ‘M&M’s’ milk chocolate candies that started it all.” m-ms.com.au/about/products/milkchocolate.html
    At the Australian site there is a chart indicating the various present colours in today’s package of ‘M&M’ original milk chocolate candies: blue 22.2% to yellow’s 11.1. Under history at the Australian M&M site there is this statement, “In 1960, “M&M’s”® Peanut Chocolate Candies added three new colors to the mix: red, green and yellow were added to the original brown color. ” I clearly recall the couple stating that yellow was introduced to the original colour and stood out strongest against the brown packaging. Now, Q: “According to M&M’s Australian website, there are more of which colour, on average, in a pack of Original M&M’s?” What constitutes a “pack of Original M&M’s?” Clearly there lies the difference between yellow vs. blue. I personally agree that the question was poorly worded, ambiguous and unfair. For $640,000 I would be seeking legal advice. As for the show, I was not impressed and will not be watching it. Gone are the days of a good game of ‘Jeopardy’!

  16. great show, stop bagging it out all of you. if someone wins or loses, so what thats the game,.

    great i love it i will always watch it. love the way the whole show goes bring it on eddie ,stick to it, they will all tune in to see whats going on. everyone talking about the show, will get more to see it.

  18. With that question on MDMD, did they actually have the question written exactly how it is written on this page and the word written as ‘Original’ with a capital O? Because if that’s the case, 9 could be (legally) incorrect. ‘Original’ rather than ‘original’ (if written exactly that way as above) references a title (product name). There is no product named ‘Original M&M’s’. The ‘original’ word used on M&M’s is purely descriptive context and is not part of the product title which is why it is a lowercase ‘o’ on their site. So that would make the question invalid.

  20. I’m with @Dean, this sounds like product placement.

    What game shows reference a company website without being paid by that company? Game shows are always looking for sponsors, you just hope they aren’t ever as blatant as this; or that they are more upfront and declare the connection.

    Does anyone know if there is (or there is a pending) corporate sponsorship here with Mars?

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