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.
- Published by David Knox
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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.’”
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47 Responses
What they meant by ‘original’ M & M’s was just that they are the normal chocolate ones (ie not peanut or any promotional packages). Not ‘original’ in that they were in the first packages.
I bet if the couple had put their money on blue they still would have lost it… The show would have said that blue wasn’t “original” – it is open to interpretation isn’t it & the only winner here was the show with however they wanted to interpret it! “According to the m&m website blue wasn’t in the original colour mix of 5 colours in 1941!” Very clever Channel Nine, Very clever!
They’ve nailed one part of the format correctly then – dodgy questions is somewhat of a trademark for the show.
What on earth brought them to think of such ridiculous question? Product placement?
Sounds like Million Dollar Plop.
Even with Melbourne not showing the show it dropped at least 200 k and going by the drivel being discussed here, we can all see why.
With those Seinfeld-like questions, it’s a game show about nothing.
Sydney
Monday 287,000 Thurs 195,000
That’s a drop by 32%
Watched the end of this show. I couldn’t help but laugh at this last question. Also, when they lost all that money, life changing money on a ridiculous question like that…well…just a horrible show.
Haha, MDMD asking the tough questions!
Also, just heard B105 mention in their news that MDMD lost half its audience from Monday night’s premiere. It’d be good if they got their facts right. I dislike this show as much as the next TV Tonight reader, but not having aired in Melbourne is obviously going to affect its ratings.
Yes AAP sent out ratings “flop” with the same oversight. I imagine that’s what B105 is reading.
Whether or not blue is original is not the point. The question still says, “According to M&M’s Australian website…” Therefore the answer has to be blue, because that is according to the website…
@Michael – An item topical for this site. Wonder if GTV News/ACA will mention it.
The sort of thing ACA would relish.
Hurry up April 4 & George @ 6:30.
Nine News still being “thrashed” in Melbourne.
….slow TV news day, obviously.
If the answer blue is correct then I must be getting dodgy packs as blue and green are the colours that are least in the pack. I tend to get more yellow and brown than blue.
So with two answers, was this the final question and they therefore walked away with nothing? 🙁
I saw this last night and was just thinking the husband will be in for it when they get home because he was the one that suggested yellow whilst the woman said blue at the start and was on the right track when she said there are light blue and dark blue m & m’s so would therefore mean double the blue m & m’s than any other colour which going by the 11% yellows vs 22% blues is true.
The controversy should help its Melbourne ratings on Monday night!
I remember the days when interesting and legitimate questions used to be asked on quiz shows. Absolute drivel.
The red ones taste the best 😀
Today Tonight should run a story on this and then A Current Affair should steal their footage and run it five minutes later, in full, replacing Eddie’s head with a big ACA logo.
The question included the phrase according to the m&ms website, so if the website does not referene how many of each coloured m&m were in a packet before blue was introduced then the question is phrased perfectly correctly. For the answer to be valid it must be information contained on the website.
I took it to mean original as in not the kind with peanuts or wafer inside. Just like you can get original crisps or any of the flavoured kinds.
Gripping stuff.
Better alert “Today Tonight”.
the questions in this show are really that banal?
IIRC, Who wants to be a Millionaire had asked two contestants back due to an ambiguous answer to a question (one had to do with the number of people in the senate).
This clearly would seem to be another case of such action being required.
Does someone have a screen grab of the question as it showed last night?