‘Wie word ’n Miljoenêr: Afrikaans game show sees biggest win yet

Tshwane law lecturer, Bernie Meyer, kicked dust in everyone’s eyes last night, winning the biggest amount yet on kykNET’s Afrikaans version of 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire'.


Bernie Meyer, 54, says last night’s win on kykNET’s Wie word ’n Miljoenêr was a “nice windfall”.

The law lecturer from Tshwane was the first to reach an amount of R125,000 in the maiden series of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’s Afrikaans version.

“The most stressful part is ‘Vinnige Vingers’,” says Meyer who was as cool as a cucumber as the show’s presenter, Rian van Heerden peppered him with questions.

“After that, it gets better.”

According to him, as the questions’ difficulty increases, it becomes more and more nerve-wrecking.

Bernie Meyer galloped through the first couple of questions in the third episode of the series, which evidently went over to the fourth episode. As Meyer walked onto the world-class stage for the second time, Rian van Heerden was taken aback at how calm he appeared to be, but Bernie said that he didn’t really feel that calm.

Meyer entered the fourth episode with R15,000 from the previous episode’s correct answers. He also still had three helplines left as he never used them in the third episode. This meant that he was nine correct answers away from becoming a millionaire.

Bernie Meyer and Rian van Heerden
Wie word ’n Miljoenêr’s Bernie Meyer and Rian van Heerden. Image: Supplied

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As he was contemplating over the follow-up fourth episode’s first question for R20,000 last night, he told Van Heerden that he would like to take his wife on a trip to Europe if he wins the R1 million.

The question that landed him R125,000, was: “Which planet’s day is longer than its year?” Of course, as it is with any Who Wants To Be A Millionaire show, the wait to know whether the answer was correct got dragged out as long as possible and had everyone on the edge of their seats, especially Bernie’s wife, Amanda.

While working on everyone’s nerves, Rian said: “The holiday can be first class or a Contiki tour”, as Meyer would have fallen back to R40,000 had he not gotten the question right. But, his answer – Venus – made him break the record and instantly took the show to a whole new level.

Wie word ’n Miljoenêr’s question for R250,000 was: “Which building on the parliamentary site in Cape Town does not belong to government?” As Meyer was not sure, he decided to take his R125,000 and go home.

Bernie told The Citizen that he won’t be doing anything exciting with the money.

“I am going to pay off some of my debt and buy a few things. I also want to put away some of the money as we are planning to move to the Cape next year and I want to use a portion of it for the move.”  

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