Win who wants to become a millionaire. Igor Sazeev: interesting facts, biography and photos

Just a few years ago, these people were unknown to anyone and led a normal life, but today, if not everyone, then very many residents of not only the Russian Federation, but also the CIS countries and even neighboring countries know about them. These people did not dream of wealth, they worked and earned money in order to support their family. Little did they know that one day their lives would change dramatically. Who are they – ordinary residents of our country who became real millionaires thanks to the television quiz “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” Was winning the show a turning point in their lives? What has changed since then, and what is the fate of national heroes?

1999 The Russian national channel NTV broadcasts the popular show “Oh, Lucky!” with permanent presenter Dmitry Dibrov. In 2001, the program was bought up by Channel One (formerly ORT - Public Russian Television) and changed its presenter - it became the still little-known young comedian Maxim Galkin. And already in the first episode of the television quiz on Channel One, Igor Sazeev from St. Petersburg becomes the winner and receives one million rubles as the main prize. To this day, skeptics claim that the management of Channel One decided to make this man the winner in order to attract even more viewers to this program on Channel One, since in the program “Oh, Lucky!” during the two years of its existence, no one won a million on NTV. However, be that as it may, Igor Sazeev played with dignity and received his winnings well deservedly.

Igor Sazeev is a man who was 39 years old at the time of winning and has six children. According to him, he was preparing not so much for the game itself, but for the qualifying round, which he was afraid of not passing. To do this, I studied the history of the Russian Federation and also looked through a large number of reference books. His diligence and labors were not in vain - luck smiled on Igor. Just not for long. After receiving a prize of one million rubles, he was forced to pay three hundred and fifty thousand to the state treasury as a tax on the prize. The information that cash prizes from the program are not advertised and for Igor Sazeev the news about the need to pay a 35 percent tax came as a real shock.

As for the game itself, Igor Sazeev was confused only once - when he was asked a question regarding the work “Eugene Onegin”. In subsequent interviews, the man honestly admitted that this question took him by surprise, since many years had passed since he read Pushkin’s work. And he answered all other questions clearly and confidently, because he knew the correct answer. However, despite the fact that Igor Sazeev is the first winner of the game program who wants to become a millionaire and did not expect to become the owner of such a serious prize, he still expected that he would reach at least the tenth question, since he had a sufficient number knowledge in various fields of human activity.

Today, Igor Sazeev does not hide the fact that he was brought to the program by chance - during joint viewings of this television quiz, he often correctly answered questions to which other participants left the game or gave incorrect answers. The wife, seeing such abilities in her husband, advised him to go and take part himself and win a million rubles for the family. This is how Igor Sazeev ended up on the “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” program.

As mentioned above, many skeptics believe that Igor Sazeev’s victory on the television quiz is good PR for Channel One. However, the winner believes that he honestly won his million. He does not think that the questions he answered were too easy; they fully complied with the rules and regulations of the program and were divided into three blocks - humorous (easy), medium complexity and questions of increased complexity. It just so happened that for Igor the questions turned out to be convenient and nothing more.

According to psychologists, a serious test of a person’s moral “strength” is rapid and unexpected wealth or power. Igor Sazeev became one million rubles richer for one television program. And, even despite the need to pay taxes, he became the owner of a huge amount of money. However, the winner of the TV quiz does not belong to the category of people who, in the very first months, spend their winnings on various banquets and festive events, and then discover that there is no trace left of the winnings. After several years, Igor believes that he spent the money well and did not squander the winnings. He has a negative attitude towards those people who do not want to work, but prefer to receive money “just like that,” but at the same time he does not believe that winning such a serious intellectual program is a dishonest or undignified way to earn money.

Today Igor again dreams of taking part in the program. When asked that maybe this time it’s worth trying his luck abroad, the newly-made millionaire replies that, in his opinion, he won’t even be able to pass the qualifying round, since this will require answering questions regarding local specifics, history of the country in which he will play.

The second winner of the program, who managed to take away three million rubles, was Viktor Chudinovskikh, who took part in the program together with his wife.

Yuri's fate is similar to that of Igor Sazeev - Yuri was a talented boy from childhood, took part in all sorts of events that were held at school, participated in intellectual quizzes, and Olympiads in various subjects. In a word, Yuri Chudinovskikh had such knowledge that allowed him to study not in an ordinary secondary school, but in a special boarding school for gifted children. By coincidence, Igor Sazeev also graduated from the same secondary school. However, Yuri’s fate was not easy - despite the large number of diverse talents, it was difficult for the modest Chudinovskikh to find his place “under the sun”. He worked a lot and earned little. Until the moment he got on the program as a participant, the family saved on almost everything, but there was still not enough money. However, oddly enough, having got to the doubles game, the husband and wife made a mutual decision right in the studio - to take risks and go to the end.

Irina and Yuri Chudinovskikh are sociable people who have many friends. In order not to lose the opportunity to win the maximum amount of money, they put several of their intellectual acquaintances on the phones at once, one of whom was the director of the secondary school where Irina works. This person teaches history in high school and they planned to contact him if they came across a difficult history question during the program. However, fate decreed otherwise - the couple had doubts on a question related to astronomy. I had to call a specialist in this matter from Moscow. However, he was unable to answer this question, only at the last second one of his friends who participated in the brainstorming remembered that we were talking about Venus, which has a gaseous shell and therefore is the hottest on it. However, despite the fact that their friends helped the Chudinovsky couple win three million rubles, Yuri and Irina did not consider it necessary to thank them for this.

Today, Irina and Yuri Chudinovsky are called people who, in fact, became the prototypes of the heroes who took part in the filming of the Oscar-winning film “Slumdog Millionaire.” In addition to the fact that Yuri and Irina moved from one city to another for a long time, wandering around, trying to find a better life, during their participation in the program, childhood memories surfaced in Yuri’s memory. Yuri Chudinovskikh honestly admitted to reporters after his victory on the show that he did not know the exact answer to the last question. However, despite this, at the very last moment, when he and Irina were about to take the money and leave the program, he remembered the children's animated film “Well, Just Wait” and the answer was found.

After winning the program, the life of Yuri and Irina Chudinovsky changed for the better - after the program aired, Yuri was invited to work for a good position in a serious banking structure, where he works as deputy general director to this day.

However, the win did not radically change the lives of these people from Kirov, since, according to Yuri, three million rubles is too little to change something radically - the money earned with their own minds on the program was spent too quickly.

Svetlana Yaroslavtseva is a person who managed to win three million rubles on her own. Unlike the couple Yuri and Irina Chudinovsky, she did not take part in the pairs program - she decided to rely on her own strengths and talents. She was born and lived in the city of Troitsk (Moscow region), unlike previous winners, Svetlana did not study at prestigious educational institutions, preferring self-education to study at Moscow universities.

Svetlana Yaroslavtseva answered the host’s fourteen questions with dignity and was just one step away from three million rubles, but the last – the fifteenth question – put her at a dead end. “Which writer was a page during the time of Catherine the Second?” Svetlana did not know the answer - this was evident from her facial expressions, gestures and serious excitement reflected on the face of the future millionaire. Despite the fact that she tried to remain unperturbed, the audience in the studio, and then the television viewers, noticed an internal struggle - to take 500 thousand rubles or go to the end. The choice was not easy. Svetlana Yaroslavtseva, who managed to save the hint until the end of the program, asked a question to the audience, and it was the people who came to the program who helped her win three million rubles.

With the money she won, Svetlana Yaroslavtseva purchased a dacha near Troitsk, as well as a one-room apartment for her elderly mother. A few months after her victory, the woman fulfilled her old dream - to visit the Dead Sea, Netanya, Jerusalem, and Eilat.

She speaks of Maxim Galkin with a sparkle in her eyes, talking about his charisma and incredible charm. The only thing that really surprised her during the game was the look of a tired man, his eyes full of melancholy. However, to the surprise of Svetlana Yaroslavtseva, this was absolutely not visible on TV.

Today, yesterday's millionaires lead a normal lifestyle. They live among us and continue to work, study, achieve new heights and open horizons. Luck smiled on these people and gave them a lot of positive emotions, but today their life is practically no different from before - everything passes, money is spent, but the memory of such a gift of fate remains forever.

Millionaire?" is a popular game show that everyone probably knows about. It has become an analogue of the English television quiz show called Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? In this program, everyone has the opportunity, thanks to their knowledge and, of course, luck, to win 3 million rubles. The show involves both celebrities, who are regularly invited to film in the popular game, and viewers who decided to try their luck in this TV quiz.There were lucky ones who managed to win a decent amount of money, and we will talk about one of them in this article. in which Igor Sazeev played - “Who wants to become a millionaire?”

History of the show

The program was first broadcast on NTV under the title “Oh, Lucky!” Then the host was Dmitry Dibrov. The program became very popular, and its ratings increased more and more, but there were no winners who reached the main prize. Later, the program moved to Channel One under the more familiar title “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” Comedian Maxim Galkin was chosen to play the role of presenter. This happened in 2001, but in 2008 Dmitry Dibrov became the host again. Since 2005, the amount of winnings has been increased - now the main prize was 3 million rubles.

Rules of the game

So, for those who don’t know yet, let’s remind you of the rules: in the game, as mentioned earlier, there are only 15 questions. Moreover, they can be associated with completely different areas of knowledge, so the player must truly have a broad outlook, at least in order to get to the main, cherished 15 question.

Each question has 4 possible answers: the player must choose the only correct one. There are three hints: 50/50 (when two incorrect answers are removed from the list of presented answers), a call to a friend (everything is clear here), and also the help of the audience, which must show erudition to help a player who has difficulty choosing an answer.

The questions are not all difficult. For example, 1 to 5 are mostly humorous, and answering them will not be difficult, although, of course, it depends on your luck. The 10th level includes questions of an average level of complexity on general topics. But then it will become much more difficult - it will require a lot of knowledge in specific industries and you will need to make a lot of effort to reach the victorious end. In the history of the show, by the way, there were such people, albeit in very small numbers. Let's talk now about the first millionaire who was able to win the main prize.

How did the future millionaire get the idea to participate in the game?

He began to notice that while watching this TV show at home, he often answered many questions correctly, while the participants did not know the answer. His wife in some way inspired him to go to Moscow and take the risk of playing in the show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”, where Maxim Galkin then became the host. Igor Sazeev accepted this idea positively and went to the capital to fight to the end for the main prize.

Life to a million

Having received a university education, Igor Sazeev, a participant in the KHSM show, came to work at the Institute of Silicate Chemistry of the USSR Academy of Sciences, where he worked until the mid-90s. Then he started editing books, and later became an editor at a publishing house. At the time of his participation in the program, he already had four children from his second marriage, and one from his first. Second wife - Anna, sons - Yura, Sasha, Timofey and Vasily. The fifth child is the eldest son Maxim from his first marriage.

The beginning of the journey to a million

The place of residence of such a once popular millionaire as Igor Sazeev is St. Petersburg. He is the father of five children. On the program "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" got there thanks to Komsomolskaya Pravda. At first he tried to call the program, but nothing worked, then he saw the card numbers in this newspaper. Thanks to this, he was able to get on the list of winners who were sent to the program “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” And finally, Igor Sazeev is a millionaire: in that first episode of the television quiz, which began broadcasting on Channel One, he reached the 15th question.

Preparing for the game

As Igor Sazeev, a millionaire who won the main prize on the TV show, later said, he prepared more for the qualifying round than for the game. He was afraid that he would not pass it, so he trained very carefully, for example, he studied the history of the Russian Federation. He also studied many reference books. The diligence and considerable work that he put into preparing for the game did their job - he held out with honor and dignity throughout the entire show, answering all questions. He hoped that he would get to the tenth question: then he didn’t really count on more. Despite his confidence in his knowledge in various fields of activity, winning such a popular game was truly a surprise for him.

Answers on questions

The only thing he doubted was the question concerning the work “Eugene Onegin”. In a subsequent interview, the player admitted that he actually took him by surprise, since he, of course, had read Pushkin’s works, but many years ago. He gave confident and clear answers to the remaining questions, so during this game he showed excellent erudition and restraint.

Igor Sazeev: biography of a lucky man

At the time of winning, Igor Sazeev was 39 years old. He was born in 1962, December 21. Graduated from Leningrad State University, Faculty of Chemistry. By profession he is a layout designer, making book layouts. As already noted, he is married and has five sons. His eldest son Maxim from his first marriage lives with his mother in Germany; at the time of the broadcast, he had not seen him for two years. Igor Yurievich Sazeev has a musical education, his childhood dream was to become a composer.

Hobbies of Igor Sazeev

He loves to play sports, in particular, he enjoys playing football and basketball. He believes that he is a gambling person. Favorite directors are F. Coppola and A. Tarkovsky. From books he prefers science fiction. A lover of music in various genres: he listens to both classics and rock and jazz. Favorite performer is Louis Armstrong. Winnie the Pooh is a favorite literary character (he likes this character for his optimism). He considers hippos to be the most beautiful animals on Earth: he created a whole collection of these toy creatures, of which he has about 100 copies.

How did Sazeev react to his unexpected luck?

It came as a surprise to him that he had to pay 35% of his winnings, a total of 350 thousand rubles, which he was forced to give to the state treasury. According to the rules, it is necessary to transfer part of the winnings, which are collected in the form of a tax and go to the state.

How did you manage your winnings?

The date March 12, 2001 became significant for him, because on this day he not only won the biggest prize in the game “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”, but also became its first winner. Thus, it is forever recorded in the history of the most popular game. He used the money as follows: first he bought a bicycle for his younger children, spent part of it on searching for his eldest son, whom he had not seen for quite a long time, went on a romantic trip with his current wife to Austria and Italy, purchased a Renault car, bought a computer, and also I vacationed in Crimea with my whole family. Also, part of the money was invested in renovations.

In addition, Igor wanted to open his own business and invested part of the money in it, but went bankrupt. While in Germany, I visited Belgium and Holland with my eldest son Maxim as part of a tourist group.

Happy broadcast release

The premiere of the updated version of the program, now broadcast under the title “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”, took place on February 19, 2001, and was broadcast only on March 12. This happened for the reason that viewers might have doubts about honesty, since in the very first episode Igor Sazeev won a million. Then with his victory he shocked the organizers by winning the main prize so easily. He received his winnings live on “Good Morning”: then they gave him. After the transfer, instead of cash, they presented him with a card and opened a bank account for him.

Gambler

Igor Sazeev considers himself a gambling person, ready to take risks. Before that happy game, he decided for himself that if he was lucky enough to get to the fifteenth question, he would answer it, even if he was not sure of the answer. At the very least, he will be the first person in this program who took the risk of reaching the end, and not taking the amount due to lack of confidence in the last answer.

By the way, at the end he was asked a question about the teachings of Zen, namely what direction of religious philosophy it belongs to. They helped Sazeev win in the transfer of his knowledge, because he is a broad-minded person, very well-read, erudite and intelligent, but the fact that, as he later claimed, the questions came across that were convenient for him also played a role. It’s not that they were all simple, but for the most part the answers to them did not cause him any particular difficulties.

Bad business investment

After Sazeev received a decent winning at that time, albeit not in the amount of 1 million rubles, but 650 thousand after taxes, he began to think about how best to spend the money. His friends then persuaded him to invest in a business, namely a trucking company. He spent a considerable amount on this matter - about 250 thousand rubles. Then in an interview he admitted that he knew little about business and then took a risk, trusting his comrades. But his friends simply let him down, and his investments burned out. Afterwards, of course, he regretted his decision.

Renault car

Igor spent part of the winnings on a Renault car: it was used, its age was already 11 years at the time of purchase, and its mileage was 130 thousand kilometers. Although the minivan was old, Igor Sazeev’s large family really needed the car at that time. However, the joy from buying a car did not last long; after some time, serious problems began with it. One or another part began to fail. Spare parts for foreign cars are expensive, so we had to spend a lot on repairs.

Igor Sazeev: second game

Several years after the resounding victory, Igor Sazeev was again invited to the program “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”: then a special issue was organized. The second time, however, he failed to break the record. He settled on the amount of 32 thousand rubles, answering the 13th question incorrectly, and in the end he was left with a fireproof amount. The transfer was charitable, and Igor Sazeev sent the funds won, albeit small ones, to the Novgorod region for the construction of a temple

Other winners of the program "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?"

The next millionaires after Igor Sazeev in 2003 were the Chudinovsky family. By an interesting coincidence, the second winner, Yuri, studied at the same school as Sazeev. In 2006, the winner, who won 3 million rubles, was Svetlana Yaroslavtseva from the Moscow region, and then the same amount was won in 2010 by Timur Budaev, who lives in Pyatigorsk.

This is only the fourth time in the show's 10-year history. Lika Bragina hurried to talk to the newly rich man.

— Timur, congratulations! Have you already shared the good news with your loved ones?

“I’m already tired of the increased attention: as soon as I hang up the phone, there’s another call.” I told many people about the trip, so now everyone is calling, trying to find out something. But I didn’t tell anyone anything about the victory, not even my parents. The program leaders urgently asked me about this.

- Tell us about yourself.

— I am the head of the technical maintenance department of the Pyatigorsk State Linguistic University. Not married, I live with my parents. My dad is a retired military man, my mother is a doctor in a sanatorium. There is a sister and brother.

- What is your salary?

— I have had occasion to hold large sums of money in my hands, but just hold them in my hands. I had nothing to do with them. I can’t disclose the salary, but I will say that it is significantly higher than in our region. And the average salary in Pyatigorsk is 10 thousand rubles. I’m not swimming in money and I realize that I would never have earned the amount I won even in many years. I feel like an astronaut who soared to an unattainable height and grabbed a star from the sky.

“And there will probably be no end to the girls.”

- Actually, I already have a girlfriend. But if I were single, I would wonder with the increased attention who it is directed at - me or the money.

—Which question got you into the most trouble? confusion ?

- Just the last question. It didn’t even lead to confusion, but rather to a certain despondency. What chemical element is named after the evil underground gnome: hafnium, cobalt, beryllium, tellurium? The correct answer was cobalt. There was both luck and knowledge. There were questions to which I did not know the answers, but I solved them through logical thinking. By the way, I set a record: I reached the last sum with two unused clues.

— Dibrov helped somehow or, on the contrary, did he press with authority?

“It was no more difficult for me to communicate with Dibrov than with a bosom friend. I felt like I was sitting next to him at a table in a cafe.

— What advice would you give to the next participants?

- First of all, stay cool and calm. If a person can not be nervous, then knowledge, intuition, and logic will come to his aid.

— The first winner, Igor Sazeev, spent money searching for his eldest missing son and found him. What will you spend your winnings on?

“I’ll send mom and dad to rest abroad—to Paris, Prague.” I myself will go to Italy, the country of my dreams: Rome, Florence, Milan. I'll probably invest the remaining money in real estate. I will receive not 3 million, but 1 million 950 thousand. Of course, this money is not enough for Moscow or abroad, so I will buy here, in Pyatigorsk.

Millionaires

Winners of the show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” in the entire history of the program

Winning - 1 million. Part of the money was spent on searching for his missing son. I bought a car, a computer, a trip to Europe, and invested in a business.

Winning - 1 million. We bought a car and renovated our apartment. The rest of the money was invested in banks and investment funds.

Winning - 3 million. The first one lucky enough to receive an “indexed” million. I was able to buy myself a dacha with the winnings.

Did you know that one of the musketeers rose to the rank of Marshal of France? And the fact that carpaccio is not only the name of the dish? If your answer is yes, then why haven't you won Who Wants to Be a Millionaire yet? three million rubles? Take our test and find out for sure whether you have a chance to be among the winners.

Over the 17 years of existence of the program “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” The main prize was won only 6 times. We invite you to check your capabilities in our test and find out if you could reach the 15th question and win 3 million rubles.

Dmitry Dibrov is the host of the TV show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” since 2008. During his presence in the program, the main prize of three million rubles was won only three times. And even though it’s not Dmitry himself who comes up with the questions, he is a symbol of erudition in our country. We invite you to try to answer the most difficult questions that were asked in the game by Dmitry Dibrov.

Today, the most popular TV quiz show for Russians remains the capital show “Field of Miracles.” But few people know that this program is only an analogue of the popular American show “Wheel of Fortune”. In general, today there are many Russian television quiz shows where remarkable erudition is required from the participants: “Own Game”, “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” and, of course, “What? Where? When?". Today we invite you to take a seat on the other side of the screen. Sit down in the player's chair, we're starting the blitz!

Don't know how to put your knowledge into practice? Perhaps it's time to try to earn money with your mind, and a very considerable amount. The TV project “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” invites everyone to compete for an impressive win - 1,500,000 rubles! The last time Alexander Gudkov and Dana Borisova managed to do this was in 2018. However, to win you will need really good knowledge, erudition and iron logic. Are you sure you can handle it? Will you be the new lucky one?

In the entire history of the existence of the game “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” on Russian television, only three lucky people have won a prize of 1,500,000,000 rubles. To win, they had to overcome 14 rounds with difficult questions. We have selected for you the most interesting and extraordinary tasks from the famous game. Will you be able to earn a million?

In "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?", "Own Game", "What? Where? When?" and other intellectual television shows usually involve people with a lot of knowledge. Do you think you would be able to compete with your opponents if you managed to get on one of these shows? We suggest checking it out!

The famous game “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” has been gathering entire families in front of the TV for years. The excitement and excitement experienced by the game participants, eager to win the coveted millions, is transmitted to television viewers. And don’t be upset if you haven’t found yourself on the other side of the screen yet, because today you have a great opportunity to practice! Test your knowledge!

The rarest moment in the TV show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" - this is question 15. And if the player has reached it, then the level of his knowledge and erudition is at the highest level. Could you take a chance and see if you would have taken the main prize or left empty-handed? Challenge your erudition - answer our questions.