Dan Patrick nearly had ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire’ before Regis Philbin

[TMC]

https://awfulannouncing.com/abc/dan-...s-philbin.html

"I got to get a game show for Regis Philbin, okay? But do you want to host Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?"

By Brandon Contes on 07/09/2025

The Price is Right, Jeopardy!, and now we can add Who Wants to Be a Millionaire to the list of prominent game shows Dan Patrick almost hosted.

Patrick joined the latest episode of Barstool Sports’ Pardon My Take with hosts Dan “Big Cat” Katz and PFT Commenter (Eric Sollenberger) from the American Century Celebrity Golf Tournament in Lake Tahoe. During the interview, Katz asked Patrick about turning down The Price is Right. And in his answer, Patrick shared that he may have even been closer to hosting Who Wants to Be a Millionaire before ABC gave it to Regis.



“I was up for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. So, I meet with the guy who started the show, Michael Davies. Century City,” Patrick told Pardon My Take.

Patrick says he was flown out to Los Angeles where Davies had him watch Japanese game shows for about 90 minutes before mentioning Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.

“All of a sudden… he goes, ‘Alright, we’re gonna do the show. God damn it, Regis won’t leave me alone,’” Patrick recalled Davies saying before the former ESPN host eventually asked, “What are we doing here?”

“He goes, ‘Alright, hold on. I got to get a game show for Regis Philbin, okay? But do you want to host Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”

Without having all the specifics, Patrick acknowledged he was open to hosting the show, to which Davies again said, “Alright, I got to get f***ing Regis a game show.”

Patrick went home and told his wife about the concept of the show and the offer that was presented to him. And when she asked if he was going to take the job, Patrick said he thinks it hinges on whether they get a game show for Regis.

“As God is my witness, I did not hear back from Michael Davies until I saw on TV Guide, Regis Philbin was going to host Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” Patrick said. “For 10 years, I waited for Michael Davies to apologize to me. And he had some game show that his assistant called me about and I said, ‘Tell Michael to call me.’

“And he forgot all about it. I’m like, ‘Hey, dude, I’m waiting for the call to do Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.’ And he goes, ‘Oh, are you still hung up on that?’ I go, ‘Hung up on that? I flew out here, you were going to give me the job, Regis had to get a game show, and I’m hung up on it?’”

Imagine waiting for a phone call with the off to host a game show, only to learn the job was usurped by Regis Philbin while reading TV Guide. That’s show business baby!

Philbin, of course, went on to have a very successful run hosting Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. And for Patrick, it almost seems like a miss that he never ended up hosting a prominent game show. There’s been a ton of mutual interest, but for one reason or another, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, The Price is Right and Jeopardy! were all near-misses for Patrick.

[Hawkee]

Dan Patrick was NOT even considered to be host for Who Wants To Be A Millionaire when the show was in development for ABC and how the actual story goes is that when Who Wants To Be A Millionaire was finished developing the last thing they needed to find was a likable host for the show and among the celebrities considered were sportscaster Bob Costas Montel Williams and Regis Philbin but Dan Patrick wasn't even considered. Originally Alex Trebek was gonna host it but Regis Philbin wanted to host Who Wants To Be A Millionaire so badly so Regis Philbin got his wish and hosted Who Wants To Be A Millionaire for ABC. The game show that Dan Patrick originally was supposed to be the host of for GSN but lost the job to Brooke Burns was The Chase but as I know Dan Patrick never auditioned for the host of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire