By Debbie Schlussel
© 2001 WorldNetDaily.com

If you're a white male, your chances of getting on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" just got a lot worse.

And if you're a woman or minority, your odds got a lot better.

Just like affirmative action in college admissions and hiring, host Regis Philbin and company now use factors like race and sex -- in a big way -- to pick who gets a chance at the million dollars.

Today, if you try to qualify for "Millionaire," your selection is based on the "discretion" of producers during a personal or telephone interview (after correctly answering qualifying questions). Women and minorities are the reason for the big change.

"Millionaire" producers and Regis have whined incessantly about a lack of them on the show. Of those who've qualified for "Millionaire," few make it to the hot seat. According to "Millionaire's" website as of last Wednesday, of 599 contestants who've reached the hot seat, only 125 were women versus 474 men. More lopsided are winnings, with men garnering at least $40 million and women just over $5.5 million. Of the eight $1-million winners, none are women. Only two of 15 $500,000 winners are women, as are only three of 43 $250,000 winners and 11 of 82 $125,000 winners (even assuming contestants with unisex names like "Pat" and "Jamie" female). And that's with the benefit of affirmative action contestant recruitment at play. Affirmative action doesn't work.

In the fall of 2000, "Millionaire" producers began trekking the U.S., conducting auditions seeking minority and female contestants. Until then, "Millionaire" was the only televised game show in which contestants were picked based solely on merit. No surprise, then, that "Millionaire" was also one of the few TV shows, reality or fiction, in which men were portrayed positively -- as winners and achievers. Alex Trebek's "Jeopardy" uses a written test. Those who pass are interviewed/auditioned, and quotas are used to put more minorities and women on the show. "Alex, the answer is: What is, Merit's got nothing to do with it?"

Until April, callers to "Millionaire's" 1-800 number answered three questions in increasing order of difficulty. Those who answered all three questions correctly were entered into a random drawing. Those chosen played a live phone play-off with five questions. Those correctly answering the most questions became "Millionaire" contestants.

This was ostensibly fair. Those who qualified for the show based on merit alone -- their ability to answer "Millionaire"-like questions -- made it on the air. The others didn't.

But even this selection process was not entirely objective. It was a carefully crafted change from "Millionaire's" original method of picking contestants, which was re-engineered in fall 1999 in an effort to gain more women and minority contestants. Originally, the qualifying phone call wasn't free and there wasn't a one-call-per-day limit. When "Millionaire" debuted in August of 1999, the show used a 1-900 number, which anyone could call as many times a day as they liked at $1.50 a pop.

Michael Davies, Executive Producer of "Millionaire," felt this qualification method hurt women and minorities. Women aren't as obsessed as men with getting the right answer, he reasoned, so they wouldn't call back after first failing to qualify. Plus, women wouldn't waste $1.50 to get on a gameshow, he claimed. They need the money for their families (as if men don't -- especially the ones paying child support). He likened it to video games, which women don't like to play and aren't as good at. For a guy ostensibly concerned about women and minorities, that sure sounds like a stereotype. Just like the ones purveyed by the pimps and pushers of affirmative action.

If these inane excuses sound familiar, it's because those who support race-based preferences are constantly saying the same kind of stuff. It's the same kind of whining used by "civil rights" groups to demean objective criteria, like SATs and grades in college admissions and experience and qualifications in hiring.

Just like the merit-bashers on campus and in the workforce, Regis and company sound like bigoted bashers of white males. There were "too many white males," Davies said in interviews and in magazines, including People and US. "This is the thing I'm most uncomfortable about."

"Another white male!" Regis once exclaimed after a white male won the "fastest finger" segment of the show to get to the hot seat. Regis then desperately begged female and minority viewers to "please call" the qualifying hotline. Hosting the show because of his talent, Regis is funny quick, and has decades of high-rated, TV-hosting experience. Yet, this $20-million-a-year "Millionaire" employee -- who got the job based on merit -- wants underling contestants to get their shot based primarily on skin color and biological plumbing.

This begs the question: Isn't it a tad hypocritical that privileged, noblesse oblige white males at the top want to replace Joe Sixpack white males at the bottom with minorities? With affirmative action in play at "Millionaire," why shouldn't Philbin and Davies lose their jobs to blacks or women? Especially since merit and talent are now out the window.

Affirmative action is always a bad solution. With race-based preferences replacing merit on "Millionaire," there are fewer high-dollar winners and less interest in the show.

Ratings are the lifeblood of television (unless it's tax-funded PBS). And the show's once unbeatable ratings are significantly lower with less qualified, affirmative-action contestants.

Is that the Final Answer Regis was looking for?

Debbie Schlussel is a political commentator and attorney. She is a frequent guest on ABC's "Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher" and Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes" in addition to being a daily political commentator on the nationally syndicated morning radio show, "Mancow's Morning Madhouse." Click here to participate in an online discussion group of Debbie's commentary.