Frank Edoho explains why 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' went off air

Media personality Frank Edoho has said he left Who Wants To Be A Millionaire because the show's sponsor pulled out, not because he was sacked as some reports claimed.

In an episode of The KK Show released on Sunday, Edoho said a newspaper report stating he was dropped from the show was not true.

Edoho shared that he spent four years at Radio Nigeria before he got his break in television. He said radio did not give him the fame he wanted.

"I was on radio. I worked for Radio Nigeria, that’s the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, for four years.

"You know, once you can work on radio for four years but not get as much popularity or fame as you would if you worked on TV for one month," he explained.

Edoho mentioned that Who Wants To Be A Millionaire ended after the sponsor, who had been with the show for ten years, withdrew support due to a penalty from the government.

"So Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? sort of came to an end when our sponsor withdrew. I don’t know if I can mention brand names here, but our sponsor stayed with us for a decade sponsoring the show," he said.

He noted that the Federal Government fined the sponsor over a corporate issue, which made it hard for the company to continue supporting the show.

"I think the Federal Government fined them based on some industry… I think it was just like a punitive measure for one corporate thing that happened.

"I can’t go into details, but that affected the sponsorship of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? So they said, ‘Hey guys, we can’t do this anymore based on the fact that we have to pay an incredible sum of money back to the Federal Government," he explained.

Edoho said he tried to negotiate for a stake in the show after hearing that new sponsors were interested. He believed his experience made him valuable to the show.

"I went into negotiation because we heard that other sponsors were interested, and I wanted to be an executive producer.

"I wanted to have a stake in it because I feel that I built myself up to the extent that I assumed I was an asset to the show," he said.

He mentioned that the talks fell through over differences, and this led to rumors that he had been dropped when the show relaunched with a new sponsor.

"We were having differences in negotiation. I think it was one newspaper that went and said that I was dropped based on the fact that, with the relaunch of the show under the new sponsor, I wasn’t anywhere to be found. And of course, they would draw conclusions based on that," he explained.

Edoho insisted that the claims about his sacking were false and said it felt like a betrayal after all his years of dedication to the show.

"So they announced that I was dropped from the show, which was false then. I gave my statement. I said, ‘Okay, you know what? This is it.’ I felt I was thrown under the bus after all the years I put in," he said.

Edoho hosted the show for 13 years, from 2004 to 2017, before resigning in September 2017. The show took a break in 2017 after MTN Nigeria, its sponsor, pulled out.

After his exit, reports claimed Edoho was dropped as the show prepared to return under a new sponsor.

He later returned to the show in 2022 when it resumed after a five-year break with new sponsors and a revamped cash prize.