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SHAH ALAM: HOLLYWOOD A-lister Ben Affleck has joined the exclusive club of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire jackpot winners after securing the programme's US$1 million (RM4.2 million) top prize.
The Oscar-winning actor and director partnered with 31-time Jeopardy! champion Jamie Ding in Wednesday night's episode of the ABC game show, hosted by comedian Jimmy Kimmel.
Affleck celebrated the win by embracing Ding after the final answer was confirmed.
The prize money will be donated to the Eastern Congo Initiative, an advocacy and grant-making non-profit organisation Affleck co-founded in 2010 to support communities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Affleck said the funds would help ongoing relief efforts in the region, including initiatives to contain the spread of Ebola.
The pair entered the final stage of the game needing to answer just two more questions to claim the jackpot.
Their penultimate question, worth US$500,000, asked which historic achievement took place just two months after a New York Times article declared it would not happen for "1 million to 10 million years."
Facing options including splitting the atom and the first powered flight, the pair used their 50-50 lifeline. The pair correctly selected the first powered flight, earning a place in the final US$1 million question.
For the US$1 million question, they were asked which food pairing had never been used as the official name of a turkey pardoned during the annual White House Thanksgiving ceremony.
The remaining options were "Mac & Cheese" and "Spaghetti & Meatball" after using their lifelines.
Seeking help, the duo first turned to Kimmel, who reasoned that he would have joked about "Spaghetti & Meatball" on his late-night programme had it ever been used. A subsequent phone-a-friend lifeline failed to provide a definitive answer before time ran out.
Trusting Kimmel's instincts, Affleck chose "Spaghetti & Meatball" — the correct answer — securing the fifth US$1 million jackpot since Kimmel became host in 2020.
Speaking after the show, Ding praised Affleck's composure and willingness to make the final decision, saying it prevented them from being paralysed by indecision.
Affleck's victory comes a year after longtime friend and Good Will Hunting co-star Matt Damon won the show's US$1 million prize alongside Jeopardy! legend Ken Jennings. Their winnings were donated to Water.org.
The episode also aired weeks after the death of Affleck's mother, Christopher "Chris" Affleck, who died on June 2 following a battle with pancreatic cancer.
