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Merry Charity!
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire makes Christmas $115,000 merrier for 6 charities.

By Florence Fong

Even snazzy game shows do give away its winnings to those who don't participate.

In a bid to spread some Yuletide cheer to the less fortunate, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire ran a Christmas special on December 19 and 20 where 10 MediaCorp TV celebrities slugged it out to make the hot seat.

Stars who partook in this charity game included Gurmit Singh, Jacelyn Tay, Jack Neo, Mark Lee and the grand diva herself, Anita Sarawak. Besides the usual sideshow entertainment of rants, raves and humourous antics, a whopping total of $115,000 was raised.

The cheques were presented to the following charities: Assisi Home and Hospice, Children's Cancer Foundation, Children's Society, Club Rainbow, Hariprasad Childcare Centre and Spastic Children's Association of Singapore. The money was divided equally among the 6 charities.

There to present the cheques were Kenneth Tan, Chief Operating Officer, MediaCorp TV, Krist Tsui, Vice-President, Entertainment Production, MediaCorp Studios and celebrities Anita Sarawak, Jacelyn Tay and Jaime Teo.

Said Mr Tsui, "Since the first (WWTBAM) charity show, we raised close to half a million for charity and we will continue to do so. After all, Christmas is for giving."

Most of the charities involved brought along 1 or 2 of their young beneficiaries. Two of these were Ang Zheng Shun and Chantilyn Ng, both 6, from the Hariprasad Childcare Centre. The centre caters to underprivileged children aged 2 to 6.

Sprightly, fidgety and adorably chatty, the 2 received their centre's cheque from actress Jacelyn Tay. When quizzed if they liked the actress, Chantilyn chirped, "Yes, because she is very pretty and her hair is very long." Not to be outdone, Zheng Shun chimed in, "I like her because she's a good girl and she doesn't kill people." (whoa!)

Looks like it's not just the adults who tuned in to the popular gameshow.

Little Zheng Shun nodded and bounced around in his chair when asked if he enjoyed watching WWTBAM.

So when he grows older, would he want to take part in the game? "Yes", he said.

As to how much he thinks he would win, he shouted out, "I think I can win to infinity!"

Hmm, do we smell a young millionaire in the making?