Who doesn’t? I mean, really. It seems to  be the great equalizer for all people, everywhere. Even Bill Gates wouldn’t turn down a winning lottery ticket (although I imagine he’d probably donate it someplace afterward; it must be nice to have that kind of financial flexibility).

So I watched Slumdog Millionaire this past weekend, and liked it. I won’t go into my opinion of it too terribly far, except to say that I find it interesting to watch a show (albeit in a movie) that I watched for hours with my parents, except this time in a different country, in a different language (I’m getting to that part), and for the most part it’s the same show.

The Chickengoddess (in her infinite poultryness) was doing some searching on YouTube (like you do), and discovered the one very crucial difference between the shows. Allow me to illustrate.

This is who we get for the American Show:

(Regis Philbin, anyone?)

Or perhaps you would prefer

meredith viera

Not bad.

All in all, though, the show is interesting for people watching, because you answer the questions in your living room and feel intellectually superior to the folks in the chair, and while you realize they’re nervous, you think, “Hey – I could totally do that.”

Right? Right. Nervousness aside, you get over it and come up with the answers, because the hosts are not terribly distracting.

Now, here’s the difference. This is the host for the Indian version:

Well, crap. No hope. I mean, this is the equivalent of Brad Pitt or George Clooney or possibly even Johnny Depp hosting the show. How do you overcome that? Really? You don’t. You sit there in the chair and either a. get cocky as an attempt to overcome it, or b. forget your  name and your own eye color.

I think this guy looks just about right:

He looks as though he might wet himself. I don’t blame him. Say what? Where am I? Paris? I think. I don’t know. Sure, that’s my final answer. No, London. Acron? Antarctica?

(And although I am cavalier at the moment about the American version, I would probably totally clam up, even with Meredith Viera, because I never did do well on tests in school. That was too much pressure, all that memorizing and then regurgitating, and I made lots of stupid mistakes, except where grammar and reading comprehension were concerned.)

Here’s the full version:

(Thank you, Chickengoddess. You are still my favorite bird deity.)

[Edit] I have just discovered that Amitabh Bachchan also hosted the show. Why would you do this to people? Aaaaaugh. I was always amazed, even with good ol’ Regis, that people didn’t go nuts when they got a call as somebody’s lifeline, except on the celebrity specials, of course. Dang. That’s just cruel. You could win lots of money! You’re going on TV! If you answer wrong, you lose it all! Here’s Amitabh Bachchan! Surprise!