EXCLUSIVE: Ben Affleck and Jamie Ding didn’t just secure $1 million for Eastern Congo Initiative on Who Wants to be a Millionaire last week, the pair also helped boost ABC to a ratings high.
The series boasted its best performance in a year with 4.22M live + same-day viewers tuning in for the July 29 episode, which saw Affleck and Ding clinch the seven-figure prize after correctly answering a question about presidential turkey pardons, per Nielsen. That’s up 4% from the Season 5 premiere’s 4.07M viewers.
The series was also the top program of the night for the second week in a row to be the best performance since Affleck’s longtime friend and creative partner Matt Damon won the $1 million prize with Ken Jennings last summer.
Affleck’s Eastern Congo Initiative, toward which 100% of the prize money will go, is the first U.S.-based advocacy and grant-making organization dedicated to supporting the people of eastern Congo.
Rebooted by Kimmel in 2020, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire returned for Season 5 last week along with Affleck and Ding, as well as Larry David and daughter Cazzie David. This week’s episode also featured Jason Alexander and Wayne Knight, along with Tig Notaro and Pete Holmes.
On next week’s Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, country music star Brad Paisley teams up with MLB legend Clayton Kershaw, followed by comedian Michael Kosta and actress Wendi McLendon-Covey. Episodes air Wednesday on ABC and stream next day on Hulu.
