Maybe Regis ought to start feeding the contestants live beetle larvae. It’s not that it’s anything fatal yet, but Wednesday’s edition of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” on ABC was topped in the ratings race by Wednesday’s competiting edition of “Survivor” on CBS.
B.B. Andersen (© CBS) An estimated 18 million people watched the “Survivor” castaways bicker, evict the crabby contractor guy named B.B. Andersen, and eat the aforementioned live beetle larvae.
That’s up from the 15.5 million who tuned in for last week’s debut episode (in which no live beetle larvae was consumed). “Millionaire,” meanwhile,” drew an estimated 15.6 million viewers.
Overall, “Survivor” was the highest-rated network show on Wednesday, topping even the NBA Finals on NBC and a Britney Spears concert special on Fox.
To add insult to “Millionaire”‘s injury, a hearing-impaired New York school teacher has filed a federal lawsuit against the makers of the game show, saying the program discriminates against deaf people because the preliminary round is conducted over the telephone.
