Here's What the First 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?' Winner John Carpenter Is Doing Now

There was a time when a craze was sweeping the nation. The year was 1999, and America was being treated to an adaptation of a series that came first from England: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

Hosted by Regis Philbin initially, the series kicked off a craze of trivia games that didn't slow for more than a decade.

But before the game was a household name and before everyone and their mother was convinced they could win the show, there was the first winner: John Carpenter.

After more than 25 years, here's what he's up to now, several decades after he went down in history as the very first Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? winner.

The format is simple: A contestant is asked a series of increasingly difficult questions, searching for the top answer among four options. You can tap out with meager winnings, but it takes real guts and a desire for glory to get to the top. John Carpenter was just such a man.

In 1999, John was faced with the final question: "Which of these U.S. Presidents appeared on the television series Laugh-In?

John famously provided the right answer, Richard Nixon, and took home the vaunted title of first person to win Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.

Up until the end of 2023, John could be found providing political commentary on X (formerly Twitter).

But these days, he seems to just be enjoying the comfortable life he aimed to achieve through playing WWTBAM?.

When reflecting on the money in an interview with New Haven Register, John mused, "It's not like [major league] ball player money. It's a lot of money. It makes things more comfortable than they would be. But it's not like what it used to mean when you said $1 million" (excerpt via People).

Which means that after more than 25 years, John is probably living a fairly average life, if a little more comfortable than average.

Although he seems fairly amicable and down-to-earth, there was a time when the world described him as "cold," "calculating," and even "cyborg-like." Perhaps as a result of his intense focus, John's run-through on WWTBAM? was precise, laser-focused, and robotic at times.

Until that final question.

Using his "phone a friend" option, John called his father. But instead of asking for help, he cockily chirped, "I don’t really need your help, I just wanted to let you know that I’m going to win the million dollars.” And win, he did.

So, how did he spend it? It would seem that he didn't exactly transition to a "baller" lifestyle and kept things fairly low-key.

In a 2024 interview with People, John revealed that he spent a lot of money on charity donations, purchased a "J. Crew leather jacket for Christmas" for his wife Debbie, and took a trip to Paris.

He also bought a BMW and moved his young family into a larger home in 2004 after he and his wife welcomed their first baby.

It may be unimaginable to think of going from an IRS agent to a millionaire nearly overnight, but John saw exactly that dream come to life. After more than a quarter of a century, he seems to be doing pretty well for himself, all things considered. Even if, as he joked in the interview, "It’s a hell of a lot of money, but I live in New England. If I lived somewhere else, maybe it would be different.”