These days, it seems like people will do just about anything to be on television.
They'll starve, eat bugs, answer incredibly embarrassing questions and, in general, allow themselves to be humiliated in a variety of ways.
But would you pay $100,000 to be on TV?
Half a dozen people paid that and more to be a "Secret Millionaire," which premieres with a pair of episodes tonight on Fox (7 and 8 p.m., Ch. 13). And nobody got humiliated.
Based on British reality TV show, "Secret Millionaire" is the kind of do-gooder reality show we've come to expect from ABC, not Fox. But while ABC made a similar attempt with the short-lived "Oprah's Big Give," this is a very different production.
"It's not a game. It's not a competition," said executive producer Greg Goldman. "More than anything else, it's a huge social experiment."
Episodes were not available for critics to review, but we do know that in each of six one-hour installments a real-life millionaire (or, in some cases, a millionaire couple) moves into "an economically challenged community" for a week.
One of the millionaires is Utahn Gregory R. Haerr, a native Californian who is the founder and CEO of Century Software and founder and chief maintainer of the Microwindows Project. He was relocated to a tough neighborhood in Las Vegas for the show. (Haerr's episode may air next week, but the schedule hasn't been firmed up.)
"We cut them off from everything. No money, no credit cards, no cell phone, no access to anyone in their world. ... And they have to live that life for a week," Goldman said. "It was really challenging. It was really difficult just to just make ends meet, just to afford money for their rent, just to put food on the table."
During that week, the millionaires look for local heroes who are deserving of help. And each episode ends with a Big Reveal when the millionaire announces his secret identity to the "regular" people.
The nonmillionaires "go through the whole process thinking they're a part of a small documentary," Goldman said. "And (there's) that pivotal moment in the end where (the millionaire) shows up on their doorstep and says, 'Listen, I'm not exactly who I said I was. This is really difficult for me, but actually I've been lying to you. I'm a millionaire. And you've touched my life in such an amazing way. It would be my honor if you could accept this gift and continue doing what you're doing.'
"It's unlike anything you've seen on television before."
The money comes from the millionaires, not from Fox or the production company.
"We asked the millionaires coming on the show if they would give a minimum of $100,000 from their own personal accounts. In a lot of cases, it was much more than that, "Goldman said.
"And in some cases ... there were other assets that were given. There were cars that were given, personal cars that belonged to the millionaires. There were all sorts of resources. Computer centers that were built. All kinds of things from the personal lives of the millionaires, whatever they had."
But nothing humiliating.
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com