‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire’: Ike Barinholtz Speaks Out After His Amazing $1 Million Win

Ike Barinholtz has mastered another game show as the comedian and his dad, Alan Barinholtz, won the $1 million jackpot on Wednesday’s (August 14) episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.

The Afterparty star, who last year won the inaugural primetime season of Celebrity Jeopardy!, winning $1,000,000 for charity, recently spoke to People about his Millionaire accomplishment, describing how a childhood obsession with trivia led to this incredible moment.

“Our whole life has been a trivia night,” Ike told the outlet. “Whether it was when we were little and we would play Trivial Pursuit, or, I think, we watched almost every episode of Jeopardy! and watched hundreds of episodes of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.”

Ike — who also placed as a semifinalist in Jeopardy!‘s 2024 Tournament of Champions — and his father became the first duo and the second celebrities overall to win the $1 million top prize as well as the fifteenth overall million-dollar winners on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Ike previously won $125,000 for his charity Uplift Family Services on a 2020 episode of Millionaire.

The duo was competing on behalf of the ASL Program at Los Encinos School, where their nephew and grandson, Dezi, who is deaf, attends.

“There’s not a lot of great options for deaf children when it comes to schooling and so this money will allow Los Encinos to teach dozens of their instructors and other students ASL,” Ike explained.

Ike also revealed he couldn’t wait to brag about his Millionaire win to his trivia-loving friends, such as B.J. Novak and Patton Oswalt.

“I’m excited for B.J. Novak to see [the episode] because he’s a trivia head. Also, Brendan Hunt, Patton Oswalt [whom Ike faced off against on Celebrity Jeopardy!], David Chang and all the trivia nerds. I’d also like to rub in the face of the other people who were on Millionaire and did not win the millions,” he shared.

Ike and Alan Barinholtz on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire; DISNEY/Christopher Willard

“Uh, yeah. That would be [Nick] Kroll,” Alan interjected.

“Suck it, Kroll!” Ike quipped before adding, “Actually, I had dinner with him last week. He’s just the most wonderful man.”

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Ike, who has starred in the likes of MADtv, Eastbound & Down, The Mindy Project, and Bless the Harts, is no stranger to television, but the small screen is a recent development for his dad.

Alan, who describes himself as a “nepo dad,” recently portrayed Judge Alan Rosen on the Freevee comedy series Jury Duty. He also appeared in an episode of Apple TV+’s Physical and has an upcoming role on the NBC comedy St. Denis Medical.

“Both my sons are now my consiglieres. They are my advisors,” Alan told People, referring to Ike and Superstore star Jon Barinholtz.

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Wednesdays, 8 p.m. ET/PT, ABC