Former Models Bassist Wins Big On Million Dollar Minute

6 May 2014 | 4:07 pm | Staff Writer

$503,000 prize for the man once known as 'Pierre Voltaire'

Pierre Sutcliffe. Pic: Channel Seven

Pierre Sutcliffe. Pic: Channel Seven

Last night, Melbourne man Pierre Sutcliffe took home a little more than $500,000 from Million Dollar Minute, which is apparently a different show from Millionaire Hot Seat, for some reason.

This would be as notable as any other Million Dollar Minute victory – i.e. not very – if not for the fact that Sutcliffe happens to be a former member of Models, the renowned Melburnian rock act whose primary career together ran for a decade, from 1978 to 1988.

As Fairfax Media reports, at the time, Sutcliffe was known as “Pierre Voltaire” and was responsible for giving the band its name, but split from the group over creative differences before they took off and saw real success with singles such as Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind and Barbados. As in, he was gone by 1979. So... you know. He was the group's Pete Best, but if Pete Best had left on his own terms.

But even if he had stayed with the band for its full rise, peak and decline, Sutcliffe – who now runs a sporting business, having spent several years working in the music industry following his departure from Models – doesn't seem convinced that he still wouldn't have had to branch out to game shows for a little extra scratch.

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“Even if you have a #1 hit in Australia, the money doesn't last long," he told Fairfax.

"We make a living [with the sports business] and get by but the super funds are very sparse. Now my family's future looking a million times better – well, half-a-million times better – than it was a couple of months ago."

Sutcliffe's win brings to an end a 10-episode stint on the popular program, on which people are given multiple choice questions and money, if they answer said questions correctly. 

Who Wants To Spend A Minute In The Million Dollar Hot Seat? airs weeknights on Channel Seven.