The man behind the million-dollar question
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by Khaled Ammar
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 Sitting on his veranda overlooking the Mediterranean while reading a book on the glory days of Arab civilization, Kamal Nakhle takes careful notes, writing down any important fact he might have come across for the first time, despite having written thousands of questions about Arab history and civilization.
Nakhle is a familiar face on Lebanese television screens and a veteran of televised educational and social programs, but his most famous contribution comes behind the scenes. He is the man behind the questions on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, the hit format show now being aired across the region on MBC.
Nakhle has a close relationship with the program’s host, George Kordahi.
“Kordahi is a highly intellectual and knowledgeable TV presenter,” says Nakhle, adding that the two go over the questions together, and that Kordahi definitely has his say on their wording and content. He does not have such a high opinion, however, of everyone he has worked with; he recalls writing a question for a renowned Lebanese program host about the late US president Dwight Eisenhower, when to his surprise the presenter asked, “Who is Eisenhower?”
It takes Nakhle three to four hours to prepare questions for a single episode of “Millionaire.” He writes 120 queries, although many usually remain unused, because, as the level of difficulty increases, contestants tend to drop out. Some of the show’s questions also come from a committee in Dubai, but Nakhle remains the chief contributor.
The 55-year-old got his start writing questions for newspapers before moving on to televised programs. Apart from his current work with MBC and the Arab satellite network Orbit, Nakhle also worked with Dubai and Abu Dhabi television. He also worked extensively with the Lebanese channels Tele Liban, LBC, NBN and Future.
While working in Lebanese TV in the 1990’s, Nakhle wrote the questions and was a member of the jury for the educational program Al Tahadi al Kabir on Tele Liban. The show, which aired 400 episodes in 12 years, pitted students representing various schools against each other, challenging them with questions about Lebanese history, geography, literature and culture.
Nakhle constantly works to expand his wide-ranging knowledge of Arab history, literature and education. He reads voraciously and watches documentaries and intellectual programs on TV, especially Lebanese TV shows from the archives of Tele Liban. He has researched ancient archaeological sites in Lebanon dating back to the Roman era, and keeps an extensive library that includes unpublished documents and books dating back to Ottoman rule.
His home is stuffed with books, with some overflowing to the staircase for lack of space. If that wasn’t enough, he has thousands more in another house just waiting to reveal their ancient secrets. He is working on a compilation of short quiz-like questions to be published soon entitled Shay Min Koul Shay (“a bit of everything”).
Nakhle holds masters’ degrees in Arab history, Arab literature, political science, chemistry and physics.
He does most of his work at home. “I start work early in the morning at 8, or late in the evening from 10 pm until 3 or 4 in the morning,” he says.
Having worked with MBC since 2005, he is now preparing for a new quiz show called Tahadi El Arabi (“the Arab challenge”) which will air on the network next year with Kordahi as host.
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