Living on a limited budget (Usually less than $150) with no modern conveniences they must forge their own way in the community – working and volunteering alongside the locals and finding individuals or projects whom they think deserve a cut of their fortune.

On their final day, the millionaires come clean and reveal their true identity to the people they have chosen, surprising them with gifts of thousands of pounds or US dollars to improve their lives.

The first episode of Series 3 featured businessman James Benamor, who has been criticised in the media for investing in the sub-prime market,[1][2] and sharp practice in his company the Richmond Group.

[5] Like the British version, the Fox show features wealthy benefactors each week who go undercover in the most deprived neighbourhoods of the United States.

The millionaires have included Internet advertising tycoon Gurbaksh Chahal; Todd and Gwen Graves, of the restaurant chain Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers; Century Software founder Gregory Haerr; DUB Magazine founders Myles and Cynthia Kovacs; attorney, broker and sportswear entrepreneur Gregory Ruzicka, and his son Cole; and Baltimore, Maryland civic leader and Baltimore Ravens NFL cheerleader Molly Shattuck.

[7] The first season of the Australian series (listed in local TV guides as The Secret Millionaire Australia, to prevent confusion with the US version which had been broadcast earlier that year) aired in 2009 on the Nine Network.