A a phone-a-friend on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? Paul Ross was useless, but that hasn't stopped him stepping into Chris Tarrant's shoes on the stage, he tells Steve Pratt.

PAUL Ross has presented several TV game shows but admits he lost his nerve when he took part in Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?.

He wasn't even a contestant, just one of the people nominated for a phone-a-friend lifeline. As his contestant friend was brainbox Stephen Fry, you can understand his worries. If super-intelligent Fry didn't know the answer, what hope was there that Ross would?

"I was meant to be helping on film questions but when he phoned I was asked about a Tour de France guy and his singer girlfriend. I thought it was Sheryl Crow but wasn't sure. I lost my nerve," he recalls. "In some ways, being phone-a-friend is worse because you have control over someone else's destiny."

Happily, Fry chose the right answer, leaving Ross to breath a sigh of relief. Now he's on the other side of the questions as host of the stage version Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? Live, which comes to Harrogate International Centre for three nights this month.

Ross is filling TV host Chris Tarrant's role but won't be giving away £1m. Contestants earn points which can win them sports cars, luxury holidays and plasma screen TVs. The top prize, for one million points, is a brand new Jaguar X-Type car.

While a handful of people win their way into the hot seat to face the 15 questions between them and £1m, the rest of audience can play along on personal handsets and win prizes too.

So far, Ross hasn't given away the top prize. His most successful contestant walked away with 125,000 points.

Celador, who own the rights to the world's most successful quiz show, were keen that the live experience would be as close to the TV original as possible. The set is the same and so are the seats in which Ross and the contestants sit.

Ross - along with Les Dennis and Eamonn Holmes, who are hosting some dates on the tour - had a tutorial with Tarrant before setting out round the country.

"Chris talked to all of us. We saw the show being recorded and then had a go in the chair," he says. "Celador were determined to do it right, it's their crown jewels and is seen in over 100 countries."

When he's presented TV quiz shows in the past, he's always had questions and answers in advance. With Millionaire, he finds out both at the same time as contestants.

On stage, with contestants' reactions being shown on a big screen, he feels there's a bigger sense of seeing them deliberate over questions than on TV. "I don't rush people through. My job is almost to rein them back. Sometimes they want to answer too quickly," he says.

"We got through seven contestants at one show which is a lot more than on telly. People are much more willing to take a risk if they're not sure than on TV because it's points not pounds."

Ross's enthusiasm for the stage Millionaire seems unbounded. He's thoroughly enjoying the experience and not just because it only adds up to two hours' work a day. "A lot of game shows I've done were in front of a studio audience. The difference with a live show is that people are excited to be there and everyone is playing all the time," he says.

"It's the daddy of TV quiz formats. It's that thing of being a real honour to do because it's the perfect game show format. You get to see the questions first to tempt you. With lots of shows, you decide to risk before you get the question.

"Everyone is only 15 questions away from one million and you have three lifelines. Unlike most game shows, people are much more masters of their own destiny."

He's had a couple of contestants who've gone away with nothing. Like the chap faced with the question: What do you do with Valpolicella - drink it, wear it, play it or sit on it?. He asked the audience, of whom 43 per cent said you would play it, and gave that as his answer, only to learn that it's a wine.

The host's advice to would-be millionaires is to think carefully, take your time before answering, and use your lifelines wisely. Ross, who also works as a producer and writer, was last in Harrogate a decade ago on a mission for C4's Big Breakfast, where he presented the Down Your Doorstep feature in which he was the early bird catching unsuspecting viewers.

He'll next be seen on TV in Celebrity Stars In Their Eyes, as Tommy Steele performing his famous Flash, Bang, Wallop number. Ross isn't noted for his singing ability, recalling that he was the first to be voted out when he appeared on Celebrity Fame Academy.

* Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? Live is at Harrogate International Centre from July 15-17. Tickets (01423) 537230.