Rosie, Drew Win Big

By Stephen M. Silverman

Wednesday September 23, 1998 12:00 AM EDT

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Rosie O'Donnell and Drew Carey both raised $500,000 for their respective charities on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" last night, while the program itself boasted some pretty impressive numbers of its own. Monday's initial celebrity edition of the show drew 35.8 million viewers, a record high for the game show, and this was despite a blackout that faced 3.5 Time Warner cable subscribers due to the company dispute with ABC's owner, Disney. (Time Warner owns PEOPLE.) Carey's winnings will benefit the Ohio Library Foundation, while Rosie's will go to her For All Kids Foundation. Both celebrities decided not to have a go at the $1 million top prize, viewing it as too big a gamble for the people who would be helped by their winnings. "I don't think I could risk it," Rosie said on the air, "because that's too much money."