[Oden]

Hopes fade as fire delays NZ mine rescue - Yahoo!7

Earlier, Knowles described the chances of survival as "the six million dollar question. We're looking at every possible outcome of this operation and we're still remaining positive".

What does six million dollar question mean?

[susan53]

Expressions like this come from TV game shows, where participants win more and more money for each question answered correctly - up to a maximum, which used to be a million dollars on the show Who wants to be a millionaire? - but clearly prizes have increased recently So the "million dollar question (or here, "six million dollar question") means the most important question - the one which must be answered to succeed.

[Oden]

Thank you, Sue. I know the excellent TV show.