Millionaire contestant loses biggest amount in show's history after huge mistake
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire Contestant Nicholas Bennett lost the biggest amount of money in the show's history after making a huge mistake.
The show, which has now been running for 30 seasons, saw Nicholas get all the way to 500k without using any of his lifelines, leaving host Jeremy Clarkson hugely impressed. However, things took a turn, and Nicholas ended up losing a whopping £375k.
After the £125,000 question, Clarkson says: 'He's just roaring along.'
Next up was the £250,000 question, which read: 'Which of these groups never successfully invaded the city of Rome?'. The options were: "a) Visigoths, b) Huns, c) Vandals, d) Gauls".
Nicholas, looking quite confident, said: 'I do like history, I know the Gauls invaded pretty early on. I'm pretty sure the Vandals destroyed the city - that's why we have vandalism. I don't think the Huns did, I don't think they made it that far into Europe, whereas I knew the Visigoths were around. As it's a free shot, I'm 70-80% sure…'
Clarkson proceeded to remind him that he's still got all four lifelines and that he doesn't need to guess, however, Nicholas responds: 'I don't think this is a guess though. Maybe on the next question I'll need them, so I'm gonna say Huns - final answer.'
Lo and behold, the answer was correct, and Nicholas went on to the next question worth £500k.
Host Jeremy Clarkson observed: 'You seem quite relaxed', to which Nicholas responds: 'It's not relaxed inside my head.'
The £500k question read: 'Which of these long-running US sitcoms had the most episodes? a) The Big Bang Theory b) Friends c) The Office or d) Seinfeld'.
Unsure on the answer, he asked the audience who thought it was Friends - but only 37% - while 30% thought Seinfeld. Still unsure and not wanting to take chances yet, he used 50/50, which left The Big Bang Theory and The Office (which meant the audience was wrong).
Nicolas stated that it was difficult to get his words out before revealing The Big Bang Theory as his final answer. The answer was correct and then it was on to the final question, the £1million question.
Clarkson asks: 'Which of these words, each coined by a famous writer, was derived from the title of a fairytale about three princes? a)Pandemonium b) Serendipity c) Utopia d) Yahoo.'
Nicholas says: 'The one that's standing out to me is yahoo, but I don't know.'
He asks host Jeremy, who says he can't think of a fairytale that's about three princes and points out that all four words have come from authors. Nicholas then remembers a puppet show he went to recently in Spain, which he thinks was about three princes. He said he doesn't speak Spanish well enough to know what the story was about. 'But I think someone was yelling yahoo', he said.
He reasons that he's still got £125k if he gets it wrong, and Clarkson points out that he would lose £375k and that he has another lifeline. Nicholas then used his lifeline, but unfortunately, his friend Meg had no idea of the answer.
'Normally, I'm really averse to any kind of gambling, but I do think I'm going to go for it,' he says, 'Yahoo, final answer.'
The computer then reveals the answer to be serendipity, coined by Horace Walpole from The Three Princes of Serendip. Nicholas shrugs and says: 'I've still got £125k' as Jeremy admits he would be 'sobbing on the floor' if he'd just lost that much money.
'Oh my giddy aunt,' Clarkson said afterwards. 'Is that the biggest loss in Millionaire history?' and he tells Nicholas: 'I don't think I've had a contestant I've enjoyed more than you. Well done, enjoy your winnings.'
After the ad break he welcomed viewers back by saying: "We've just seen someone lose what we think is the biggest amount in Who Wants to be a Millionaire history".
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