Who Wants to be a Millionaire contestant becomes show’s second ever biggest loser after losing £186,000
When it comes to quiz shows, there are few that are more iconic than Who Wants to be a Millionaire, but the format of the ITV show can often be brutal.
While more modern quiz shows might see you go up against an expert or bizarrely have to push some coins out of a machine while you're answering questions, Who Wants to be a Millionaire is old-fashioned in the sense that it's just one person answering as many questions as they can, with their general knowledge rewarded with some huge sums.
Unless you find a way to cheat, as Charles Ingram famously did on the show back in 2001 as his wife coughed in the audience to clue him in on the right answers, it's rare to see people getting anywhere close to the magnificent million pounds.
While we did see some success last week when Roman Dubowski smashed all 15 questions to become the first winner in six years, risk-taking is essential on the show and it often backfires.
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That was certainly the case with last weekend's episode, which saw Jen Essery Lillikakis become memorable in other ways, after she lost £186,000 when failing to answer the £500,000 question.
Now, it's not all bad news for the product manager, as she took home £64,000 to help pay for a honeymoon, after setting her safety net at that amount.
However, it could have been £250,000 had she skipped the £500,000 question, which she was still left unsure on after calling her father for help.
She showed off some impressive Greek mythology knowledge on the £250,000 to answer that it was Cassandra who was cursed to utter true prophecies that were never believed, but it all came unstuck on the next question.
Jen was asked: “According to Guinness World Records, which of these has travelled at over 260 miles per hour during a competitive game or match? Tennis ball / Ice hockey puck / Badminton shuttlecock / Table tennis ball."
After calling her dad who wasn't much help, she ended up guessing that it was the ice hockey puck but she was out of luck, and it was in fact the shuttlecock that brought a stop to her game.
Host Jeremy Clarkson told her: “Oh my God you have just lost £186,000! It is unbelievable you took a punt on that. You need a bravery award for that.”
She took a rather casual approach, saying: “Well, that’s fine. I've also won £64,000." Perhaps we could all learn a lesson from that positive outlook on life.
Things went even worse for later contestant Arunan Jeyakumar who managed to land himself just £1,000 after using up three different lifetimes early doors, eventually failing on a capital city question after suggesting that Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, wasn't a capital after all.
He'd already asked the host, the audience and used up a 50/50 on other fairly simple questions, which led Clarkson to issue a pretty savage response.
The presenter said: "I think that the basic problem is you don't know very many things. This maybe was the wrong show for you to be on."
Which contestants have lost the most money on Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
These contestants are probably still kicking themselves after taking a gander on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? and it massively blowing up in their faces.
Rob Mitchell - lost £218,000 (2003)
Rob has reached the £500,000 question when he was faced with the following brain teaser: “How many inches tall is an Oscar statuette? Eight and a half / Eleven / Thirteen and a half / Sixteen.”
He still had his Phone a Friend lifeline, so he phoned his sister-in-law, who said she 'couldn't even guess'.
While most would have given up at this stage, Rob decided to guess 'eleven'.
The answer was actually thirteen and a half, and he ended up walking away with just £32,000.
Duncan Bickley - lost £218,000 (2000)
Duncan was asked the following for £500k: "What was the name of Amy Johnson's plane in which she flew solo to Australia in 1930? Achilles / Pegasus / Hercules / Jason."
He ended up using his 50/50, and was left with Pegasus and Jason.
He told then-host Christ Tarrant 'it's gotta be Pegasus, isn't it' because Pegasus is a winged horse, while Jason 'has nothing to do with flying'.
That reasoning lost him £218,000, and he walked away with £32,000.
Nicholas Bennett - lost £375,000 (2025)
Nicholas has the dubious honour of being the contestant who lost the most money on the UK version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? after giving the wrong answer for the final question.
For £1 million, he was asked: "Which of these words, each coined by a famous writer, was derived from the title of a fairy tale about three princes? Pandemonium / Serendipity / Utopia / Yahoo."
He used his Ask the Host lifeline, and Jeremy Clarkson didn't have a clue, and then he called his roommate, Meg, who didn't know either.
Nicholas responded: "Well, we'll see what happens," and guessed Yahoo.
The answer, unfortunately, was Serendipity. He lost £375,000, and walked away with £125,000.
Topics: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, ITV, Jeremy Clarkson, TV, Entertainment
James Moorhouse