World snooker champion worth £2m wins a printer after flopping on TV quiz show
Luca Brecel is used to scooping top prizes in his snooker career – but he had to settle for a printer after an appearance on a Belgian quiz show.
Brecel shot to fame in May 2023 after beating Mark Selby in a classic final to win the World Championship at the Crucible. The 28-year-old pocketed £500,000 for that victory and went out and blew some of it on supercars.
He has earned over £2million in prize money alone since 2011 but still wanted to go on his favourite TV show for a shot at winning the £850 top prize. Like many Belgians, Brecel is a fan of Blokken – a quiz show which translates to “blocks” in English and is based on Tetris.
"I have watched it many times and I just think it is a very nice programme,” Brecel said. So he decided to apply and he was accepted – even though the producers assumed it was someone else with the same name.
Unfortunately, it did not go to plan, as it turns out that Brecel is a touch better at playing snooker than he is at answering quiz questions. The Belgian Bullet was knocked out of the show in the first episode, falling just one question away from having a shot at the £850 prize.
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Asked "on which river are the Walloon cities of Charleroi and Sambreville?", he went for the Seine, rather than the correct answer of the Sambre. After admitting he didn’t know anything about rivers, he was sent home with a printer – a “handy” consolation.
He won’t have much time to try out his new possession, however, with the busy schedule of snooker rumbling on. The world No.4 will be heading off to Saudi Arabia soon to take part in the World Masters of Snooker.
Luca Brecel alongside his fellow contestant (blokkentv/Instagram)The Riyadh Season, as it will be known, will take place between March 4-6 at Boulevard Arena in the Saudi capital. Organisers have added a gimmick in-keeping with a gameshow, with a 23rd ball – the Riyadh Season ball – worth an extra 20 points, but only if a player has already completed a 147-break.
After beating Jiang Jun at the Welsh Open earlier this month, Brecel told Eurosport: "To be honest, my focus is on Saudi Arabia and the Worlds, obviously, this is just trying to feel good and find something. I’ve been practising a lot and I’m feeling good, actually, off the table as well. I’m back.
"Every day I’ve been playing and enjoying it as well. When I practise, I do enjoy it every time. I’m just trying to get more fit as well. I’ve lost a bit of weight and I’m on a diet. I’m feeling really good."
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