Who Wants to Be a Millionaire winner used lifeline to answer jackpot question
Only six lucky people have taken home the top price on Who Wants to be a Millionaire, including a retired banker who had to use his 50:50 lifeline for the last question.
Winning the ITV show back in 2001, Robert Brydges became the third contestant to legitimately win the £1million jackpot. This was the same year controversial contestant Charles Ingram was accused of cheated himself to the top prize alongside his wife Diana.
Despite always denying the allegations, Charles and his wife were found guilty of "procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception", and received 18 month sentences each, suspended for two years, and each fined a whopping £15,000.
Robert with Marilyn, his son Kempe and daughter Catherine (PA)Robert was actually in the audience himself during Ingram's scandalous win, saying he "kept looking round for where Charles was getting help from," in an interview with The Guardian. Even though he was suspicious, he was inspired by Ingram's success, and went on to apply for the show.
He claimed he had worked out that if he called the Millionaire random selector 350 times, "you have a 50/50 chance of getting on a particular show," - so he called 1,000 times. He also built a mock-up console of Fasters Finger First, just like Ingram, so he could practice.
Jeremy Clarkson faces Meghan backlash as 3 female stars won't go on Millionaire
And it clearly worked - because Robert went on to win the jackpot just 11 days after Ingram, and said he was "very happy". So what question was it that bagged him the million-pound prize? Read on to see, if in his position, you also would have also won.
The question was: Which scientific unit is named after an Italian nobleman? A: Pascal, B: Ohm, C: Volt or D: Hertz.
Robert used his 50:50 lifeline, and after much hesitation and a nail-biting advertisement break, host Chris Tarrant revealed he'd picked the correct answer - which you will see at the bottom of the article.
Not everyone was happy that Robert went on to win the jackpot - as he was already very well off. The dad-of-two, then aged 47, had retired 20 years early after making millions as vice-president with US banking giant Hanover Trust, before becoming a director of investment brokers GNI Fund Management. He lived a lavish life with his American wife and their two privately-educated children, splitting their time between their £900,000 Hampshire mansion and £2million townhouse in the exclusive Holland Park area of West London.
After he won, one neighbour sniped: "Gambling on the tricky questions must be a lot easier when you're already worth millions. I suppose £16,000 must seem like loose change to him".
After winning, he studied for an MA degree at The Shakespeare Institute at the University of Birmingham and dedicated his time to the ultimate upper-class dream. "I planted 50 truffle-inoculated oak saplings, which take around eight to 10 years to produce," he said.
Answer: C: Volt
Did you get the question correctly? Let us know in the comment section below.
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
