Man makes Who Wants To Be A Millionaire history with biggest ever loss
25 May 2025, 22:19
A man has made history on quiz show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire by becoming the first member of the public to play the million pound question and get it wrong.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
Nicholas Bennett from West Hampstead in London lost a record £375,000 in the process - prompting gasps from the studio audience.
On Sunday evening's edition of the ITV1 quiz, Mr Bennett reached the 15th and final question with two lifelines still at his disposal and used them both to try to work out which of the following words - "Pandemonium", "Serendipity", "Utopia" and "Yahoo" - came from the title of a fairytale about three princes.
Host Jeremy Clarkson and his Phone a Friend were unable to help but he decided to play anyway and guessed "Yahoo".
"Serendipity" was in fact the correct answer - coined by British author Horace Walpole in The Three Princes of Serandip.
Mr Bennett had raced to the top of the money ladder - not using any lifelines before the £500,000 question about American sitcoms.
He went home with £125,000.
The loss is the biggest ever in the history of the show.
Only six people have ever won the jackpot, most recently history teacher Donald Fear in 2020.
In 2006, interior designer Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and his wife Jackie also answered the million pound question incorrectly during a celebrity edition of the quiz - but it was later deemed to be ambigious and the couple were invited back to play a new question. They decided not to do so and walked away with £500,000.
Read more: First Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? winner in 14 years to give away prize money
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire began in 1998 and has given away around £60 million since it hit TV screens.
Judith Keppel was the first person to go all the way in 2000.
The following year, Major Charles Ingram also answered the million pound question correctly but was denied his winnings. He was later convicted of cheating his way to the top prize - and the story was turned into a successful play and TV drama, "Quiz".
