Who Wants To Be A Millionaire contestant suffers ‘biggest loss in TV show’s history’

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Up Next Previous Page Next Page A Who Wants To Be A Millionaire contestant has lost out on a £1 million fortune after a brutal twist of fate. Jeremy Clarkson welcomed Nicholas Bennett from West Hampstead onto the long-running ITV quiz show yesterday evening. The former University Challenge participant breezed through the first questions and, before he knew it, he was facing the final question for the jackpot. He was asked: ‘Which of these words, each coined by a famous writer, was derived from the tale of a fairytale about three princes?’ The four options were: A) Pandemonium, B) Serendipity, C) Utopia and D) Yahoo. Unfortunately for Nicholas, Jeremy couldn’t shed any light on the answer. He hit another dead end when his Phone A Friend didn’t know either. The Who Wants To Be A Millionaire contestant failed after using two lifelines (Picture: ITV) Host Jeremy Clarkson wasn’t able to help him with the answer (Picture: ITV) None the wiser after using those two lifelines, Nicholas went for D) Yahoo, which turned out to be wrong. The correct answer was B) Serendipity. Nicholas, who could have walked away with £500,000, tried to remain optimistic, saying: ‘Still get £125,000.’ And Clarkson couldn’t believe the devastating turn of events after such a promising start. ‘Oh my giddy aunt,’ he said, adding about the £375,000 downgrade: ‘Is that the biggest loss in Millionaire history?’ The contestant took the blow in his stride, but fans shared their sympathy (Picture: ITV) The ex-Grand Tour star started hosting the game show (which was originally hosted by Chris Tarrant since 1998) in 2018 after a four-year hiatus. In March, he even hit back after being called ‘not much help’ when another contestant tried to seek guidance from him. ‘Despite getting a speeding ticket in Dijon, @JeremyClarkson wasn’t much help on this question, so over to #PhoneAFriend #WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire,’ the official X account for the show posted. To which Clarkson replied at the time: ‘What do you mean I wasn’t much help?!?!?!!!’ While he wasn’t able to help this time, Clarkson has proved useful in the past. In January, QI presenter Sir Stephen Fry bagged a whopping £250,000 on the celebrity edition of the show. Clarkson has previously hit back at the claim he’s not much of a help (Picture: ITV) In fact, Clarkson did help him secure the prize as they both tried to figure out which major European city you would come closest to if you ‘walked a straight path from Paris to Berlin’ (the answer was Luxembourg City). ‘Jeremy is very encouraging, and he was great with the question that took me to a quarter of a million,’ Sir Stephen said. He continued: ‘It was a geographical question, and you had to work it out. Jeremy has travelled so much, particularly in the area that the question was about. ‘He and I kind of agreed that it was one of two answers, and I thought, “I am going to risk it,” and fortunately, it was right.’ Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? returns to ITV1 later this year and is available to stream on ITVX. Got a story? If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us [email protected], calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.