Who Wants To Be A Millionaire contestant loses $166K after audience gives wrong answer
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire in the UK saw an unlucky contestant lose £93,000 ($116,450 AUD) because he decided to side with the audience on a literature question.
As Oliver Blake, 24, got closer towards the end of the game show, the questions increased in difficulty. He had already won £125,000 ($223,723 AUD) and could’ve walked away with the cash.
However, Blake was interested in doubling his money to £250,000 ($447,451 AUD) and decided to stay and see what the question was.
The tricky literature question said:
"3 May. Bistritz. Left Munich at 8:35pm" are the opening words to which novel?
- Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
- Dracula
- Heart of Darkness
- Frankenstein
As the financial analyst had not read any of the four books that were the answers, he used his 50:50 lifeline that allowed him to remove two wrong answers.
As the answers were removed, Blake still had no idea and decided to ask the audience for their thoughts. With UK host, Jeremy Clarkson, egging on the contestant by saying:
“If you get it right you've got a quarter of a million and you're two questions from the big one.”
It’s clear that tensions were high and Blake explained that:
“I imagined many of them would have read at least one of the books and would known the answer.”
With the audience voting in extremely highly favoured odds for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, that’s the answer that Blake went with – 81% of the audience voted in favour of that answer.
He said: “I think let's go with... let's do it. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, final answer.”
The audience, Blake and Clarkson waited with anticipation to see what answer was the correct one. As the audience groaned, the correct answer flashed across the screen: Dracula.
Clarkson stated: “It's the wrong answer. What an absolute nightmare, it's Dracula.”
However, the contestant took it in his stride as well, saying that “it’s something I now know”. As he walked off the stage, he went home with reduced winnings of £32,000 pounds ($57,000 AUD).
Not a bad haul, but not as good as what he could have had.
Did you know the correct answer? Let us know in the comments.