Who Wants To Be A Millionaire host Jeremy Clarkson dubbed tonight’s episode “Who Wants To Win Nothing At All” because it was full of players who struggled, with one losing the second largest sum of money in the show's history.
Just one week ago, the presenter gleefully crowned retired IT analyst Roman Dubowski a £1 million winner. But, in stark contrast this evening, one woman lost a staggering £186,000 by risking all – making her the show’s second biggest ever loser. Another man walked away with just £1,000, with Clarkson joking he had “come on the wrong show” as his general knowledge was so poor.
Jen Essery Lillikakis's Big Gamble Backfires
The biggest upset of the evening came from Jen Essery Lillikakis, a product manager from Stratford. She aimed to win big to fund a honeymoon with her husband Kyri, who was in the audience. Jen breezed through early questions on sportswear brands, English phrases, art, Shakespeare, and cookery. At the £32,000 mark, she played safe and asked the audience which musical instrument is closely associated with Hawaii since the 1880s – correctly answering the ukulele. She set her safety net at £64,000.
On the £125,000 question, she used her 50-50 and Ask the Host lifelines to correctly identify Adrien Brody as the actor who won Best Actor Oscar twice from only two nominations. Then she bagged the £250,000 question on Greek mythology by answering Cassandra. However, disaster struck on the £500,000 question: “According to Guinness World Records, which of these has travelled at over 260 miles per hour during a competitive game or match? Tennis ball, Ice hockey puck, Badminton shuttlecock, Table tennis ball.”
Jen used her Phone-A-Friend lifeline, but her dad didn’t know the answer. Clarkson warned: “You are now completely on your own and have no more lifelines. If you get this wrong, you lose £186,000.” He advised she could walk away with £250,000, but she reasoned she would regret not trying. She guessed an ice hockey puck, but the correct answer was a badminton shuttlecock. The audience gasped as she lost £186,000.
Clarkson told her: “Oh my god you have just lost £186,000! It is unbelievable you took a punt on that. You need a bravery award for that.” She replied: “Well, that’s fine. I have won £64,000.” Jen is now the show’s second biggest loser, behind Nicholas Bennett who lost £375,000 last year.
Another Contestant Struggles
There was more bad news when contestant Arunan Jeyakumar from Newbury Park left with just £1,000 after using three lifelines. The clinical researcher struggled with simple questions. He needed the host’s help on a £500 question about a ballcock in a toilet cistern. He asked the audience on a £1,000 question about chives. Clarkson joked: “We have established that you’re not brilliant on cooking and you don’t know anything about plumbing.”
Arunan also didn’t know the Spice Girls’ debut number one single “Wannabe” and used his 50-50 to guess. He came unstuck on the question: “Which of these is not a capital city? Bratislava, Sofia, Istanbul, Warsaw?” He wrongly chose Sofia and ended up with just £1,000. Clarkson bluntly told him: “I think that the basic problem is you don't know very many things. This maybe was the wrong show for you to be on.”
The former Top Gear star seemed frustrated, quipping: “Welcome back to Who Wants To Win Nothing At All.. as it should be called.” A show source said: “After that nail-biting opening episode where Jeremy was thrilled to crown Roman a millionaire, things could not have gone any worse.” Last Sunday, Roman from Stockport won £1 million and vowed to buy a new house and travel to South America. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire airs Sundays at 8pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
