Who Wants to be a Millionaire contestant becomes show’s second ever biggest loser after losing £186,000

When it comes to quiz shows, there are few that are more iconic than Who Wants to be a Millionaire, but the format of the ITV show can often be brutal.
While more modern quiz shows might see you go up against an expert or bizarrely have to push some coins out of a machine while you’re answering questions, Who Wants to be a Millionaire is old-fashioned in the sense that it’s just one person answering as many questions as they can, with their general knowledge rewarded with some huge sums.
Unless you find a way to cheat, as Charles Ingram famously did on the show back in 2001 as his wife coughed in the audience to clue him in on the right answers, it’s rare to see people getting anywhere close to the magnificent million pounds.
While we did see some success last week when Roman Dubowski smashed all 15 questions to become the first winner in six years, risk-taking is essential on the show and it often backfires.
That was certainly the case with last weekend’s episode, which saw Jen Essery Lillikakis become memorable in other ways, after she lost £186,000 when failing to answer the £500,000 question.
Now, it’s not all bad news for the product manager, as she took home £64,000 to help pay for a honeymoon, after setting her safety net at that amount.
After calling her dad who wasn’t much help, she ended up guessing that it was the ice hockey puck but she was out of luck, and it was in fact the shuttlecock that brought a stop to her game.
Host Jeremy 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.”