Who Wants to be a Millionaire crowns Donald Fear as first jackpot winner in 14 years

Host Jeremy Clarkson was delighted to confirm Donald Fear got the final question right which secured the jackpot.

It was very much a family affair as Donald revealed his brother had previously bagged a hefty amount on Millionaire while Jeremy was the host.

His brother got £500,000 and when Donald initially tried to get on the ITV show, he promised to get "one further" than his sibling - and that, he did.

https://twitter.com/MillionaireUK/status/1304510115215704066

Throughout the episode, Jeremy was completely bewildered as Donald raced through the questions barely stumbling.

The time came, and Donald was asked: "In 1718, which pirate died in battle off the coast of what is now North Carolina?"

Of course, without hesitation, Donald answered Blackbeard and bagged the jackpot - with three lifelines still in tact.

This was the first time a contestant had walked away with £1million since the series was revived with Jeremy Clarkson as host in 2018.

Of the five previous winners to have picked up the top prize, the most recent was almost 15 years ago, with Ingram Wilcox answering all 15 questions correctly back in 2006.

Two of the other former winners have gone on to successfully appear on hit BBC Two quiz show Eggheads, with both the first winner Judith Keppel (who won in 2000) and fourth winner Pat Gibson (who won in 2004) joining the expert team on the show, hosted by Jeremy Vine.

The other previous winners, Robert Brydges and David Edwards, both won the top prize in 2001, with the latter going on to compete in both series of Are You an Egghead? but ultimately coming up short in both.

Of course, there's other example of a contestant answering all 15 questions correctly: the infamous case of Charles Ingram, who later had the prize money withdrawn after he was accused of taking part in a scam to win the prize that included his sister and another contestant coughing when they heard the correct answer.

Despite being found guilty of cheating, Ingram still maintains his innocence in the case, which was the subject of a highly acclaimed three-part ITV drama, Quiz, earlier this year starring Matthew Macfadyen and Sian Clifford.

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