Who Wants to Be a Millionaire contestant wins £500k with 'educated guess'
Yet another contestant on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire has walked away with a massive prize, and has spoken out about what he is going to do with the life changing sum of money.
Andrew Fanko, 44, appeared on the ITV show for this Sunday’s episode and managed to become the second person in just a few weeks to walk away with a huge sum from the show.
In late April Roman Dubowski became the first person since 2020 to walk away from the show as a millionaire, winning with a tricky question about a ‘trademarked logo described in the James Joyce novel Ulysses’.
Whilst Fanko walked home with half the money Dubowski did that was a purposeful choice, deciding against trying for the £1 million question.
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As is often the case Fanko’s early questions were fairly straightforward, including one asking what the ‘G’ in G&T stood for.
The translator set £125,000 as his safety net, using both his Phone a Friend and 50:50 to get there and answer a tricky biology question about cell types and whether they contain a nucleus.
Fanko then got through to the £500k question, which was: “Which of these Agatha Christie characters is killed in the novel Murder on the Orient Express?”
Presented with the options Linnet Ridgeway, Astrides Leonides, Samuel Ratchett, and Carmichael Clarke, who would you have picked as your answer?
Anyone on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? who picked anyone but Samuel Ratchett would have been out half a million pounds, but thankfully Fanko got it right and managed to go home with what he called a ‘life-changing sum of money’ in an interview with ITV, telling Clarkson that it was an 'educated guess'.
Fanko opted against trying for the £1,000,000 question, which questioned which of the following four artists have an EGOT (an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony): Lin-Manuel Miranda, Cher, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Bette Midler.
Whilst knowing it was Andrew Lloyd Webber might have got you a million pounds,
Speaking about leaving with £500,000 he said he felt ‘incredible’, telling ITV: “I feel very privileged to have won a genuinely life-changing amount of money and it will make a huge difference to my family.”
Asked about what he was going to use the money for he said: “We’ll definitely take our daughter to Disneyland at some point as she’s obsessed with Frozen, so meeting Elsa will be a big moment!
“Before that, we’re planning a family cruise to the Norwegian fjords this summer, taking both sets of parents. It feels really special to be able to treat them after everything they’ve done for us.
“More practically, we’ll pay off the mortgage, which will massively reduce our outgoings.”
Fanko stated that the win came ‘at exactly the right time’ for him and his family, stating that his job has been majorly effected in recent years.
He said: “There’s far less work available now, and both my wife and I are translators, so it’s had a big impact on us.
“This money gives us breathing space, time to think about retraining or doing something different. It’s a huge relief during what’s been quite a difficult period.”
Which contestants have lost the most money on Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
These contestants are probably still kicking themselves after taking a gander on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? and it massively blowing up in their faces.
Rob Mitchell - lost £218,000 (2003)
Rob had reached the £500,000 question when he was faced with the following brain teaser: “How many inches tall is an Oscar statuette? Eight and a half / Eleven / Thirteen and a half / Sixteen.”
He still had his Phone a Friend lifeline, so he phoned his sister-in-law, who said she 'couldn't even guess'.
While most would have given up at this stage, Rob decided to guess 'eleven'.
The answer was actually thirteen and a half, and he ended up walking away with just £32,000.
Duncan Bickley - lost £218,000 (2000)
Duncan was asked the following for £500k: "What was the name of Amy Johnson's plane in which she flew solo to Australia in 1930? Achilles / Pegasus / Hercules / Jason."
He ended up using his 50/50 and was left with Pegasus and Jason.
He told then-host Christ Tarrant 'it's gotta be Pegasus, isn't it' because Pegasus is a winged horse, while Jason 'has nothing to do with flying'.
That reasoning lost him £218,000, and he walked away with £32,000.
Nicholas Bennett - lost £375,000 (2025)
Nicholas had the dubious honour of being the contestant who lost the most money on the UK version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? after giving the wrong answer for the final question.
For £1 million, he was asked: "Which of these words, each coined by a famous writer, was derived from the title of a fairy tale about three princes? Pandemonium / Serendipity / Utopia / Yahoo."
He used his Ask the Host lifeline, and Jeremy Clarkson didn't have a clue, and then he called his roommate, Meg, who didn't know either.
Nicholas responded: "Well, we'll see what happens," and guessed Yahoo.
The answer, unfortunately, was Serendipity. He lost £375,000, and walked away with £125,000.
Topics: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, ITV, TV, Money, TV and Film
Michael Slavin