Who Wants to Be a Millionaire fans stumped by ‘worst question in quiz show history’ – but can you solve it?
WHO Wants to be a Millionaire? fans have lashed out at the quiz show after a seriously tricky question left them stumped.
During last night’s episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, which was a repeat from 2021, contestant Glen Bunn was faced with an extremely difficult question about the Oscars.
Answering the question successfully would take Glen one step closer to winning the £1 million prize pot. He had already secured £32,000, but was worried this could be his last round.
Host Jeremy Clarkson put the contestant through his paces when he asked the following question.
“From the 2000 awards ceremony onwards, the Best Actress Oscar has never been won by a woman whose surname begins with which one of these letters?” the 63-year-old TV presenter asked.
The multiple choice answers were: A: G, B: K, C: M and D: W.
READ MORE ON QUIZ SHOWS
Glen admitted he was “drawing a blank” at the answer and struggled to think of anyone who had won an Oscar with those letters between 2000 and 2001.
Glen guessed the answer
Glen tried not to let the question stump him, and suggested Pirates of the Caribbean actress Keira Knightly might be the answer for B, while he correctly guessed Titanic's Kate Winslet was one of the answers for D. However, he was unsure about A and C, so decided to use his Phone a Friend lifeline. Unfortunately, they had “no idea” either, so that didn’t bring Glen any closer to the correct answer.
In the end, Glen had to make an educated guess. He was happy that he was at least taking home £32,000, which he’d won in the previous episode, but he was ecstatic when he realised he’d guessed correctly.
Glen guessed A for G, which was correct as Nicole Kidman, Frances McDormand and Kate Winslet are among the actors who have won Best Actress during the 2000s and 2010s.
The contestant’s good luck continued through the episode, and Glen ended the night by taking home a whopping £125,000, though he failed to reach the £1 million grand prize.
Has anyone ever won the million pound prize?
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Was co-created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill and Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight. It was hosted by Chris Tarrant for its initial run from 1998 to 2014 before it was revived in 2018 with Jeremy Clarkson as host. There have only ever been six people to win the show’s £1 million jackpot over the years.
- The first was Judith Keppel, a former garden designer, who became the first contestant to win the top prize on 20 November 2000. Following her success, Judith became part of a team of quiz experts for the BBC game show Eggheads.
- Second was David Edwards, a former physics teacher of Cheadle High School and Denstone College in Staffordshire. On 21 April 2001, he became the second contestant to win the top prize and in 2008 and 2009 he competed in both series of Are You an Egghead?
- Robert Brydges, an Oxford-educated banker from Holland Park, London, became the show's third winner on 29 September 2001.
- Pat Gibson, became the show's fourth winner on 24 April 2004 and later became an Egghead like Judith.
- Civil servant Ingram Wilcox became the show's fifth winner on 23 September 2006, and was the last during Tarrant's tenure as host.
- On 11 September 2020, Donald Fear, a history and politics teacher from Haberdashers' Adams Grammar School in Telford, became the show's first (and only) million pound prize winner during Clarkson's tenure as host. He is also the first top-prize winner with lifelines to spare, using only the '50:50' to bag his winnings.
Viewers hated the question
While Glen played it cool on screen, viewers at home were outraged by the question and branded it the worst in quiz show history.
Commenting on X, formerly Twitter, one person said: “Worst question I have ever heard on a TV quiz show. So glad he guessed the correct answer.”
“What a stupid first question,” another agreed, as a third viewer raged that the Oscars question was “awful” and “obscure.”
