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Who Wants To Be A Millionaire viewers saw one of the show's most jaw-dropping moments ever as one contestant suffered the biggest loss in its 27-year history following a huge blunder.
Nicholas Bennett was on an impressive hot streak as he made it all the way to the £500,000 mark without calling on any lifelines and looked set to become the show's eighth millionaire
ever. His remarkable feat even left host Jeremy Clarkson mightily impressed, who was forced to admit: "He's just roaring along." Yet, disaster struck on the final question and
Nicholas dropped a heart-stopping £375,000, taking home £125,000 having banked that amount as his safety net. Earlier, he reached the £250,000 question "Which of these groups never
successfully invaded the city of Rome?" The four choices given to him were A) Visigoths, B) Huns, C) Vandals, D) Gauls. Confident in his historical knowledge, Nicholas said: "I do
like history, I know the Gauls invaded pretty early on. I'm pretty sure the Vandals destroyed the city – that's why we have vandalism. I don't think the Huns did, I don't
think they made it that far into Europe, whereas I knew the Visigoths were around. As it's a free shot, I'm 70-80% sure." Despite Jeremy reminding him of his remaining four
lifelines and advising against guessing, Nicholas replied: "I don't think this is a guess though. Maybe on the next question I'll need them, so I'm gonna say Huns – final
answer." His decision paid off, with the answer being correct, propelling him towards the £500,000 question. As the host observed Nicholas's demeanour, saying: "You seem
quite relaxed," Nicholas retorted: "It's not relaxed inside my head!" Nicholas was then confronted with the £500,000 question: "Which of these long-running US
sitcoms had the most episodes? The choices were A) The Big Bang Theory, B) Friends, C) The Office, or D) Seinfeld." Uncertain of the answer, he turned to the audience who believed it
was Friends – but only 37% – while 30% thought it was Seinfeld, reports the Mirror. Still unsure and not wanting to risk it yet, Nicholas used the 50/50 lifeline, which left The Big Bang
Theory and The Office, proving the audience wrong. Nicholas admitted that it was tough to articulate his thoughts before declaring The Big Bang Theory as his final answer. His shot in the
dark paid off as the answer was correct. Then came the £1m question and the chance for Nicholas to become only the eighth millionaire since the show began in 1998. Jeremy asked: "Which
of these words, each coined by a famous writer, was derived from the title of a fairytale about three princes? A) Pandemonium, B) Serendipity, C) Utopia, D) Yahoo." Nicholas responded:
"The one that's standing out to me is 'Yahoo', but I don't know." He then sought Jeremy's help using the Ask Jeremy lifeline, but to his dismay the host
said he couldn't think of a fairytale about three princes and noted that all four words were created by authors. Nicholas then recalled a puppet show he attended recently in Spain,
which he believes was about three princes. He confessed he doesn't speak Spanish well enough to understand the story before adding: "But I think someone was yelling
'Yahoo'." Realising the enormity of his gamble, Nicholas rationalised that he'd still be happy taking home £125,000 even if he made a mistake. Jeremy offered him to use
his final lifeline – phone a friend – but that came to no avail as Nicholas' friend, Meg, did not know the correct answer. Nicholas, now running on sheer adrenaline, decided to take the
plunge by saying: "Normally, I'm really averse to any kind of gambling, but I do think I'm going to go for it. Yahoo, final answer." A collective gasp from the audience
then filled the studio. Nicholas' gambit failed as the correct answer was revealed to be Serendipity, originally coined by Horace Walpole based on The Three Princes of Serendip. But the
contestant accepted his loss with a shrug, stating: "I've still got £125,000" while Jeremy confessed he'd be "sobbing on the floor" if he'd lost such an
amount. A clearly astonished Jeremy then exclaimed "Oh my giddy aunt" and goes on to ask whether this was the most substantial loss in the show's history. He then commended
Nicholas: "I don't think I've had a contestant I've enjoyed more than you. Well done, enjoy your winnings." After the break, Jeremy welcomed back viewers by saying:
"We've just seen someone lose what we think is the biggest amount in Who Wants To Be A Millionaire history." _Who Wants to Be a Millionaire airs Sunday at 8pm on ITV1 and
ITVX._