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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Entertainment
Shaun Wilson

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire contestant loses out on the second biggest windfall in the show's history

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire is once again a hit for ITV - (Stellify Media)

A Who Wants To Be A Millionaire lost the second largest sum of money in the show’s history after taking a chance pot at a question.

Jen Essery Lillikakis lost out on £186,000 after a promising start to the gameshow on Saturday night.

Ms Lillikakis, from Stratford, hoped to fun a honeymoon with her newlywed husband Kyri, who sat in the audience.

The product manager's started out strong with the early questions, and secured £64,000 after correctly guessed the ukulele as the instrument synonymous with Hawaii since the 1880s.

When reaching her £125,000 question, she made use of her 50/50 and Ask The Host lifelines to make it past the £250,000 question.

But Jen's luck appeared to turn sour at the £500,000 question. She was asked: "According to Guinness World Records, which of these has travelled at over 260 miles per hour during a competitive game or match? Tennis ball, ice hockey puck, badminton shuttlecock or table tennis ball."

Jen used her last lifeline, Phone A Friend, to ask her dad's Chris opinion but he did not know the answer.

Host Jeremy Clarkson warned her: "You are now completely on your own and have no more lifelines. If you get this wrong, if you go for it and get it wrong, you lose £186,000."

Clarkson told Jen she could decline to answer the question and walk off with £250,000.

But Jen took a philosophical view, as she said: "Would I be more annoyed at giving it a go and getting it wrong… or not giving it a go?"

Jen then took a wild guess on ice hockey puck, only to find it was incorrect as the right answer was badminton shuttlecock.

As the audience gasped in disbelief, Jeremy cried: "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."

But Jen appeared to take the news on the chin, having secured £64,000 after the early rounds. She said: "Well, that’s fine. I have won £64,000."

ITV's most famous gameshow returned to TV screens on Sunday night, just a week after Roman Dubowski, a retired IT analyst, won the £1,000,000 jackpot.

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