Showbiz

Stephen Fry makes Who Wants To Be A Millionaire history with jaw-dropping win thanks to Jeremy Clarkson twist – leaving fans in awe

Stephen Fry makes Who Wants To Be A Millionaire history with jaw-dropping win thanks to Jeremy Clarkson twist – leaving fans in awe

Stephen Fry made Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? history on Sunday night. 

The 67-year-old took part in the first instalment of the celebrity version of the ITV show – and went home with an incredible amount of money. 

Stephen first appeared on the programme back in 2005, but decided to go back and see if he could bag some cash for a good cause. 

The broadcaster had to tap out after not knowing the answer to the question: ‘Which of these cover songs entered the UK Top 40 the longest time after the original version first charted?’

The options were: Tragedy by Steps, Fast Car by Jonas Blue and Dakota, Uptown Girl by Westlife and Killing me Softly by Fugees – and the answer was B. 

But it didn’t really matter because Stephen won an incredible total of £250,000. 

Stephen Fry made Who Wants To Be A Millionaire history on Sunday night's instalment of the ITV show

Stephen Fry made Who Wants To Be A Millionaire history on Sunday night’s instalment of the ITV show 

The 67-year-old got stuck over a question about song charts

The 67-year-old got stuck over a question about song charts 

The TV star left the show with an amazing £250,000

The TV star left the show with an amazing £250,000 

And he certainly impressed presenter Jeremy Clarkson, 64, who dubbed his appearance the ‘biggest celebrity win since I started this show’.

In fact, Clarkson was instrumental in the win, helping Fry along with the ‘ask the host’ lifeline – brought back to the show in 2018 – which paid off.

He was asked which European city out of Brussels, Strasbourg, Munich and Luxembourg City would you come closest to if you walked a straight line from Paris to Berlin.

Fortunately Clarkson knew the answer, sending Fry through the £125k question.

‘Jeremy is very encouraging, and he was great with the question that took me to a quarter of a million,’ Fry gushed.

‘It was a geographical question, and you had to work it out. Jeremy has travelled so much, particularly in the area that the question was about.

‘He and I kind of agreed that it was one of two answers, and I thought ‘I am going to risk it’, and fortunately, it was right.

‘This lifeline is a tremendous addition to the show. If Jeremy doesn’t know, he will say but he will take you through the thinking and it slows things down. 

‘Once you start getting to the high numbers, you don’t want to let the charity down.’

Fry also consulted Pointless star and author Richard Osman on the £500,000 question, making use of his phone a friend lifeline.

He said of the whopping jackpot: ‘I am delighted and I am not complaining at all!

‘It was extremely good fun. The time goes so quickly.’

Fans watching at home were amazed by Stephen’s achievement.  

One wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: ‘I love how the genius Stephen Fry on #whowantstobeamillionaire doesn’t just answer questions, but gives you full background and historical context to each answer.’

Another added: ‘Stephen Fry is incredible.’

‘Love Stephen fry .. he’s such a nice chap,’ a third chimed in. 

A fourth added: ‘They don’t come much cleverer than Stephen Fry.’

A fifth chimed in: ‘£250,000 is a mᴀssive amount for MIND. Well done Sir Stephen Fry, and such a great charity for the money to go to. Mental health is so important these days.’ 

‘CORRECT!!!! Stephen has now gone one better than his 2005 game…at this moment,’ a sixth said. 

Those watching at home were amazed at what Stephen won on the ITV show

Those watching at home were amazed at what Stephen won on the ITV show

Read More Who Wants to be a Millionaire viewers shocked as star uses two lifelines in five minutes article image

Elsewhere in the episode Jeanette Kwakye took to the chair to win some money.  

The athlete, 41, went away from the studio with £16,000. 

Right at the end of the instalment Richie Anderson, 37, and he joked that he felt ‘okay’ before ‘watching Stephen do it’.

But just a few questions in he wanted to ‘take the money and run’.

Stephen asked him which of these units of volume were the largest out of centilitre, kilolitre, millilitre or declilitre. 

The radio star confessed that he did not have a clue and decided to go 50/50, but still didn’t know, so decided to call his dad for help. 

Unfortunately his father couldn’t give him a definitive answer,  so Richie left the show with £8,000.  

Watch Who Wants To Be A Millionaire on ITVX. 

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