A player on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire lost an eye-watering £93,000 after getting stumped by a brutal question. 

Paul Sharpe took to the H๏τ seat on Sunday and had been creeping through the prizes when it got to a US-based question.

‘I can’t remember ever having a contestant like you,’ host Jeremy Clarkson said of Paul’s courage throughout the game – which saw him take multiple risks. 

He had been slowly climbing the cash ladder and at one point was sitting on £64,000 with a safety net amount of £32,000. 

Paul then made it to a whopping £125,000 question – which would have seen him bag an extra £93,000. 

But it was a question about US state capitals that tripped him up.

A player on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire lost an eye-watering £93,000 after getting stumped by a brutal question

Paul Sharpe took to the H๏τ seat on Sunday and had been creeping through the prizes when it got to a US-based question

‘Which of these is not the name of a US state capital?’ Jeremy asked, before Paul was given the options of A) Lincoln, B) Richmond, C) Cambridge or D) Dover.

‘I’m pretty sure that Cambridge is the state capital of Mᴀssachusetts,’ Paul said, after being left struck by the question. ‘I think Dover is in the Mid West somewhere, so my gut feeling says Richmond.

Having already used two of his lifelines, Paul opted to ring his dad Dennis for help. 

Dennis ᴀssured his son that he thought Dover was the answer, before adding: ‘Pretty sure.’

Jeremy praised Dennis’s confidence, as he said: ‘That’s the kind of person you want on the other end of the phone – clear, decisive, possibly wrong but who knows.’

Paul revealed most of his answers up until that point had been guesses as he locked in Dover.

Gutted Paul was then told the answer was Cambridge and he had lost £32,000 – but would be taking home his safety net. 

‘I’m so sorry,’ Jeremy said. ‘Lady Luck has ridden off.’

‘I can’t remember ever having a contestant like you,’ host Jeremy Clarkson said of Paul’s courage throughout the game – which saw him take multiple risks

Paul revealed most of his answers up until that point had been guesses as he locked in Dover

Later that episode, a contestant was forced to seek help from Jeremy after he was left struggling with a tough geography question.

Matthew Trantor managed to speed through the ITV quiz until the presenter asked: ‘Dijon is the capital of which historic French region?’

The contestant sought the correct answer to scoop at least £64,000 – but ended up asking Jeremy for help.

The possible options were: ‘Normandy, Brittany, Limousin and Burgundy,’ yet Matthew told Jeremy bluntly: ‘I don’t know the answer to this.’

‘I have a phone-a-friend that may know this but I also think you [to Jeremy] have spent quite a lot of time in France. So I’d like to ask you,’ the game show contestant said.

But the Top Gear host wasn’t able to help him at that point and replied: ‘Okay, so here’s what I think, my fastest ever speeding ticket I got in Dijon.

‘I was going so fast that I can’t remember where it is!’

Jeremy did help Matthew out though telling him it was ‘one hundred percent not in Normandy or Brittany, I know both of those very well.’

The host went on to say he could draw Matthew a map as the two tried to work out whether their French geography could help them. 

Eventually Jeremy said he couldn’t help any further, leading Matthew to use up another lifeline – his Phone A Friend – to call his schoolfriend Josh.

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? will return to ITV1 later this year and is available to stream on ITVX.