Who Wants To Be A Millionaire host Jeremy Clarkson dubbed tonight’s episode “Who Wants To Win Nothing At All” because it was full of players who struggled.
21:00, 03 May 2026Updated 21:31, 03 May 2026
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire host Jeremy Clarkson dubbed tonight’s episode “Who Wants To Win Nothing At All” because it was full of players who struggled – with one losing the second largest sum of money in show’s history.
Just one week ago, the presenter gleefully crowned retired IT analyst Roman Dubowski a £1m winner. But, in stark contrast this evening, one woman lost a staggering £186,000 by risking all – making her the show’s second ever biggest loser.
And another man walked away with just £1,000 with Clarkson joking he had “come on the wrong show” as his general knowledge was so bad.
(Image: ITV)
The biggest upset of the evening on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire came from Jen Essery Lillikakis, a product manager from Stratford. She said she was looking to win big as she wanted to pay for a nice honeymoon for her and her husband Kyri – who was in the audience – as they had recently got wed.
Jen breezed through the early general knowledge questions on sportswear brands, English phrases, art, Shakespeare and cookery.
When she hit the £32,000 marker, she played safe and decided to Ask The Audience which musical instrument is closely associated with Hawaii since the 1880s – steel drum, ukulele, kazoo or washboard.
They correctly answered it was the ukulele. Jen then set her safety net at £64,000.
On the £125,000 question, she used her 50-50 lifeline and Ask the Host lifelines when asked “Which of these multiple winners of the best actor Oscar has only been nominated twice for the award but won on both occasions – Sean Penn/Daniel Day-Lewis/Adrien Brody/Anthony Hopkins?”
And she correctly answered it was Adrien Brody. Then she bagged the £250,000 question “Which figure in Greek mythology was cursed to utter true prophecies that were never believed? Cassandra/Ariadne/Pandora/Andromed”’ by claiming it was Cassandra.
However it all went wrong on her £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/Table tennis ball”
Jen used her Phone-A-Friend lifeline but her dad, Chris, didn’t know. 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.”
And he advised that she did have the option of not answering the question at all and still walking away with a big win. He said: “You can go home with £250,000.”
But she reasoned: “Would I be more annoyed at giving it go and getting it wrong…. Or not giving it a go?” In the end she pressed ahead guessed an ice hockey puck, with the correct answer being shuttlecock. The audience gasped at her huge loss.
Clarkson told her: “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.” She said: “Well, that’s fine. I have won £64,000.”
Jen is now the show’s second biggest loser behind Nicholas Bennett who last year answered the £1million question, got it wrong, and lost £375,000.
There was more bad news tonight when contestant Arunan Jeyakumar from Newbury Park, got in the hot seat and proved a flop leaving with just £1,000 having used up three lifelines.
The clinical researcher struggled with simple general knowledge questions. He had to Ask The Host on the £500 question: “A ballcock is commonly found inside what of there? Light bulb/Burglar alarm/Toilet cistern/Electric kettle”. The presenter admitted: “It’s a surprise to be brought in this early,” telling him it was a toilet cistern.
Arunan then had to Ask The Audience on the £1,000 question: “Members of the allium family include leeks, garlic and which of these? Parsley/Rosemary/Basil/Chives?” They correctly answered chives. Clarkson told him: “We have established that you’re not brilliant on cooking and we’ve established you don’t know anything about plumbing.”
The contestant also had no idea when asked: “Released in 1996, what was the debut number one single by The Spice Girls? 2 Become 1/Wannabe/Stop/Viva Forever?” He used up his 50-50 lifeline and luckily guessed it was Wannabe.
But he came unstuck when he was asked ‘Which of these is not a capital city? Bratislava/Sofia/Istanbul/Warsaw?’ He wrongly chose Sofia and ended up walking away with just £1,000. Clarkson told him very bluntly: “I think that the basic problem is you don’t know very many things. This maybe was the wrong show for you to be on.”
The former Top Gear star host seemed frustrated that no one was winning big on the show, quipping: “Welcome back to Who Wants To Win Nothing At All.. as it should be called.”
A show source said: “After that nail-biting opening episode of the new series where Jeremy was thrilled to crown Roman a millionaire, things could not have gone any worse.” Last Sunday, Roman from Stockport walked away with a cool million pounds and vowed to buy a new house and spend some of the cash travelling to South America.
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire episodes air on Sunday nights at 8pm on ITV1 and ITVX.