Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Winner Keeps £125,000 Despite Wrong Sport Answer

A contestant who won £125,000 on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire was allowed to keep the prize money despite answering a question wrong.

Back in 1999, Tony Kennedy won £125,000 while appearing on the popular quiz show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.

During the game, host Chris Tarrant asked Kennedy a tennis-related question for £64,000.

The question was: "Theoretically, what is the minimum number of strokes with which a tennis player can win a set?"

29-year-old Kennedy from Blackpool selected option B, which was 24 strokes, and was told that he picked the right answer.

However, it was then revealed that the actual correct answer was option A, 12 strokes.

The error was quickly spotted, reader Jason Stoakley explained: "To qualify as a minimum, the set would need to be won 6-0 with each game consisting of only four points.

"Of these six games the winning player only serves three times. So 3 games x 4 points = 12 strokes, and not 24.

"The other three games are lost by the opponent who serves 12 double faults - the winning player does not take part in these points."

As reported by the BBC, production company Celador decided to honour the prize of £125,000.

The programme's executive producer Paul Smith said: "This unfortunate mistake was our responsibility. In spite of the original question being checked by three separate people against three separate sources, this mistake got through.

"As a consequence of this, we have strengthened our checking procedure to ensure an error like this does not happen again.

"We deeply regret the situation and will, of course, honour the £125,000 win by the contestant."

Kennedy himself said at the time: "I feel absolutely brilliant. I've been up and down emotionally all day.

"This is just amazing. I am going to blow some on double glazing now. But I've got no plans to move house or buy a flash car. It has been an horrific day, but this is the best ending."