“Who wants to be a millionaire?”
“Duped Special”: Student drops to zero euros on Jauch
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The last time this happened was three years ago: A Berlin student fell to zero euros on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” The sunshine was to blame. Two more crashes followed. A young football fan overestimates himself, another saves his mother.
There was something wrong with the last episode of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” before the extra-long summer break. “Today it's kind of stalled. I don't know what's going on,” said Günther Jauch on Monday evening. Stefan Severin had just crashed spectacularly. The 25-year-old student from Berlin failed to answer the 500-euro question and had to return home empty-handed. As far as a reunion goes, Jauch had bad news.
As expected, Severin had survived the first four questions without any problems. But the brutal crash came literally out of the blue. “How do you characterize the proverbial sunshine that is supposed to make it clear that everyone is happy and content?” asked Jauch. The options were vain, flirtatious, affected or smug. Severin immediately turned down the wrong path.
Complete crash at Jauch
The Berliner had never heard of this expression. He was leaning towards “flirty” but fortunately was unsure. “I'm a bit confused right now,” complained Severin. Jauch already seemed to have a bad feeling: “I'll ask how long it's been since the last person went home with zero euros. I think that was a very long time ago. Please don't follow in his or her footsteps.”
Severin pulled the 50:50 joker and that seemed to bring salvation. Because his preference was dropped, leaving “vain” and “affected”. “Then I would probably go for 'affected',” he said and, after a brief question from Jauch, sealed his downfall. “No!” he cried out in horror when Jauch delivered the bad news. “That is very, very bitter,” the unlucky man lamented. Then Jauch delivered a “tiny” glimmer of hope.
Zero-euro candidates could get a second chance in their own special edition, said the presenter of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”: “Zero-special – I'm not saying dud-special.” But then the information he had requested from the director came in: The last time a candidate had crashed to zero euros was in 2021.
“So now there are two of you… it might take a while,” Jauch said. He encouraged the student, who works as a consultant for the public sector: “I would say: you are young, the public sector is beckoning. I'm not worried about you.”
Birgit Weinrich gambled on the 64,000 euro question – unsuccessfully.
(Photo: RTL / Stefan Gregorowius)
Two more crashes followed on Monday evening. Birgit Weinrich from Darmstadt had a relatively soft fall. The interior designer, who had no joker, gambled on the 64,000 euro question that mealworms would become flour butterflies. But Jauch was looking for flour beetles. Thanks to the safety option, Weinrich fell to 16,000 euros. The last candidate in this season of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” had it worse.
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Isabelle Dugaro from Hamburg trusted a young football fan from the studio audience when answering the 8,000 euro question. He was sure: the highest transfer fee for a German female footballer (Lena Oberdorf) was estimated to be at least four million euros. He didn't know, but he thought this answer was a sure bet given the range offered of 4,000 to 40 million euros. Far from it.
Confided in an unsuspecting audience joker: Isabelle Dugaro.
(Photo: RTL / Stefan Gregorowius)
“We're not ready yet,” Jauch had to disappoint. They were looking for 400,000 euros. “No, no,” Dugaro made no secret of her disappointment. Jauch gave the following candidate the tip: “I would have always asked a woman.” In fact, the other Joker candidate would have known the right answer, as she said. “It's okay,” Dugaro quickly recovered.
Another young footballer, however, was able to shine on Jauch. Midwife Katrin Kramer from Eiterfeld near Fulda was paid 16,000 euros to find out: Which coach took over a club in second-to-last place in the table and led it to the championship 19 months later? Her 16-year-old son was just warming up on the football pitch when Jauch activated him as a telephone joker. The student only had to hear the question and knew immediately: Xabi Alonso was wanted. “Great,” praised Jauch.
Even in view of the expensive wishes of her four sons (including a driver's license and a PlayStation), Kramer did not risk her winnings. Luckily, because when asked about the unusual surname of the head of government of Luxembourg, she guessed “Chaos”. The correct answer was peace. “Chaos defines this show,” said Jauch.
Fans of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” are now facing three months without the quiz show. Jauch took a particularly early summer break on Monday because of the European Football Championship. He will not return until the beginning of September (after the Summer Olympics) – but with great fanfare, as the 25th anniversary of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” is being celebrated. “Thank you, goodbye, have a nice summer,” said Jauch as he said goodbye.
