Juddith Keppel won Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in 2000 and admits she still watches the hit ITV show, which is presented by Jeremy Clarkson
The first person to win Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? has revealed what she really thinks about host Jeremy Clarkson. Judith Keppel won the jackpot in 2000, after attempting to get on the show more than 50 times.
Judith, who was working as a garden designer at the time, spent more than £100 trying to land a place on the show despite “struggling for money”. And now, 25 years later, Judith says she still has the first £1million she won.
Instead of splashing the cash on cars and a new house, she says she decided to reinvest the money. Three years after the win she even joined Eggheads on BBC Two, spending 19 years on the show before retiring in 2022.
Judith says she still watches Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, which has been presented by former Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson since 2018. Although she criticised the host’s general knowledge skills.
She said: “Frankly, he knows nothing. Ask him a geography question or a question about cars and he might know, but there’s no point asking him anything else.”
Contestants who are struggling on the show can turn to Jeremy as one of the show’s lifelines. The TV presenter however admits he worries whenever someone turns to him for help.
When asked if it’s got any easier helping contestants over the years, Jeremy told Heatworld: “No, it’s still terrifying. I was doing reasonably well on my average getting them right, but this series, I have been really useless.”
The star says appearing on the show is “very useful” but confesses that it hasn’t helped improve his own general knowledge skills. Instead he believes it is simply a “test” of what you can recall.
He added: “I don’t think the show improves anyone’s general knowledge, it just tests it. It’s very useful, because I can never remember where I put my spectacles, but somehow know the national beer of Sri Lanka is Lion. You think, ‘How is that in my head?’”
Jeremy also admits that fronting the popular show hasn’t led him to becoming the first pick for pub quizzes. He jokes that he once attended one and answered “Edelweiss” as the original name for JFK Airport in New York, USA, only to discover it should have been “Idlewild”.
Jeremy, who was “so proud” that he knew the answer was left gutted when they “wouldn’t let him have it”. Jeremy joked it was “ridiculous” and vowed never to return to a pub quiz.
Judith meanwhile managed to answer 15 questions correctly to secure the million. She says she “wasn’t 100 percent sure” in the final round, but believes some “insane gambling-instinct urge” took over.
She answered the question – which king was married to Eleanor of Aquitaine? Henry I, Henry II, Richard I or Henry V? – correctly, becoming the first person in the UK to walk away with the money.
Source: Mirror
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