In 2020, ITV, the British network which used to air "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire", created and aired a three-part dramatic event, Quiz, as the third re-telling of the largest Quiz Show scandal since the rigged United States quiz events of the late 1950's: The attempt by Army Major Charles Ingram, his wife Diana, friend and fellow WWTBAM superfan Tecwyn Whittock, and at least two other parties (one willing, one not) to swindle the show out of the top 1,000,000 pound prize.
Even 19 years later, the Ingrams (who I believe are complete liars and lied in every answer in a 2003 20/20 episode on the incident) still are trying to get the money through court. Information in this is not only from a newly-posted YouTube video from Who Wants To Be A Millionaire in Britain, but the best recollections I have of the 20/20 US and "Major Fraud" UK documentaries.
For reference, here is the YouTube video. Times will reference this video, though it has significant commentary, several intermissions, some editing, etc. (And, unlike many videos I have posted here, I don't think this one is coming down anytime soon!!!)
The date is September 9th, 2001. Charles Ingram has just won his Fastest Finger First to finally get in the Hot Seat on the British version of "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire".
Why do I say "finally"? Because the Ingrams were part of a "superfan" group of Millionaire fans who followed the show religiously (given the Ingrams, I think I can, with my qualifications, deem they were stalkers of the show). Charles and Diana appeared on a couples' version and didn't qualify. Diana's brother, Adam Pollock, won 32,000 pounds. So did Diana, much to her grave disappointment, she revealed to Tarrant over drinks afterward. And the video reveals two failed attempts (unclear if the couples' one was one) by Charles -- meaning this is either at least the fifth Ingram appearance on the show or the SIXTH!!!
- The first incident has largely disappeared into the ether, and happened during the September 9th taping.
Whoever it was, it didn't appear that what he did helped if that was the intent. The "dim but nice" Major (as host Chris Tarrant referred to him) limped his way through seven questions, leaving only one lifeline left, a 50/50, by the time the horn went off to end the show.
September 10th, 2001 was a day which would live in game show infamy.
Whittock was another of the "superfans", and, when Diana found out Whittock had made the show, she congratulated him...
... and then prosecutors claim, they hatched their plot.
There was little regard for Charles among the staff. Many, as I have for a long time, questioned his qualifications for Private, much less Major, in any Army. Some on the production staff, according to an unofficial Wikia account, called him no less than "unintelligent". No one thought he would even reach the 32,000 mark of his wife or her brother.
If anything, through another part of that account, he appears to be high-functioning, if flawed. He apparently is a Mensa genius (applied for and got in!) with an engineering degree!
And when he comes out for Night Two, he claims a new counterattack strategy! Completely baffling everybody, it's Game On...
... in more ways than one!
- Question 8 for 8,000 pounds: (Starts at 10:44)
The defense at the criminal trial stated there were nearly 200 incidents picked up by various microphones of coughing and blustering during Charles' second-night play.
The prosecution picked up out 19 what they referred to as Particular Coughs which they deemed signals, all but two by Whittock. This was the first one of his.
Charles then goes into a sub-strategy (which the producers and sound engineer pick up on as "odd" immediately, the latter immediately telling all associates to "listen out" from that point because Charles Ingram is acting erratically in the Hot Seat). Charles is round-robining the answers, reading each one out, and, it is alleged, waiting for a cough from Whittock on the correct answer.
Charles has, more recently, claimed that some of what he was doing was for "good television". (Not unlike the producers' directions to rigged contestants during the American 1950's scandals!!!!)
A second Particular Cough at 12:00, and Charles declares and wins 8,000 pounds.
- Question 9 for 16,000 pounds: (Starts at 12:30)
- Question 10 for 32,000 pounds: (Starts at 14:37) The first of two major Snoking Guns. At the end of the night, the more minor of the two, believe it or not!
A: Coldplay
B: Toploader
C: A1
D: Craig David
This is such a flagrant act that the video, during what would be the commercial between declaration and the 32,000 pound win, takes FOUR MINUTES to show what happened -- as well as another interruption when it does in the first place.
Basically, they'd found a hole in BOTH Charles' knowledge and Whittock's. A prosecution witness would note (as stated in the intermission) that, even though many people would get this question, there would be those who would not.
(I agree. I'm not the first person to think that, even with my advancing age, I still have enough trivia knowledge to run the table on a 15-question stack. In fact, I did once when Disney's California Adventure had the Millionaire "Play It" show in Anaheim. Too bad it was in the audience and not in one of my three Hot Seat attempts, never getting more than one question right in the third and final tier! Damn "Phone a Complete Stranger!!" But a lot of pop culture, especially recent, escapes me!)
(More famously, just before John Carpenter became the first player worldwide to complete a stack in November of 2001, there was a $500,000 question on the US version on Pokemon which about any eight year-old could've answered -- but the contestant couldn't!)
Charles' strategies and sub-strategies got NOTHING from Whittock, so he used the 50/50 he had left to eliminate Coldplay and Toploader at about 16:08.
He then somehow fixates on A1, given no guidance from Whittock.
A1 is the incorrect remaining answer. Charles picks it and declares, the game is over and he goes home a Thousandaire.
And he's never heard of Craig David.
Approximately 20 seconds later (at which point the video completely goes into intermission at the first Smoking Gun), we find out Diana has!!! SHE does a Particular Cough at 16:58 after Charles mentions Craig David and Tarrant apprises Charles of the game situation. She's sitting in the dedicated supporter's seat directly behind the contestant about two rows from the top of the audience.
You occasionally see this supporter from time to time, but, for security purposes, a camera is ALWAYS on this person, and she goes for broke after looking down at Whittock for help (which the prosecution claims she does many more times!!!) and, receiving none, does a Particular Cough of her own when her husband mentions Craig David!
But he still wants to go for A1. He round-robins the two, getting another Particular Cough at 18:53.
It gets as far as declaring for Final Answer for A1, but he then does something crazy.
He first says no, and then he PIVOTS to Craig David completely (otherwise) inexplicably!!!
Tarrant has lost the plot, so has the audience in the studio -- the audience at home never got the chance, because the episodes were pulled when it was clear Charles had cheated!
He then basically says his first impressions are 80% wrong when he guesses. (Noting he stated he didn't know the first question, and his first impression got the cough, and the second question that night was the only one he definitely KNEW! Keep this in mind, it is important!!)
He then declares for Craig David at 19:58 -- and, as the show usually does for dramatic effect (though, in this case, it probably would've done so on an emergency basis anyway!!), Tarrant sends the show to a Cliffhanger Commercial.
At that point, TAPING IS STOPPED.
The entire deliberation over the question is played back, a number of times. And it is Diana they are looking at, because what Charles Ingram has just done to win 32,000 pounds is not only inexplicable, not only unheard of in game shows (in fact, many shows -- like Gene Rayburn would say in "Match Game" -- say that if you have conviction on your first impression, you should go for it), but it made no other sense than to think it was a foul.
The problem was: They'd only heard one cough from Whittock (and, really, live, had no idea as to the extent or manner of his involvement!!). As such, they had to play on and award, for now, the 32,000 pounds.
The video notes that Ingram's claim is that he was able to pick up an audible gasp from the audience when he was about to declare on A1, hence the pivot.
(This is NOT completely implausible. Going back to my experiences in Anaheim, I, on one of my trips, had won my way into the Hot Seat on the first of two games in a show. After I played all the way through, and after I filled out all the relevant releases and paperwork, I was led back toward the stage so I could properly exit at the end of the show. This happened just as the second game was ended with an incorrect guess which I knew the correct answer to -- and that the player was incorrect. I gulped at that (those microphones are no joke, people!!), but only AFTER "Final Answer" had been declared. But the host picked it up, and noted to the audience I probably knew the answer! (Since it had no bearing on the game, I was not penalized.))
Edited out of the video is Tarrant's complete incredulity that this silly dolt actually made it to the amount of money both his wife and her brother had won on the show. He would say, in all the interviews, that he was laser-focused on his duties and heard none of the coughing.
This would appear to be quite puzzling. Tecwyn Whittock is in what is referred to as "Seat #3" in the Fastest Finger qualifying circle, the seat directly behind the Hot Seat in which Charles now sits. He'd have been 15 feet, 20 tops, from Tarrant.
However, in a 2020 "This Morning" interview, Tarrant finally admitted that there was one point in this run that he pretty much knew Charles Ingram was cheating. I'll let you know when we get there.
- Question 11 for 64,000 pounds: (Starts at 21:53) Even though, to the point of first seeing this game on the 20/20 special in the States, I had never heard of the "Gentlemen vs. Players' match, I pretty much had it correctly as Cricket because, had it been Lawn Tennis, it probably would've had to do with the All-England Lawn Tennis Club at Wimbledon, and I'd have heard of it. And polo... Well, now much of a separation between the "gentlemen" and "players" on that sport...
Whittock with the Particular Cough at 22:34 -- Charles goes on to explain about cigarette cards he had heard of the match from.
So why does he then go into his round-robin sub-strategy 100 seconds later??? Unless he needs another confirming Particular Cough from Whittock (which he gets at 24:17). He then declares and wins 64,000 pounds.
(For the record, all remaining Particular Coughs are from Whittock. Only on the 32,000 pound question was Diana directly involved.)
- Question 12 for 125,000 pounds: (Starts at 25:00)
First impression (AGAIN!), Holbein, Particular Cough at 25:55.
NOTE: This is the fifth question of the night. The three he has needed assistance on without claiming his first guesses are wrong 80% of the time, all Particular Coughs and correct.
A brief aside notes the defense contended the prosecution had unduly raised the volume on Tecwyn's sound track so the jury could hear him more obviously. The fact is, the 20/20 people on ABC when they showed this for the first time actually said that the Tecwyn track had been altered upward so the jury (and 20/20 kept it so the home audience) could more easily pick out the Particular Coughs. So in this, the defense may well have been correct!
The video contends another Particular Cough around 26:40 or so, but that was 12 seconds after Charles had last mentioned Holbein -- not the normal pattern of that or any other question of Whittock's signals.
DEFINITE one at 27:43, though -- declares and wins the 125,000 pounds.
- Question 13 for 250,000 pounds: (Starts at 28:30)
Whittock is not 100% sure that an Anthony Eden is a hat. So he has a sidebar with the contestant in Seat #2. I believe the name was mentioned in the 20/20 thing many years ago, but I forgot the person's name -- and, really, it's not important except for two things:
1) Each contestant has his own sound track which is recorded for security purposes by the production at the Fastest Finger chairs. Whittock and the contestant in Seat #2 had the sidebar very quietly and it could NOT be generally heard, but the personal sound tracks picked it up!
2) Once the other contestant confirmed an Anthony Eden was a hat (and then said "Jesus, I wish I was up there..."), Whittock was finally able to give a Particular Cough after a few seconds of, AGAIN, Charles' first impression (fourth time in six questions!!!) at 29:09.
Over the course of 25 seconds of Charles talking about a hat, he gets THREE Particular Coughs from Whittock.
Declares and wins a quarter of a million pounds.
- Question 14 for 500,000 pounds: (Starts at 30:00)
- And if there's one question you watch all the way through, you make it this one. It is the MAIN Smoking Gun in the entire enterprise, and the crux of the case which eventually doomed the Ingrams and Whittock.
A: Rome
B: Paris
C: Berlin
D: Athens
The old saying goes: "Pride goeth before the fall."
The dunderhead in the Hot Seat forgot his signals and the entire process of his plan on this question, and doomed himself to a fraud conviction as a result.
First impression: Berlin. Nothing,
For only the second time in six questions (not counting the one he did know), Charles gets no confirmation on his first hunch. And then he runs into trouble, because only once so far this night was his first impression wrong (the other Smoking Gun at 32,000!!).
And much like that other Smoking Gun at 32,000 -- though he claims he's not sure, he is WRONG on Berlin!!! And this drop is 218,000 pounds if he declares wrong!
Whittock knows the answer and is waiting for Charles to say it!
At 31:22, Whittock finally has heard enough of this talk of Berlin and decides to literally blow the lot. He gives a cough, but (and you hear this clearly on the boosted audio) CLEARLY whispers "NO!" As I said above, those mikes are no joke in studios like that, and it doesn't take much to register and be heard.
At this point, they can indisputably stop production and toss the Ingrams and Whittock. It's clear to anyone who heard that exchange that a massive cheat is happening here.
Diana is quickly caught looking to her left, in the general direction of Whittock, shortly after.
Charles then decides to round-robin and gets a Particular Cough immediately on Paris at 32:10.
Which causes a pivot!!!
Diana is caught looking to her left a second time, apparently in the general direction of Whittock.
Charles still is thinking Berlin.
AND THEN PIVOTS HARD TO PARIS!!! Confirming cough at 33:15 as the video says he is literally stopped mid-sentence, and declares he's going to play it...
Another confirming Particular Cough at 34:06 (the third on this question, and a "No!", and possibly something else too -- I don't know if they edited it out of this video... But on this question, probably before Whittock shot the lights out with the "No!", he blew his nose. Otherwise innocuous for someone who apparently had a blustery cough in the studio, but prosecutors believe (with experience on the subject) that, since every plan has an All-Stop, meaning "Get the Hell out of there!!!", this was Whittock's!!! Whittock was calling for Charles to walk before he declares Berlin.).
Declares and then pivots and wins the half-million...
The taping is still continuing, by the way. We have not had a commercial break since the 32,000 reveal.
Just before we get to the final question, I need to bring two things to the forefront:
- Remember when I told you that Chris Tarrant finally admitted that there was a point in the game that he was certain he was sitting across from a cheat and a scam? It's right here. At 35:10, as is his obligation, especially at this point, Tarrant gives the game situation to Ingram: He does not have to play the final question, and he has (ostensibly, though by now it's clear the cheat will be exposed and the money forfeited) five hundred thousand British pounds Sterling. A correct answer makes him the third Brit to win the million (which would be done 11 days later!). A wrong answer drops 468,000 pounds (which I do not believe ever happened on the UK version and only happened on the US version on the final contestant of the Tenth Anniversary prime-time specials!). Tarrant noted on the 2020 interview that every contestant to that point (and probably since!) knew the gravity of that drop. Even though it is clear that Charles Ingram is at least play-acting a lot of nerves heading into question 15, it was clear those nerves had NOTHING AT ALL TO DO WITH the 468,000 pound possible loss (he even LAUGHS AT the concept of losing that much money at 36:32!!) -- and it was at THAT POINT he knew Charles was a cheat and a scam.
- I made reference earlier to Whittock's position in Seat #3 of the Fastest Finger circle. In Seat #10, which was behind Tarrant and closest to the camera, was Larry Whitehurst, another qualifier. Whitehurst knew of the scam. He had picked up on the patterns and was certain as to that if he knew the answer to the last question, and so did Whittock, that he could pinpoint to the exact second as to when Whittock would signal the correct answer to Ingram.
- Question 15 for One Million Pounds: (Starts at 35:53) If not the most infamous question in world game show history, it's top three.
A: Googol
B: Megatron
C: Gigabit
D: Nanomole
Being a math major, I know the answer immediately.
More importantly to the story, so did Whittock.
MOST IMPORTANTLY, apparently: So did Whitehurst!! So, as he said in the 20/20 interview, he was waiting for the exact moment Major Charles Ingram would first utter the world "Googol", the correct answer, and then wait for Tecwyn Whittock to cough.
Charles is completely non-plussed by the situation, completely and deliberately unaware that he is one wrong step from dropping 468,000 pounds, probably a decade of salary!
This I did not know until this video: Whittock, AGAIN, is checking with one of his neighboring contestants. This time, I don't know which one. But apparently, at least three of the Fastest Finger circle know the correct answer to this question, while the oaf in the Hot Seat, who has cheated his way to 500,000 pounds SIX TIMES OVER, has absolutely no clue what county he is in right now!
He first mentions Nanomole -- obviously getting nothing from Whittock.
And hence he starts the round-robin. But stops halfway and actually considers walking away.
But if he heard the same thing which was picked up from Whittock on the last question, there's no way he could now, because it no longer matters!
He may claim he had never heard of a "googol", but at 38:10, the Particular Cough from Whittock is finally heard.
Whitehurst says: "Boom. Gotcha!"
While they're talking it up on-stage, Diana is now looking to her right for some reason. Has Whitehurst tried to tip the producers off that something is up?
Another confirming Particular Cough at 38:50.
And at 39:15, an exasperated Tarrant tries to remind Charles he could lose 468,000 pounds and gets laughed at for it! AGAIN!!
By the time Charles gets through all this, he has tied Tarrant, the entire studio, and the entire production in an almost-literal Gordian Knot!!!
Another Particular Cough at 40:33.
Six seconds later, to the shock of everyone, he's going to play.
Tarrant even has to caution Charles not to look around at this point.
41:29, THE FINAL PARTICULAR COUGH, and he declares at 41:36. He immediately pleads them not to break.
For about a trillion different reasons, they're going to break.
---
On-stage: "No discussions please! Tremendous amount of money at stake!!"
Off-stage, it is a literal riot. Taping is STOPPED AGAIN. And, this time, no less than the head of Celador Productions, the production company behind "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" at the time, is contacted to stop the production and have all relevant parties detained and arrested.
Naturally, and correctly, he asks why. And the answer from the producers is the strong suspicion that Charles Ingram has cheated, and that, if he is allowed to get away with it, he has just become the third millionaire on the show.
Unfortunately, the use of the word "suspicion", no matter how strong the suspicion is, is enough to dissuade the head of the company from taking immediate action. Stating, probably correctly, that if the suspicion was incorrect, the show could be seen itself as a fraud, and would go off the air. So the order was given to complete taping and it would be dealt with afterward.
There is a significant stop-down -- and Whitehurst is questioned at the trial with the same question I would've asked him: If he was THAT CERTAIN something had occurred, why did he not go to the producers?
Whitehurst, and I'm sad to say he was wrong here, felt his non-celebration of the victory was a sufficient signal that something was wrong and that the Ingrams were cheats and scam artists.
That is the extent of the intermission, and the denuouement occurs, Charles Ingram is demmed the third millionaire with the final correct answer of googol.
-----------------------------------
If you've gotten this far, thank you. I have a little bit more of the story and then some questions (the latter of which will probably never be truly answered).
The first thing that happens is something the sound engineer was calling for back at 8,000 pounds. Concealed as a "security measure for all high winners", Charles Ingram is completely searched for pagers or any other signalling devices which might've aided him. None are found.
The next thing is something which is used against the Ingrams' at trial. A short time after the search, Charles and Diana Ingram are alone in a Green Room at the studio, and are heard screaming so loudly that it is clear to everyone a large-scale FIGHT has broken out.
Why?
Because it's clear that even Diana knows they've been found out because they went too far. (Which see the time the camera actually caught Diana looking to the RIGHT -- either at Whitehurst, who knew of the fraud, or the production staff!!!)
There was some speculation, at the trial, that had Charles stopped as late as 125,000 pounds, they probably get away with that!
One of the great nuances of the UK Millionaire is the checks given to the contestants on camera are REAL and CASHABLE. So it did not take long for the production to contact the Ingrams and state openly that there was "irregularities" being investigated and that payment on the check was going to be stopped.
The episodes were scheduled to air on the 15th and 18th of September, 2001 -- they never were.
Eventually, the Ingrams' and Whittock were all arrested.
Unlike the United States, there is no singular law regarding cheating on game shows.
The law on which the Ingrams and Whittock had to be charged with was what is called UK Theft Act 1968. "Procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception"
The fact that the Ingrams were given the actual check that night (and Whittock as well, who won the next Hot Seat space and won 8,000 pounds) was the only real offense they could charge them with. Ingrams were fined 15000 pounds plus costs, Whittock 10000 plus costs.
Later in 2003, the Ingrams were charged with insurance fraud, and that cost Charles his place in the Army.
=========================
OK, if you've made it all the way, congratulations. That's all the "story" part.
Needless to say, I do have a number of questions -- none of which I ever will believe will get an acceptable answer:
- I have to ask the question again that was asked of Whitehurst: It should have been clear to anyone near the production that something was being declared amiss. In fact, to me, I do have the question of why Whitehurst didn't risk everything at that point and force taping stopped and declare the man a cheat publicly, especially because he was certain of the fact at the time!!!
- How could taping have gotten that far? You had the incident the first night backstage with the associate/relative and the cell phone. Things were declared somewhat suspicious immediately in night two. You then have to stop tape at 32,000 -- have a clear "No!" at 500,000 -- and then at least one Fastest Finger contestant who should've spoken up by the million, and the best you can tell the production company's head is you have suspicion???
- Is there even a direct law against cheating on a game show in the UK? Apparently, the answer is no. Had the real check not been given that night, chances are... What could you have charged them with?
- To make a point of contrast in closing: My understanding of the laws in the USA would've stopped all production on that show at 32,000 pounds. Under 47 USC 509, a "reasonable belief" is sufficient to stop all production, and to require all production be stopped.
- And then, to me, a blunt question which I believe is obvious and never has been asked of any of the Ingrams, but I believe damn well should be: What the Hell did you need that money for?
There was a reason they wanted and damn well probably felt they NEEDED that kind of money, especially given the insurance fraud in 2003.
Ingram was convicted of assaulting a 13 year-old boy who was taunting him in 2006.
As for the Ingrams today: They are still locked in court proceedings attempting to appeal and win their million pounds. Diana is a jewelry maker and sales-woman. Charles apparently assists his wife.
Both felt Quiz did a very good job in representing them.
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