THAT’S TAKING THE MICKEY...

On Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? in 2001, Major Charles Ingram (pictured) answered 15 questions correctly to scoop the jackpot. But his win turned into high courtroom drama when it was claimed he had answered questions with help from a fellow contestant, who coughed to alert him to the right answers.

Ingram, his wife Diana, and the cougher, college lecturer Tecwen Whittock, were all found guilty of ‘procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception’ and given suspended sentences.

Now, it seems, TV companies are permanently on the look-out for potential fraudsters in their midst. ‘It’s so heavily policed since the coughing thing on Millionaire,’ says Nick Knowles. ‘We have microphones pointed at the audience, we have cameras pointed at them. We have a lawyer up in the box to adjudicate on any decisions we make.’

Obviously, it’s the bigmoney shows that are more susceptible, but a dim view is taken of those who try to cheat in any shape or form.

John Humphrys says, ‘I don’t think we’ve had any cheats as such on Mastermind but we do get the odd person who answers “Mickey Mouse” to avoid passing on a question [because when contestants finish with the same score, the one with fewest passes wins], which is mildly annoying. We disapprove of that but can’t really do anything about it because the contestant can always claim they really had thought the answer to the question was Mickey Mouse.’