A Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? contestant walked away with £64,000 tonight – having used ALL FOUR of his lifelines on a Spice Girls question.
Paul Curievici got off to a flying start on the latest episode of the ITV gameshow, netting £32,000 without breaking a sweat.
His downfall came after it was revealed that the £64,000 question concerned one of his sticking points – pop music.
Jeremy asked him: “What was the title of the second UK number one single by the Spice Girls?”
“It would be an understatement to say that this is not my specialist subject,” he replied.
Paul immediately used his ‘Ask the Audience’ lifeline, with the majority, 54%, backing ‘2 Become 1’.
He still wasn’t comfortable, joking: “Literally my Spice Girls knowledge ends with the fact that they exist!”
The opera singer then played his 50:50 – and it’s just as well, as the audience were wrong, with ‘Viva Forever’ and ‘Say You’ll Be There’ left as the remaining options.
Explaining his thoughts, Paul said: “I think I faintly remember that one of these two songs was their last song. Viva Forever sounds like a farewell song.
“But Say You’ll Be There… I can’t remember if that was an important song either.”
Failing to reach a conclusion, he used Phone-a-Friend to call his director pal Chris – who was also clueless, laughing: “I was more of a Steps fan!”
Describing the six-figure prize as “too much money to throw away on a guess”, Paul then decided he might as well use his final lifeline – therefore losing all four on a single question.
Unfortunately, that lifeline was Ask The Host, and Jeremy immediately said: “I’m extremely proud to say I don’t know.”
“If there are any Spice Girls watching, I’m so sorry,” remarked Paul.
“I’m not, your songs were drab! Compared to the Doobie Brothers, you were rubbish!” smirked Jeremy.
Despite still not being sure, Paul stuck with his hunch, submitting ‘Say You’ll Be There’ as his final answer – and to his relief, it was correct.
The £125,000 question then proved too much for him, and he walked away with his £64,000.
Jeremy congratulated him, adding: “You’re gonna hate the Spice Girls for the rest of time!”
Earlier this week, Jeremy asked Millionaire’s first £1million question in over a decade.
Contestant John Robinson chose not to play, but did take home £500,000 – the show’s biggest win since it was revived last year.
Millionaire continues tomorrow and Friday at 9.00pm on ITV.
