Since Who Wants to be a Millionaire first aired in the United Kingdom in 1998, over 500 people have won the top prize of 1 million pounds. The first million-pound winner, Judith Keppel, was the first British contestant to take home the grand prize in November 2000.
Since then, several others have won the top prize, including five more in the UK – David Edwards, Robert Brydges, Pat Gibson, Mark Murphy, and Ingram Wilcox.
In the US, seven people have taken home the 1 million dollar prize since the show’s launch in 1999. These lucky winners include Kevin Olmstead, David Goodman, Dan Blonksy, John Carpenter, Ed Toutant, David Daneshgar, and Kevin Smith.
International versions of the show have experienced similar success – a total of 18 people have won the grand prize on various international editions of the show.
Altogether, more than 500 people have now taken home the 1 million pound or 1 million dollar prize on Who Wants to be a Millionaire.
Has the ITV million pound competition been won?
No, the ITV Million Pound competition has not been won yet. It was launched in 2014 and is an ongoing competition where viewers must answer questions correctly to win a £1,000,000 cash prize. Contestants have to be over 18 and have ITV viewers to watch the competition and can either enter by post or via the official website.
The competition takes place on ITV twice a week, with 8 questions in each show to win the prize. Viewers can either choose to enter alongside with a friend or alone. They start with 8 questions and the person who answers all 8 correctly, moves on to the final round for a chance to win the cash prize.
The questions are varied, enquiring about history, literature, current events and popular culture.
Since its launch, the ITV Million Pound competition has not been won yet, with close calls and numerous competitors coming close to the prize. To date, the highest prize awarded on the show has been £100,000 to a contestant in 2017.
Who won the million ITV competition?
The current million pound competition on ITV is the ‘ITV Million Pound Cube’, and the latest winner was rapper Dave. Dave is an English rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer from Streatham, London.
Born as Dave Santan in 1990, he is one half of the hip-hop duo, Rizzle Kicks, alongside Jordan Stephens.
In December 2020, Dave took to the ITV show claiming the title of ‘Million Pound Cube’ winner, beating fellow celebrity contestants Ola Jordan and Angela Scanlon. Through a series of tasks and challenges, Dave snapped up a cool £1 million after gambling with the bank’s money in a special edition of The Cube.
During the show, Dave attempted a variety of adventures on the cube; with some nail-biting and some epic wins. With the pressure of the million pound prize, the performance was truly impressive and he managed to carry off the win after draining the Cube of its money.
Has a rich person ever won the lottery?
Yes, there have been many instances of wealthy individuals winning the lottery. Of course, how wealthy someone is depends on how you define “rich,” but there have been several notable wins from people of considerable means.
For example, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen won $12 million in 1992. Even though he was quite wealthy, he still decided to take a lump sum payment to reduce his taxes rather than having the money paid out in annuities.
In March 2010, a Twitter executive also won a $66 million Mega Million jackpot. His net worth was estimated to be over $100 million at the time. Other examples include a Florida doctor who won a $25 million grand prize, an oil executive from Texas who won $17 million and a hospital administrator from California who won $77 million.
So, the answer to the question is yes – wealthy individuals have certainly had their luck just like anyone else.
Has anyone won a billion dollars in the lottery?
No, no one has ever won a billion dollars in the lottery. However, there have been numerous lottery jackpots in excess of that amount, including the record-breaking US Powerball jackpot of $1,586,400,000 which was won in January 2016.
The cash lump sum of this, after taxes, was $983,516,855. 59 which was split between three winning tickets.
In the US, the highest recorded lottery win to date was $1. 537 billion, drawn in October 2018, followed by $768. 4 million from a March 2019 Mega Millions draw. Other notable lotto wins include a $590.
5 million Powerball payout in May 2013, a $656 million Mega Millions draw in March 2012 and a $648 million Mega Millions draw in December 2013.
In Europe, the highest jackpot ever won was from a EuroMillions draw in October 2018. This was worth €190 million and was shared between two winners.
Lottery organizations make it clear that although these wins are huge, they are still extremely rare. Your chances of winning a billion dollar jackpot vary depending on the game, but the odds of winning even the smallest prize vary between 1 in 25 and 1 in over 60 million.