Celebrity chef Fred Sirieix enjoyed a rare blunder when he appeared on the celebrity edition of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? last night (2 February).
Sirieix, also known for his role on the reality series First Dates, was competing on the popular ITV quiz show, hosted by Jeremy Clarkson.
However, in a first for the show, Sirieix came a cropper on the very first question, usually considered an easy formality for contestants.
He was asked: ”Which of these is a method for staying afloat in a swimming pool?” with four possible answers: treading water, drinking water, boiling water, or passing water.
Thanks to the language barrier, Sirieix struggled to select the correct answer – though correctly deduced that “boiling water” and “drinking water” were incorrect.
He initially used one of his lifelines – “50/50” – which eliminated two incorrect answers from the list. Unluckily for him, these were the two answers he had just ruled out.
It was at this point that Clarkson took pity on him, nudging him towards the correct answer without the need to expend another lifeline.
“You know what, I'm going to put you out of my misery,” he said.
“’Treading water’ is that, as you rightly say,” he explained, mimicking a paddling motion with his legs. “Oh look over there... ‘passing water’.”
The correct answer was worth just £100; Sirieix went on to win £64,000 for his chosen charity.
Following the episode’s airing, Clarkson was asked about the moment on X/Twitter, with some people suggesting he had broken the rules.
“Is that allowed @Jeremy Clarkson is giving away the answer on #Millionaire,” one person asked.
“Not really,” Clarkson replied. “But it was for charity and it was low down the ladder.”
This weekend, Clarkson also addressed his recent health issues in a feature published in The Sunday Times.
The controversial Clarkson’s Farm personality underwent emergency heart surgery in November, and has subsequently sought to make lifestyle changes.
“I have decided that [having grandchildren] is so wonderful that I want it to go on for as long as is humanly possible,” he wrote. "Which means I must do everything in my power to not die.
Clarkson claimed that he had, until now, “relied on luck to keep me alive. But I’m in sniper’s alley right now and I have to work at dodging the bullets," he added.
