Who Wants to be a Millionaire? contestant ‘cheats’ with celebrity phone-a-friend

Quiz show contestant had the perfect person lined up for one his lifelines

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? viewers have joked that a contestant “cheated” after using the perfect celebrity “phone-a-friend”.

The latest episode of the ITV game show, which has been hosted by the Grand Tour host Jeremy Clarkson since 2018, was broadcast on Sunday (4 February), with contestant Adrian sitting in the quizzing seat.

Proving himself to be something of a general knowledge expert, Adrian sailed through the episode with ease, but hit a stumbling block with the £64,000 question.

(ITV)

Clarkson, whose Prime Video series Clarkson’s Farm will soon return, asked Adrian: “In the natural world, the term ‘nidification’ refers specifically to the building of what?” and offered him the following four answers: webs, dams, reefs or nests.

Adrian had no idea and asked to use one of his lifelines, opting for “phone-a-friend”. Clarkson, knowing Adrian was in need of a nature expert, quipped: “David Attenborough?” but had no idea that Adrian was, in fact, calling a TV star.

“Sadly not, no,” Adrian said, adding: “Nearly as good, can I call Kevin please?”

It was here that Adrian revealed his friend was Kevin – one of the Eggheads featured on the Channel 5 quiz show of the same name.

As expected, Kevin knew the answer and Adrian won £64,000 before answering two more questions correctly and walking away with £125,000.

Viewers were left entertained by Adrian’s phone-a-friend, with one calling him the “best choice ever.

Others questioned whether using one of the country’s most knowledgeable quizzers could be considered “cheating”.

The face of a man who knows he has the ‘best phone-a-friend ever’ (ITV)

“Watching Who wants to be a Millionaire and the guy rings Kevin off Eggheads as his phone a friend?? Surely that’s cheating or I need more knowledgeable friends,” one viewer quipped, with another stating: “This guy on Who Wants to be a Millionaire has Kevin off of Eggheads as his Phone A Friend. Cheat code completed.”

It was revealed in 2023 that the latest series of the rebooted game show, which was previously hosted by Chris Tarrant, would be the last. The news was announced by ITV after a backlash to Clarkson’s words on Meghan Markle, in which he said he hated the Duchess of Sussex on a “cellular level”.

However, Clarkson claimed he had not been fired from the show.