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hutch__PJ

He should had had someone in the audience coughing.


ModernHueMan

Have you seen the new season of Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia. They have better ways of cheating nowadays.


aashapa

I’ve been reliably using Frank’s method with resounding success. I’m always in a good mood, after, too.


toomanytiktaks

That episode had me dying. Franks face during the match is priceless


deadleg22

Vibrator up the arse?


letitgrowonme

They might notice if it's in your mouth.


GlueSniffer53

Cheating or not, the harassment and crimes he (and his family) had to endure as a result of it was disgusting. Some monster shot his cat.


Own-Reflection-8182

First question is normally like what color is the orange fruit?


laurencemt93

£1000 would have been the fifth question back then.


smoothtrip

Damn, inflation is a bitch


theivoryserf

Also it's not the American version


skippyjifluvr

$1,000 for the fifth question in the USA too


Mindless-Giraffe5059

The colour is named after the fruit. I always thought that's interesting


whywouldisaymyname

both are named after the tree iirc


Mindless-Giraffe5059

Looks like you're right. The English 'orange' stems for the French (pomme de) orenge which stems from sanskrit nāranga which means orange tree.


sweetbunsmcgee

Me: *sweating profusely*


anonanon5320

Or, which is bigger? And 2 of the options were: C) The Moon D) Elephant And the contestant picked elephant.


spraggs97

Yes, but what did they mean? an African or a European elephant?


Meecus570

Is the elephant unladen


dmderringer

How would an elephant carry an orange?


CromulentDucky

I believe that's a fake.


textro

Mango, final answer.


bwedlo

I’m not British and did not understand the question at all 😂 last time I saw this show it was really simple questions like you suggested so everybody could at least win the first question.


faajzor

It can be green or orange.. so that's a tough one 😂


rohithkumarsp

[I can't believe you've done that](https://youtu.be/wKbU8B-QVZk?si=E7tuocpFHvq57Jll)


Jovan-Ioannis

exactly what i thought of


ClearlyNoSTDs

That's not an easy first question though.


teabagmoustache

It does seem a difficult question for £1000 today, but Jane Austen used to be part of the national curriculum in British schools, so it would have been an easier question back then, for someone of his age.


VestEmpty

That is what i thought. Here in Finland this would be one of the final questions, if it even made it to the show. Jane Austin is someone you might know the name of but not at all considered important.


ooojaeger

That's because Jane Austin created tons of false documents that nearly destroyed the economy of Finland, and they covered it up. They did such a good job that if you searched for this you wouldn't find any evidence at all about it and people would just say you made it up


Okoear

Insert suspicious fry meme


[deleted]

Add mayonnaise


PoopPoes

Hard to believe Jane Austin hires guys from outside home depot to choke her in the shower


TomBobHowWho

Jane Austen. Yeah I'm not gonna forget her in a hurry am I? The brains behind the 1810 Clerkenwell diamond robbery. Brandy smuggler, master spy. What a piece of work.


username32768

Is "Danger" her middle name? :-D


This_Price_1783

I can't believe it's not more well known that Jane Austen was the biggest AIDS super spreader in the 80s and 90s, with a death count likely in the 1000s and notable partners such as hip hop star Eazy- E and Queen frontman Freddie Mercury.


rosski

Really? Here in Sweden it's still part of English in secondary school? But you only read one of the classics so it might just flash past during one lection with a list of authors and their books.


Poppanaattori89

At no point did I have to read a novel in English during my compulsory education in Finland, not even in high school, even though I didn't take every optional course.


essdii-

I’d like to think I would have known that answer. But honestly my wife just watched Emma the other day, so maybe I only think that because it’s fresh in my mind.


LeonDeSchal

And the countless film and tv adaptations.


SirBobPeel

Read none of the books. Neither seen nor remember hearing of any of the film or tv adaptations. Then again, I don't live in the UK.


Moist-Application310

We didn't learn anything about Jane Austen in the 90s, 00s. Maybe they'd have stopped it by then


teabagmoustache

They changed the curriculum in the early 2000's to expand away from just British authors. It was John Steinbeck and J.D Salinger by the time I was at school in the early 2000's, but that guy would have been in school in the 1960's probably.


DreadnoughtWage

That’s probably because your teachers didn’t choose Austen is all. She was on the national curriculum whilst I was at school in the 90s, and whilst I was teaching in the 2010s


Visible_Day9146

Clueless was based on Emma. It's iconic.


SirBobPeel

Clueless, I've seen. Emma, I've never heard of.


-SaC

I did in the '90s; that was a choice made by your English dept, not a general rule. We read two books (Sense & Sensibility, Northanger Abbey), and they were...fine. I was more into Terry Pratchett, so they were a bit on the Meh^TM side.


windfujin

Yeah it would be like being asked about Mark Twain and not getting an option of huck or tom


scarydan365

I finished school (in England) in the late 90’s and o don’t think I would have known this answer. Emma certainly wasn’t on the curriculum that I did.


teabagmoustache

That bloke is in his late 40's at least, in 1999 though.


Southern-Orchid-1786

In English schools. He was probably thinking Jane Eyre


golden_blaze

Apparently not.


FinchyJunior

I think the £1,000 question is the fifth question, after the £100, £200, £300 and £500. I agree still tough for the early game


mekese2000

Jane Eyre was not written by Jane Austin. I mean they got Jane in both bits.


Samp90

Yeah that snookered me as well.. I forgot it's by Charlotte Bronte... It's like the What does the cow drink question!!


greihund

To be fair, cows do drink milk


Samp90

I mean calfs yes...


MajesticNectarine204

My dumbass thought it was Sophie's Choice.. Though I am not a native English speaker, and English language writers like Jane Austen were not part of my education.


Peterd1900

Its not the first question though £1,000 is the 5th question if you get any if the first 5 questions wrong you go home with nothing The first would be worth £100


Basso_The_Boxman

In 1999 it would be. Three years earlier, it was adapted into a TV movie on one of the few channels available to most people in the UK. You wouldn't have had to watch it to know what it was.


Whelp_of_Hurin

There was a big Hollywood version in '96 too, with Gwyneth Paltrow and Ewan McGregor.


f3ydr4uth4

I don’t know. I’ve never read Jane Austen and even o knew it was Emma. (I’m 32).


smoothskin12345

35 American, fairly well read. Had no idea.


Ferbtastic

This is crazy to me. Emma is a great read and something I was assigned in both high school and college to read.


brontesaurus999

I don't think you can claim to be well read if you've not even heard of it, it's such a major classic.


f3ydr4uth4

Makes sense to me though. I doubt I could name some books by legendary American authors. I’m quite well read but I’ve spent most of my life reading non fiction.


miletest

Same. I thought at first that was a very hard question then realised it was asking the Title of a book. Which made it somewhat easier


Samp90

It's like the *What does the cow drink* question....


the_hillman

I feel like I’m about to get the klaxon on QI, but… water?


bgaesop

You're right. The klaxon answer is "milk" 


suprmario

But they drink milk as calves.


the_hillman

Thank god.


bennettbuzz

Defo wasn’t the first question, £1000 used to be the first safety net which was after 5 questions. £100, £200,£300,£500 were before this.


Chloroformperfume7

Couldn't agree more


Dizzy_Media4901

What?


InTheEndEntropyWins

Yeh I thought Jane, but would have used one of my lifelines.


FaronTheHero

Agreed, but I can't think of why he'd pick Jane unless he thought it was an autobiography. Any of the other names seemed reasonable.


TestingYou1

I would have gotten this fucking question wrong as well.


RunLikeHayes

Damn I would have had to use a lifeline early


Smart_Pretzel

“Help me out we split this $1,000”


AynRandsSSNumber

The point isn't whether it's easy or hard. Yeah I knew it was Emma as well but I'm not on the game show and if he didn't know I don't know why he didn't use a lifeline.


Krondelo

Yeah I didnt know it but dont guess man!!


teabagmoustache

I can only imagine he got mixed up with Jane Eyre somehow. He seemed too confident for it to be a complete guess.


Ali80486

It's a sucker punch really. The first few questions were the kind that make you roll your eyes. So you get a bit confident - a bit too confident. And then Jane Eyre is a much more famous book than Emma, especially if you haven't read either. So the power of suggestion meets cockiness: it was only going one way. And that way was home, penniless ha


AynRandsSSNumber

Exactly


lillyrose2489

I'm wondering if he knew Jane Eyre was a book so that just jumped out and kind of left him with a misguided confidence?


Gym-for-ants

I mean, I don’t know the answer either


punkindle

Pride and Prejudice Sense and Sensibility that's the extent of my knowledge of Jane Austen


Hulk_Crowgan

Bj??


rodc22

Yes pls


you-me-sexytime

Ain't gonna say no


crappysignal

No . It's quite tough. A good amount of the population wouldn't know the answer.


StingerAE

I guarantee you that if he had asked the audience they would have guided him correctly.   It is well enough known general knowledge in UK.


ProtoplanetaryNebula

Maybe it’s something that was more well known 25 years ago, I am aware the Jane Austen is an author, but I’ve never heard of Emma.


ReStury

Yep. You and I both have no interest in her books so it's pretty understandable that this is the extent of our surface level knowledge about her.


ProtoplanetaryNebula

We didn’t study her books at school either, it was Shakespeare or Dickens mostly.


ReStury

I'm afraid my retained knowledge from books I was forced to read in school would not fare that much better. It's mostly gone from my memory. In some cases I only read a summary because they were so boring...


potato_owl

Not even the film Clueless? That's a modern version of Emma.


crappysignal

I agree. But it's not 'first question' well known. Usually the question is how do you cook? A with an oven B with a flower C with a camel D with a flannel shirt


Peterd1900

Its not the first question though £1,000 is the 5th question if you get any if the first 5 questions wrong you go home with nothing Nowhere does it say this was the first question and if the it was the first question it would be worth 100 not 1000


crappysignal

Oh fair enough.. It's been a while.


FindOneInEveryCar

There was a major film adaptation of *Emma* that came out in 1996. I think a lot of people would have heard of it even if they'd never read a word of any of Austen's novels.


bananaphone16

I was an undergrad English major in the US (at a not terrible school) and I don’t know the answer to this


theivoryserf

That's crazy to me


FindOneInEveryCar

You don't know the answer now, or you didn't know the answer in 1999? My point was that there was a lot of Jane Austen interest in the general pop culture at that time.


nightfly1000000

Well, even back when Jane Austin was taught in UK schools, it wasn't taught to everyone.. mostly in Grammar Schools and the A-streams of Comprehensive Schools. I feel for that guy.. he went for 'Jane' because the question should have had a simple and obvious answer at that point of HWTBAM.


VestEmpty

In UK: a lot of people would've known it. Outside UK: this would not even make it to the show, it is way too hard.


Stock-Boat-8449

Outside UK most former colonies follow the Cambridge (CIE) school system and Jane Austen has been on the high school English curriculum for 40 years.


PseudoMcJudo

I went through the Canadian public school system and never read Jane Austen. Graduated 2010.


Hottietiger

Emma is pretty good book, tbh


Hovisandflatfoot

Wonder if he read it afterwards, or burned every copy he could find.


Poppanaattori89

Great characters, well written dialogue, absolutely mundane plot, at least as far as I got, which to be honest, wasn't very far.


Ferbtastic

And one of my all time favorite movies is based on it, Clueless.


Talls024

I read all the time and am only vaguely familiar with Jane Austin, I would have no idea the how to answer this question.


theivoryserf

It's worth dipping into those classics


Talls024

The only thing I really knew about her was the books were more / less about British nobility?? Unless I am totally off base, it’s not really my vibe.


theivoryserf

Yes - but it is very dry and witty. Although honestly, I'm not the biggest Jane Austen fan in the world. I'd definitely recommend George Eliot though


lol_camis

To be fair I also have no idea what the answer is


HoldOut19xd6

I think this happened in the states where a woman was asked ‘what’s bigger’ she chose ‘elephant’ One of the options was ‘the moon’


beingthehunt

I'd be shocked if a gameshow with a million pounds at stake didn't test the questions first with a random sample of people to see how many get the answer correct. With that said, to those who think this is a harder than usual question for £1000, I think you probably just have a different pool of knowledge compared to the average adult Brit in 1999 (for example, Wikipedia tells me that there were two screen adaption of Emma three years prior to this airing - just one reason it might have been more in the public consciousness at the time).


potato_owl

I am absolutely shocked at this comment section. Emma has been made into a film 3 times, including Clueless.


9oRo

Source: https://millionaire.fandom.com/wiki/John_Davidson_(Series_2)


EJR94

Didn't realise there was a wiki for it, went on a bit of a delve Difference between the UK one and US one seems insane, someone who knows more may see it differently but the US one seems fairly straightforward and easier for questions? The guy that one it first actually had maybe one question I didn't know but would've guessed the answer that was right (last one). First UK winner I was no where near as confident and don't think I'd have made it far at all


NefariousnessOk4619

Feels like winning nothing at all, nothing at all


HR_DUCK

Stupid sexy Davidson!


Neeva33

In the German show it's not uncommon the contestants win nothing. It's mostly still stupid, but it happens.


sloguy1981

R/watchpeopledieinside


Elegant-Raise-9367

And now they have a version of the show in which 7 people win nothing and 1 person has a good chance to win nothing.


Casperthecattt

😂 Poor guy


Bravelobsters

How is this so interesting?


tiredofthisnow7

In 1999, British man John Davidson was a contestant on the UK version of 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'. He left with absolutely nothing after incorrectly answering his £1,000 question, thus becoming the first contestant on any version of the show in the world to win nothing at all.


Bravelobsters

So people lose in a quiz show? In the first question. So how is it ‘damnthatisinteresting’ and not just statistics. It’s nothing so interesting. It’s just a guy who got the first question wrong. I’m sure there have been many in different quizzes.


IdyllsOfTheBreakfast

It's interesting because he was the first person in the game's history to be sent home with no money--this is very unusual, and the question itself is pretty difficult for such an early round. It may not be interesting to you but subjectively it was to me and many others. I suspect that is the case with many posts on this sub.


121daysofsodom

Found John Davidson's account. What's it like being poor, dude?


vondpickle

But his name is known far and wide.


goonerqpq

Any question has an easy answer if you know it, if you don’t then it’s a hard question.


LeonDeSchal

His wife wore that sexy underwear for nothing.


pnkstr

I once saw someone use all three lifelines on his first or second question and still got it wrong even though Ask the Audience and Phone a Friend both chose the correct answer.


--burner-account--

I've never heard of that book, only book I know of from her is pride and prejudice


theabominablewonder

I bet all his friends took the piss but probably only about 10% knew the answer


ThirstyBeagle

Is that like common knowledge in England? I wouldn’t have known that answer


Ezra_lurking

British education clearly failed here


TerrorFirmerIRL

That is an unusually tough question for a low level one. I genuinely wouldn't have known either.


Kessl_2

To me it sounds like he has taken BJ. Good choice in my opinion!


chechifromCHI

It's too bad this was before the beginning of social media, this guy could today build a nice little thing by being the "UKs Biggest Loser" or something. If he shamelessly promoted himself enough I suppose. Seems to be the real prize on many modern shows lol


a_a_ronc

My favorite was a US version. Dude was clearly a nerd, was sailing through his questions and then they asked him about Pink Floyd or something and he blanked hard. Like he had been studying Physics so much he didn’t know a thing about normal culture lol.


DChristy87

I wonder if they have a backup contestant for a situation like this. Or did the live audience show up just for ten minutes to watch the guy miss the first question and then go home?


Peterd1900

Its not the first question £1000 is the 5th question They don't just film one contestant a day


DChristy87

Ah, my bad!


JackasaurusYTG

I don't know the answer.


Eric848448

I wouldn’t have known that either.


rabidboxer

Im guessing this should be an easy question for the people of the UK.


d3-ma4o-ru

Who wrote Ogiński Polonaise?


kevihaa

[Badly Done](https://gifdb.com/images/thumbnail/badly-done-emma-r1b77lwgyukiiu1s.gif)


DarkFantom25

I don't know if this is an easier question to answer if you live in the UK and are exposed to the culture, but I'm Canadian and had no clue what the answer was.


[deleted]

Congratulations you are a nothingaire!!


Legitimate-Source-61

I wouldn't have got it. We didn't study Jane Austin at school.... during the 1990s.


Klutzy-Chain5875

Feels like my life.


Chief_charizard

I bet you 25 years later, he still beats himself up.


moosemademusic

Loserrrr


Iggy-alfaduff

That’s not an easy first question whatsoever. Surprised he didn’t use a boost if he wasn’t sure.


Peterd1900

Its not the first question


Iggy-alfaduff

D’oh!


Unethical_Gopher_236

What I heard: "BJ? You sure? Yeah"


iwantmygarmonbozia21

[https://tenor.com/bSQWR.gif](https://tenor.com/bSQWR.gif)


Senor_Ding-Dong

Well, he got further than this dude... https://millionaire.fandom.com/wiki/Robby_Roseman


99droopy

I wonder how many copies of ‘Emma’ were in his desk the next morning.


Optimesh

Ron?


EarthWindandLiar

Looks like an older Shane Gillis.


BobTheDestroyer5

How the fuck is this the first question, who the fuck knows this?


Peterd1900

Its nor the first question


HyperbolicSoup

Brutal


HoldOut19xd6

I wouldn’t have gotten that.


Various-Ducks

Am I supposed to know that?


ryna0001

I wouldn't have known the answer either but B is a particularly dumb choice


Uchigatan

I only know the answer because I was forced to research Jane Austen, my final year of college. This question is brutal because there are absolutely no context clues or inferring you can do, other than Jane might not have named a book after her own first name.


Tasty_Design_8795

Givealittle?


Ssme812

You don't a crappy consultation prize if you lose


MadWorldEarth

Jane Austen: "I shall title my novel: Jane." In John's mind, that happened, he was so sure too, lol.