Red or Black? contestant scoops 1.5 million prize

Red or Black? contestant scoops 1.5 million prize
Red or Black? contestant scoops 1.5 million prize (Image credit: PA Archive/Press Association Images)

A contestant on Red or Black? has won the biggest prize in TV history, scooping a massive 1.5 million pounds on the game show. According to The Daily Mail, the winner, who is known only as Graham, beat seven other contestants to the cash prize in a string of challenges. Despite his big win, the carpenter from Berkshire cannot claim his jackpot until August when the pre-recorded ITV1 series is screened. The TV show, hosted by duo Ant and Dec, has a slightly different set up this year. The second series of the game show will be made up of seven episodes, with a weekly prize of 500,000 pounds instead of themillion that was up for grabs last year. But the prize will accumulate if unclaimed the previous week. Graham’s prize was a triple rollover from the previous two episodes, hence the huge cash prize. The previous record TV jackpot was one million, set by Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? winner Judith Keppel. An ITV spokesman couldn’t reveal further details on Graham’s win, saying: "We’re unable to confirm details from the recording.’" However, according to The Daily Mail an insider of the show said: "This is a momentous day in TV history."

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.