Biggest Amounts of Money Ever Lost

Here’s the big amounts of money ever lost on any version of the show. Here’s the top 10 for each country.

United Kingdom

 * 1) Duncan Bickley (lost £218,000) - 21st October 2000
 * 2) Rob Mitchell (lost £218,000) - 1st November 2003
 * 3) Eleanor Ayres (lost £125,000) - 1st January 2019
 * 4) Jim Titmuss (lost £93,000) - 5th April 2000
 * 5) John Brandon (lost £93,000) - 23rd December 2000
 * 6) Sheila McHale (lost £93,000) - 8th February 2001
 * 7) Robert Brydges & Judith Chalmers (lost £93,000) - 9th September 2003
 * 8) Ken Owen (lost £93,000) - 26th February 2005
 * 9) Jerry Walder (lost £93,000) - 4th March 2006
 * 10) Russell Grant & Sheila Ferguson (lost £93,000) - 22nd April 2006
 * Oli Blake tied the last 7 of the top 10 when he also lost £93,000 on 6th January 2019.
 * Laurence and Jackie Llewellyn Bowen originally lost £468,000, but that was due to a bad question, so they were asked another question and they took the money, so it was not included in the top 10.

The Netherlands

 * 1) Menno de Ruijter (lost €235,000) - 20th December 2003

Australia

 * 1) Barry Soraghan (lost $249,000) - 8th June 2009
 * 2) Jeff Tarr (lost $249,000) - 28th September 2009
 * 3) Paul Wolfenden (lost $249,000) - 14th June 2010
 * 4) Jim Graham (lost $249,000) - 20th June 2011
 * 5) Alan Edwards (lost $249,000) - 16th April 2012
 * 6) Kevin Short (lost $249,000) - 13th May 2013
 * 7) Craig Anderson (lost $249,000) - 1st October 2018
 * 8) Red Symons (lost $218,000) - 17th July 2000
 * 9) Mickey Pragnell (lost $218,000) - 2004
 * 10) the contestant before Oliver Pennington (lost $100,000) - 27th July 2009
 * Martin, Philip Dowling, Siobhan O'Dayer, Julie Brennan, and Ramon Watkins tied the last of the top 10 when they also lost $100,000 on 2009, 12th August 2009, 2009-2010, 21st October 2016, and 23rd January 2017 respectively.

United States

 * 1) Ken Basin (lost $475,000) - August 23, 2009
 * 2) Ava Johnson (lost $225,000) - December 2, 2004
 * 3) Chris Ngoon (lost $225,000) - October 30, 2013
 * 4) Justin Peters (lost $225,000) - February 3, 2015
 * 5) Mark McDermott (lost $218,000) - January 13, 2000
 * 6) Lawrence Caplan (lost $218,000) - January 15, 2000
 * 7) Rudy Reber (lost $218,000) - February 24, 2000
 * 8) Richard Klimkiewicz (lost $218,000) - March 2, 2000
 * 9) David Duchovny (lost $218,000) - May 5, 2000
 * 10) Kati Knudsen (lost $218,000) - July 30, 2000
 * Nick Meyer, Raymelle Greening, Bob Edgeworth, and Rod Martin tied the last 6 of the top 10 when they also lost $218,000 on August 17, 2000, January 28, 2001, October 25, 2002, and June 16, 2003 respectively.

Germany

 * 1) Monika Kanter (lost DM 218,000) - 16th October 2000
 * 2) Harald Schmidt (lost DM 218,000) - 30th November 2000
 * 3) François Pütz (lost €124,500) - 7th November 2008
 * 4) Judith Williams (lost €124,500) - 22nd November 2018
 * 5) Lutz Gerling (lost €124,000) - 28th May 2018
 * 6) Stefan Bodwing (lost €109,000) - 2002
 * 7) Götz Seiz (lost €109,000) - September 2002
 * 8) Maria Furtwängler (lost €109,000) - 23rd November 2006

Poland

 * 1) Filip Łapiński (lost 468,000 zł) - 2nd June 2002
 * 2) Leszek Musiał (lost 218,000 zł) - 29th December 2000
 * 3) Andrzej Bibel (lost 218,000 zł) - 30th September 2001
 * 4) Renata Dancewicz and Paweł Wilczak (lost 218,000 zł) - 24th December 2001
 * 5) Waldemar Myszkiewicz (lost 218,000 zł) - 5th January 2002
 * 6) Krzysztof Paliński (lost 218,000 zł) - 3rd March 2002
 * 7) Ziemowit Stefański (lost 218,000 zł) - 2nd June 2002
 * 8) Sławomir Kucharczyk (lost 210,000 zł) - 6th April 2008
 * 9) Lidia Wołk-Karaczewska (lost 210,000 zł) - 14th March 2009
 * 10) Dorota Śliwak (lost 210,000 zł) - 19th September 2010
 * Joanna Stroczkowska, Wojciech Zaręba, Wojciech Czubak, and Aleksandra Burdka tied the last 3 of the top 10 when they also lost 210,000 zł on 22nd February 2017, 27th September 2017, 19th February 2018, and 4th April 2018 respectively.

Denmark

 * 1) Lasse Rimmer and Jacob Wilson (lost Kr 450,000) - 12th May 2012
 * 2) Jesper Steinmetz and Rasmus Tantholdt (lost Kr 450,000) - 5th November 2012
 * 3) Nikolaj Hübbe and Alexander Kølpin (lost Kr 450,000) - 17th March 2014
 * 4) Steen and Morten Ankerdal (lost Kr 200,000) - 10th November 2008
 * 5) Susse Wold and Christian Mørk (lost Kr 200,000) - 4th October 2010
 * 6) Lars Christiansen and Lars Jørgensen (lost Kr 200,000) - 3rd January 2011
 * 7) Mette Frederiksen and Søren Pind (lost Kr 200,000) - 5th September 2011
 * 8) Brian Lykke and Troels Malling (lost Kr 200,000) - 2nd April 2012
 * 9) Joachim Boldsen and Joakim Ingversen (lost Kr 200,000) - 10th September 2012
 * 10) Katrine Hertz Mortensen and Mikkel Kryger (lost Kr 200,000) - 4th August 2014
 * Lisbeth Østergaard and Per Christiansen and Hella Joof and Nikolaj Koppel tied the last 7 of the top 10 when they also lost Kr 200,000 on 18th August 2014 and 10th May 2015 respectively.

Russia

 * 1) Viktor Verzhbitsky and Andrey Burkovsky (lost 1,300,000 rubles) - 27th May 2017
 * 2) Keti Topuria and Vladimir Miklosich (lost 1,300,000 rubles) - 17th February 2018
 * 3) Alexander Druz and Viktor Sidnev (lost 1,300,000 rubles; 200,000 rubles stripped) - 22nd December 2018
 * 4) Dušan Perović and Yekaterina Andreyeva (lost 1,100,000 rubles) - 1st April 2017
 * 5) Viktor Vasilyev and Gavriil Gordeyev (lost 1,100,000 rubles) - 11th November 2017
 * 6) Ivan Okhlobystin (lost 800,000 rubles) - 22nd January 2011
 * 7) Filipp Kirkorov and Mariya Rasputina (lost 700,000 rubles) - 21st May 2006
 * 8) Vladimir Yefremov (lost 700,000 rubles) - 30th April 2011
 * 9) Anatoly Wasserman (lost 700,000 rubles) - 24th December 2011
 * 10) Nikita Vysotsky and Maxim Leonidov (lost 700,000 rubles) - 27th January 2013
 * Yelena Repina (4th May 2013), Lyudmila Senchina and Alexander Zhurbin (16th November 2013), and Timur Solovyov and Svetlana Zeynalova (14th June 2014) tied the last 4 of the top 10 when they also lost 700,000 rubles.

Greece

 * 1) Michalis Mavrogenis (lost ₯22.000.000) - 30th January 2001
 * 2) ? (lost ₯4.000.000) - 1999

Finland

 * 1) Riku Rantala and Mariieveronica (lost €20,000) - 10th February 2018

Norway

 * 1) Per Eivind (lost KR 900,000) - 2nd March 2001
 * 2) Per Klaveness (lost KR 190,000) - 2010-2011

Turkey

 * 1) Şeyma Özin (lost 235,000 TL) - 1st June 2013
 * 2) Mustafa Kesal (lost 110,000 TL) - 26th May 2013
 * 3) Abdullah Tüten (lost 110,000 TL) - 25th December 2013
 * 4) Ali Şen (lost 110,000 TL) - 31st December 2013
 * 5) Mustafa Acıöz (lost 110,000 TL) - 19th February 2014
 * 6) Gökhan Önem (lost 110,000 TL) - 10th May 2014
 * 7) Betül Uysal (lost 110,000 TL) - 20th September 2014
 * 8) Emre Toraman (lost 110,000 TL) - 9th April 2017
 * 9) Hüseyin Umut Serin (lost 110,000 TL) - 6th May 2018
 * 10) Merih Can Şamlı (lost 45,000 TL) - 23rd July 2012
 * There so many contestants who also lost 45,000 TL.

Japan

 * 1) Ayako Nishikawa (lost ¥15,000,000) - 23rd December 2007
 * 2) Ryūji Miyamoto (lost ¥7,500,000) - 27th March 2008
 * 3) LaSalle Ishii (lost ¥6,500,000) - 12th October 2000
 * 4) Kuniko Asagi (lost ¥6,500,000) - 5th April 2001
 * 5) Kyoko Toyoshima (lost ¥6,500,000) - 2nd August 2001
 * 6) Tatsumi Takuro (lost ¥6,500,000) - 18th October 2001
 * 7) Yasuhito Sema (lost ¥6,500,000) - 8th November 2001
 * 8) Yōko Mashita (lost ¥6,500,000) - 15th November 2001
 * 9) Masaki Numuta (lost ¥6,500,000) - 22nd November 2001
 * 10) Ken Watanabe (lost ¥6,500,000) - 2nd May 2002
 * There are 49 other contestants who also lost ¥6,500,000.

Hong Kong

 * 1) Ling Wing Kuen and Ling Shuk Ling (lost HK$440,000) - 9th November 2001
 * 2) Paul Yip (lost HK$190,000) - 24th July 2001
 * 3) Choi Hon Ping and Choi Man Chung (lost HK$90,000) - 30th May 2018

Argentina

 * 1) Yanina Amanda Azar (lost $320.000) - 19th April 2019
 * 2) José María Bordone (lost $320.000) - 2nd May 2019
 * 3) Juan Carlos Romero (lost $120.000) - 10th April 2019
 * 4) Jessica Wasilevich (lost $120.000) - 15th April 2019
 * 5) Elisa Rosa Maria Delgado (lost $120.000) - 16th April 2019
 * 6) Claudio Valdata (lost $120.000) - 17th April 2019
 * 7) Alejandro Damián López (lost $120.000) - 26th April 2019
 * 8) Lis Caldas (lost $120.000) - 29th April 2019
 * 9) Maria Victoria Gettor (lost $120.000) - 17th May 2019
 * 10) Federico Langone (lost $120.000) - 23rd May 2019
 * Fabio Amestoy (31st May 2019), Magdalena Ricca (3rd June 2019), Bettina Sack (12th June 2019), José María Mondino (19th June 2019) also lost $120.000.

Italy

 * 1) Marco Sacconaghi (lost €134,000) - 22nd January 2007
 * 2) Daria Ciotti (lost €80,000) - 21st December 2010

India (Hindi)

 * 1) Prashant Batar (lost Rs. 9,680,000) - 9th November 2010
 * 2) Ganesh Shinde (lost Rs. 4,680,000) - March 2001
 * 3) Kamlesh Dang (lost Rs. 2,340,000) - 3rd October 2011
 * 4) Indrajeet Singh (lost Rs. 2,340,000) - 4th October 2011
 * 5) Rajesh Kumar (lost Rs. 2,180,000) - 24th November 2010
 * 6) Deepak Agrawal (lost Rs. 2,180,000) - 3rd November 2012
 * 7) Piyush Ratilal Jethva (lost Rs. 2,180,000) - 3rd November 2014
 * 8) Y.R.K. Dubey (lost Rs. 1,860,000) - 4th November 2005
 * 9) Gangadhar Joshi (lost Rs. 1,860,000) - 27th November 2005
 * 10) Shashikant Suman (lost Rs. 1,860,000) - 10th December 2005
 * Arvind Mishra (12th March 2007) and Pradeep Rana (18th April 2007) also lost Rs. 1,860,000.

France

 * 1) Lambert Wilson and Nolwenn Leroy (lost 102 000 €) - 18th May 2008

Venezuela

 * 1) Yara Ramírez (lost 22 000 000 Bs) - 2000-2007
 * 2) Francisco Rojas (lost 120 000 Bs.) - 15th May 2016
 * 3) Unknown Player (lost 50 000 Bs.F) - 2012
 * 4) Lourdes Ramírez (lost 25 000 Bs. F) - 2000-2009
 * 5) Unknown Player (lost 25 000 Bs.F) - October 2008
 * 6) Unknown Player (lost 25 000 Bs.F) - 2008

Canada

 * 1) Shannon Sullivan (lost $7,000)
 * 2) Andrew Heaman (lost $7,000)
 * 3) Bill Shizas (lost $3,000)

Czech Republic

 * 1) Rudolf Šmíd (lost 930,000 Kč) - 29th March 2002
 * 2) Michael Nowottny (lost 930,000 Kč) - 13th October 2003
 * 3) Stanislav Svoboda (lost 320,000 Kč) - 18th November 2000
 * 4) Josef Bartoníček (lost 320,000 Kč) - 15th December 2000
 * 5) Jiří Martinec (lost 320,000 Kč) - 9th January 2001
 * 6) Ladislav Lhotský (lost 320,000 Kč) - 13th February 2001
 * 7) Oldřich Kada (lost 320,000 Kč) - 20th February 2001
 * 8) Táňa Pártlová (lost 320,000 Kč) - 25th May 2001
 * 9) Pavel Konečný (2) (lost 320,000 Kč) - 27th July 2001
 * 10) Roman Hájek (lost 320,000 Kč) - 4th September 2001
 * Jan Čižmárik (30th October 2001), Věra Baumová (4th January 2002), Martin Balcar (8th February 2002), Jiří Kozák (18th April 2003), Jakub Plášek (13th June 2003), Petr Kaše (1st July 2003), Ivan Růžička (24th October 2003), Vojtěch Gajda (24th February 2004), Ivan Knorr (23rd March 2004), Miloš Dražan (25th May 2004), and Petra Šandová (4th May 2016) also lost 320,000 Kč.
 * Karel Lupoměský (12th December 2000) initially lost 320,000 Kč, but that was due to a bad question, so he won Kč 1,250,000 instead. So, this was not included in the top 10.

Ireland

 * 1) Sinéad O'Connor and Daniel O'Donnell (lost £32,000) - December 2000
 * Shane O'Doherty (17th June 2001) initially lost £93,000, but that was due to a bad question, so he was asked another question, but took £125,000. So, this was not included in the top 10.

Philippines

 * 1) Kyle Andaya (lost ₱850,000) - 23rd August 2015
 * 2) Jude Galford (lost ₱580,000) - 16th August 2015
 * 3) Unknown 2 Child Contestants (lost ₱450,000) - 2011

Bulgaria

 * 1) Dilyan Pavlov (lost 95,000 leva) - 29th February 2008
 * 2) Yavor Kostov (lost 47,000 leva) - 28th June 2005
 * 3) Boyko Borisov and Bozhidar Dimitrov (lost 30,000 leva) - 11th May 2009
 * 4) Kalin Evtimov (lost 22,500 leva) - 10th December 2001
 * 5) Katsi Vaptsarov and Dimitar Kovachev (lost 12,000 leva) - 16th April 2013

Croatia

 * 1) Krešo Lilić (lost 468.000 Kn; 32.000 Kn stripped) - 8th May 2003
 * 2) Filip Primorac (lost 468.000 Kn) - 20th January 2005

Vietnam

 * 1) Unknown Player (lost ₫35,000,000) - 2007
 * 2) Lê Minh Khánh (lost ₫20,000,000) - 19th June 2007
 * 3) Unknown Pair of Players (lost ₫20,000,000) - 14th February 2012
 * 4) Đỗ Hoàng Minh Khôi - (lost ₫18,000,000) - 19th April 2016
 * 5) Lê Thị Thanh Huyền - (lost ₫18,000,000) - 2nd January 2018
 * 6) Cao Bá Cường - (lost ₫18,000,000) - 8th May 2018
 * 7) Nguyễn Hữu Lợi - (lost ₫18,000,000) - 25th September 2018
 * 8) Đặng Thị Thùy Mai - (lost ₫10,000,000) - 22nd July 2008
 * 9) Lưu Thanh Sơn - (lost ₫10,000,000) - 24th August 2010
 * 10) Phạm Quang Hòa - (lost ₫10,000,000) - 19th July 2011

Sweden (2)

 * 1) Lars Nemeth (lost 490 000 SEK) - 17th May 2019
 * 2) Olle Dahllöf (lost 215 000 SEK) - 24th August 2018

New Zealand

 * 1) Lily Carson (lost $15,000) - 14th October 2008
 * 2) Jerry Ryan (lost $15,000) - 14th October 2008
 * 3) Stephanie Cox (lost $15,000) - 4th November 2008
 * 4) Mark Dickenson (lost $15,000) - 11th November 2008
 * 5) David Golder (lost $3,000) - 21st October 2008
 * 6) Carla Munro (lost $1,000) - 23rd December 2008
 * 7) Bridget Jenkinson (lost $1,000) - 28th October 2008
 * 8) Paul Fieldy (lost $1,000) - 28th October 2008
 * 9) Ben Jamieson (lost $500) - 4th November 2008
 * 10) Courtney Washington (lost $300) - 9th September 2008

Costa Rica

 * 1) Orlando Morales (lost ₡22 000 000) - 1st June 2010
 * 2) Maarten Kappelle (lost ₡4 500 000) - 15th June 2010

Panama

 * 1) Zito Barés (lost $17,000) - 6th May 2010

Ghana

 * 1) Mawuii (lost GH₵10 500) - 11th October 2009

India (Bengali)

 * 1) Pranab Kumar (lost Rs. 320,000) - 27th July 2018
 * 2) Chitralekha Mondal (lost Rs. 320,000) - 1st August 2018
 * 3) Pankaj Goon (lost Rs. 320,000) - 27th August 2018
 * 4) Sagarika Ghosh (lost Rs. 150,000) - 9th August 2018
 * 5) Prasanta Chakraborty (lost Rs. 70,000) - 2011
 * 6) Dipendu Ghosh (lost Rs. 70,000) - 18th July 2018
 * 7) Santu Jana (lost Rs. 30,000) - 16th August 2018
 * 8) Ashim Kumar Jana (lost Rs. 10,000) - 18th July 2018
 * 9) Sajal Das (lost Rs. 10,000) - 29th August 2018

India (Kannada)

 * 1) Somashekar (lost Rs. 930,000) - 21st August 2018
 * 2) Prashantha (lost Rs. 930,000) - 23rd August 2018
 * 3) Yashodamma (lost Rs. 320,000) - 26th July 2018
 * 4) Madhu (lost Rs. 320,000) - 24th August 2018
 * 5) Phalitha (lost Rs. 320,000) - 28th August 2018
 * 6) Rakshith (lost Rs. 150,000) - 14th August 2018
 * 7) Gagana (lost Rs. 150,000) - 1st August 2018
 * 8) Saroja (lost Rs. 150,000) - 3rd September 2018
 * 9) Shamanth (lost Rs. 150,000) - 11th September 2018
 * 10) Kumara (lost Rs. 150,000) - 17th September 2018
 * Chaitra (21st September 2018) and Karthik Jayaram (4th August 2019) also lost Rs. 150,000.

India (Malayalam)

 * 1) Ajina Biju (lost Rs. 2,180,000) - 21st March 2017
 * 2) Ashwin and Anuvindha (lost Rs. 320,000) - 19th June 2017
 * 3) Jeevan and Neha (lost Rs. 320,000) - 20th June 2017
 * 4) Maya Krishnakumar (lost Rs. 150,000) - 5th January 2015
 * 5) Nickle Sasidharan (lost Rs. 150,000) - 11th February 2015
 * 6) Sandhya (lost Rs. 150,000) - 17th February 2015
 * 7) Smitha and Rajeev (lost Rs. 150,000) - 26th March 2015
 * 8) Ganesh Rajasekharan (lost Rs. 150,000) - 21st April 2015
 * 9) Sreeshma M K (lost Rs. 70,000) - 29th December 2014
 * 10) Linu Susan Thomas (lost Rs. 70,000) - 15th January 2015
 * Sithara (2nd February 2015), Shabna (3rd February 2015), Sumith and Gayathri (23rd March 2015), Roopesh Ramakrishnan (20th May 2015), and Vishnuraj M.V. (17th January 2017) also lost Rs. 70,000.

India (Marathi)

 * 1) Arjana Saravade (lost Rs. 320,000) - 18th June 2019
 * 2) Rita Nemlekar (lost Rs. 320,000) - 8th July 2019
 * 3) Puja Pendhare (lost Rs. 150,000) - 4th June 2019
 * 4) Sumit Vomgade (lost Rs. 150,000) - 17th July 2019
 * 5) Shvetambari Bhesale (lost Rs. 70,000) - 16th July 2019
 * 6) Sarita Sakhare (lost Rs. 70,000) - 23rd July 2019
 * 7) Dr. Sonali Devare (lost Rs. 70,000) - 1st August 2019
 * 8) Jayashree Shinde (lost Rs. 30,000) - 5th June 2019
 * 9) Rimta Mahajar (lost Rs. 30,000) - 26th June 2019
 * 10) Sitaram Parve (lost Rs. 30,000) - 29th July 2019

South Korea

 * 1) I Dong-sin (lost ₩2,000,000) - 2nd June 2013
 * 2) Gim Yu-na (lost ₩1,000,000) - 26th May 2013
 * 3) Gim Seong-ho (lost ₩1,000,000) - 2nd June 2013
 * 4) Gim Bo-la (lost ₩500,000) - 2nd June 2013
 * 5) Choe Bong-jae (lost ₩500,000) - 26th May 2013
 * 6) Gwon Sun-beom (lost ₩0) - 2nd June 2013

India (Telugu)

 * 1) Alenia (lost Rs. 2,180,000) - 17th November 2015
 * 2) Gina and Finda (lost Rs. 2,180,000) - 16th December 2015
 * 3) Anderia (lost Rs. 2,180,000) - 30th December 2015
 * 4) Mohammad Rameez (lost Rs. 930,000) - 24th June 2014
 * 5) Hammer and Akita (lost Rs. 930,000) - 24th December 2015
 * 6) Mr. Raja Rao (lost Rs. 320,000) - 11th June 2014
 * 7) Bharath Reddy (lost Rs. 320,000) - 7th July 2014
 * 8) Faskia (lost Rs. 320,000) - 8th November 2015
 * 9) Deskena (lost Rs. 320,000) - 10th November 2015
 * 10) Dola and Hayssa (lost Rs. 320,000) - 18th December 2015

Kyrgyzstan

 * 1) Anzhelika (lost 218,000 som) - 14th October 2018
 * 2) Kamchy Sarybayev (lost 93,000 som) - 21st October 2018
 * 3) Jenish Moldokmatov (lost 93,000 som) - 18th November 2018
 * 4) Kairat Primberdiev and Elvira Primberdieva (lost 32,000 som) - 11th November 2018
 * 5) Urmat Nurbayev (lost 45,000 som) - 11th September 2016
 * 6) Ayleri Toktosunova (lost 16,000 som) - 2nd October 2016
 * 7) Erkin Imanov (lost 16,000 som) - 2nd October 2016
 * 8) Zinat Kirbasheva (lost 16,000 som) - 9th October 2016
 * 9) Nurbek Musayev (lost 16,000 som) - 16th October 2016
 * 10) Maksat Shaarbekov (lost 16,000 som) - 25th December 2016