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, Lyudmila Senchina and Alexander Zhurbin, and Timur Solovyov and Svetlana Zeynalova tied the last 4 of the top 10 when they also lost 700,000 rubles on 4th May 2013, 16th November 2013, and 14th June 2014 respectively.

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

Vietnam

 * Lê Minh Khánh - ₫15,000,000 (June 19, 2007) (13th question wrong) (lost ₫20,000,000)
 * Unknown Player - ₫15,000,000 (2007) (14th question wrong) (lost ₫35,000,000)
 * Đặng Thị Thùy Mai - ₫15,000,000 (July 22, 2008) (12th question wrong) (lost ₫10,000,000)
 * Lưu Thanh Sơn - ₫15,000,000 (August 24, 2010) (12th question wrong) (lost ₫10,000,000)
 * Phạm Quang Hòa - ₫15,000,000 (July 19, 2011) (12th question wrong) (lost ₫10,000,000)
 * Unknown Pair of Players - ₫15,000,000 (February 14, 2012) (13th question wrong) (lost ₫20,000,000)
 * Nguyễn Khắc Hoàng Minh - ₫22,000,000 (December 9, 2014) (12th question wrong) (lost ₫8,000,000)
 * Hoàng Bách - ₫22,000,000 (December 30, 2014) (12th question wrong) (lost ₫8,000,000)
 * Trần Minh Hùng - ₫22,000,000 (May 26, 2015) (12th question wrong) (lost ₫8,000,000)
 * Phạm Hoàng Anh - ₫22,000,000 (May 24, 2016) (12th question wrong) (lost ₫8,000,000)
 * Lê Xuân Duy - ₫22,000,000 (October 11, 2016) (12th question wrong) (lost ₫8,000,000)
 * Trương Anh Ngọc - ₫22,000,000 (February 14, 2017) (12th question wrong) (lost ₫8,000,000)
 * Unknown Player - ₫22,000,000 (October 31, 2017) (12th question wrong) (lost ₫8,000,000)
 * Lê Thị Thanh Huyền - ₫22,000,000 (January 2, 2018) (13th question wrong) (lost ₫18,000,000)
 * Nguyễn Thị Thành - ₫22,000,000 (March 13, 2018) (12th question wrong) (lost ₫8,000,000)
 * Cao Bá Cường - ₫22,000,000 (May 8, 2018) (13th question wrong) (lost ₫18,000,000)
 * Lê Thị Lan - ₫22,000,000 (July 17, 2018) (12th question wrong) (lost ₫8,000,000)
 * Nguyễn Hữu Huy - ₫22,000,000 (August 21, 2018) (12th question wrong) (lost ₫8,000,000)
 * Nguyễn Hữu Lợi - ₫22,000,000 (September 25, 2018) (13th question wrong) (lost ₫18,000,000)