Wrong answer before first safe level

On Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, a wrong answer automatically ends the game and drops the contestant's winnings down to the last safe level they passed on the Money Tree, but if they give a wrong answer before they reach the first safe level (usually worth 1,000 units of the local currency), they leave with absolutely nothing at all. During the U.S. Primetime era, the term for this was llama, referring to the wrong answer that the very first $0 winner, Robby Roseman, gave to his $100 question, which was “Hannibal crossed the Alps using what animals?“ and Robby chose Llamas, making him leave with absolutely nothing.

It should be noted that it is entirely optional to include a disappointing graphic message that states "Total Prize Money: 0 units of the local currency" when a contestant flunks out prior to reaching the first safe level; not all countries do it. For example, on the U.S. version, every $0 winner other than the very first $0 winner, Robby Roseman, received the disappointing graphic message of "Total Prize Money: $0" (or, during the Clock Format, "Total Winnings: $0") after flunking out prior to obtaining the $1,000 milestone, but on the UK version, on the rare occasion when someone actually did go away with nothing, there was usually no graphic message; the screen would only display the Total Prize Money banner if the contestant actually won something; otherwise, if the contestant did not win anything, then the screen would just go blank; the only exception was Martin Baudrey, whose £0 flunk out incident took place on the live 300th show; only in that one case did the screen actually say, "Total Prize: £0".

It should also be noted that flunk outs of this type are more common in some areas of the world than others. For example, the U.S. version is notorious for its $0 flunk outs, as it has recorded numerous incidents of unlucky contestants winning nothing after giving a wrong answer to one of the first five questions, whereas on the UK version, failure of this type was quite rare; fewer than 10 contestants in its entire history had left the show with nothing. The Japanese version is known for its ¥0 flunk outs as well, numerous contestants have gone home with nothing.

On the UK version, on the rare occasion when a contestant was struggling on the first five questions, and came dangerously close to flunking out and leaving with nothing, UK host Chris Tarrant would always say that, "the questions are only easy if you know the answers," and on the rare occasion when a contestant actually did flunk out and leave with nothing, he would say that it was such a shame that they did not know on that occasion.

See Zeronaires and Category:Empty-handed for a list of contestants who went away with nothing.

Cues[]

The cue that accompanies this unfortunate event is the £100-£1000 Lose Cue, which is notably unspectacular compared to the other ten lose cues. However, in certain Latin American versions, in addition to this cue, the Million pound lose cue plays during the total winnings graphic.