Devastated Who Wants to be a Millionaire contestant misses out on £100,000 after getting World Cup question wrong

A CONTESTANT on Who Wants to be a Millionaire missed out on over £100,000 after fluffing a simple World Cup question – but would you have answered it correctly?

Marc Offenbacher was well on his way to a life-changing amount of money before getting stumped on the football question.

He was doing well on Germany’s edition of the ITV hit quiz show, having got 11 questions correct.

He had already used his safety net on the €500, meaning a slip-up could cost a huge amount of cash.

Offenbacher did not seem worried as he made his way up the question ladder, using only two of his four lifelines along the way.

But as host Gunther Jauch read question 13 worth €125,000 (£108,000), he became stumped.

This was the question: “What is the most common final score in men’s Fifa World Cup finals? 1–0? 2–1? 3–1? Or 4–2?”

Do you reckon you know the answer?

Offenbacher did not as he quickly admitted he was not a sports fan to Jauch.

He admitted he was “more of an outdoors person” when asked about his interests.

He said: “I never watch football. Not even other sports.”

In one attempt to solve the question, Offenbacher used a lifeline which allows him to ask a member of the audience.

This one is not used in the UK edition – hosted by Jeremy Clarkson – but it sees members stand up if they think they know the answer.

A sign of how tricky the question was that only one person stood up to help the struggling Offenbacher.

The audience member said: “I can’t name all the World Cup final results off the top of my head, but I’ve heard that statistically, most football matches end 2–1.

“So I’d assume it’s the same for the World Cup finals.

“I’d actually rule out 4–2. I think, back in the early days of football, scores were still pretty high.

“But nowadays, the number of goals is usually around two or three per match.

“But as I said, I couldn’t tell you all the World Cup final score.”

Offenbacher agreed to rule out 4-2 and used his 50/50 lifeline which left just 2-1 and 4-2 as potential answers.

He opted to go for 2-1 in the hope of progressing in the game.

However, he was forced to wait due to an ad break before Jauch could reveal the answer.

Jauch then revealed: “Three finals ended 1-0 and 3-1..

“Between those other two results — one of them occurred four times in a World Cup final, and the other only twice…

“One happened four times, one happened twice… And the score that occurred four times in a final was 4–2.”

The 1930, 1938, 1966 and 2018 World Cup finals all ended with the scoreline.

This includes England’s triumph over West Germany at Wembley thanks to Sir Geoff Hurst’s famous hat-trick.

The incorrect answer saw Offenbacher walk out with just €500 (£435) – €64,500 less than if he refused to answer.

And a stunning €124,500 (£108,327) less than if he had plumped for the right answer.

Before he left, Jauch said: “That’s tragic. You had an incredible run — it was unbelievable.

“And in the very last moment, it went wrong. Such a pity. Really a shame.”