A "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" contestant lost 3.25 billion VND after a World Cup question.

A contestant on the famous quiz show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" sadly lost a £108,000 prize after giving a wrong answer to a challenging World Cup question.

Football fans often confidently claim they know almost everything about the "king of sports," from lineups of matches decades ago to the names of every Ballon d'Or winner in history.

However, fans rarely get the chance to showcase that knowledge while also winning a large sum of money. A contestant on the German edition of the famous quiz show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" (a show originally hosted in the UK by Jeremy Clarkson) had that opportunity when faced with a question about the World Cup.

Unfortunately, luck was not on his side. This contestant missed out on £108,000 after giving a wrong answer to a football question considered very difficult.

In the German broadcast, Marc Offenbacher successfully answered 12 out of 15 questions, getting close to the top prize of 1 million euros (equivalent to £871,775 and 3.25 billion VND). With two lifelines remaining, everything seemed promising until host Gunther Jauch read the next question that put him in a tough spot:

“What is the most common final score in men's World Cup finals? 1–0? 2–1? 3–1? Or 4–2?”

Upon hearing the question, Offenbacher admitted he was not a sports enthusiast: “I prefer outdoor activities. I rarely watch football, or even other sports.”

Though unsure of the answer, Offenbacher decided to use a special lifeline allowing him to invite an audience member to help if they thought they knew the answer. Initially, no one responded, but then a man spoke up, saying he had played and regularly watched football.

“I can't remember all World Cup final results, but I've heard that statistically, most matches end 2–1. I guess the final is the same.”

After discussing, they eliminated the 4–2 option, considering it "too high" to be common. Offenbacher then used the 50:50 lifeline, and ironically, the two remaining answers were 2–1 and 4–2. Trusting their reasoning, he chose 2–1, confident he was about to win 125,000 euros (£108,000).

But everything fell apart when Gunther Jauch revealed the correct answer was 4–2, a scoreline that appeared in four different World Cup finals. The most famous was England’s 4–2 victory over West Germany in 1966, when Geoff Hurst scored a hat-trick and Martin Peters added another goal, securing the "Three Lions" the title after extra time.

Even worse, Offenbacher had not yet reached a guaranteed safety level, so with this wrong answer, his prize dropped to just 500 euros (about £435), which was £56,000 less than if he had stopped playing, and £108,000 less than if he had answered correctly.

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