Top Prize Winners
Out of all contestants that have played the game, few have been able to win the top prize on any international version of the show. The first was John Carpenter, who won the top prize on the U.S. version on 19 November 1999. Carpenter did not use a lifeline until the final question, using his Phone-a-Friend not for help but to call his father to tell him he would win the million.
Other notable top prize winners include Judith Keppel, the first winner of the UK version; Kevin Olmstead from the US version, who won a progressive jackpot of $2.18 million; Martin Flood from the Australian version, who was accused of cheating much like Charles Ingram but was later acquitted; Takeshi Kitano from the Japanese version, who participated in two celebrity episodes, winning the top prize in his latter appearance after having answered the top question incorrectly in his first; Svyatoslav Vakarchuk from the Ukrainian version, who was the first celebrity contestant outside of Japan to win the top prize; and Sushil Kumar from the Indian version, who is often referred to in Western media as the 'real-life Slumdog Millionaire'.
Read more about this topic: Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
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