Chris Tarrant missed this warning sign when Charles Ingram cheated Who Wants To Be A Millionaire
Chris Tarrant only realised this red flag months after Ingram cheated
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’s cheating scandal has resurfaced following ITV’s Quiz coming to Netflix. According to Chris Tarrant, one moment should have given away that Charles Ingram was up to something.
Quiz stars Matthew Macfadyen as Ingram, a former army major who appeared on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire in 2001.
Except… his episodes never aired (apart from in a documentary and online). He won the jackpot, but he was accused of cheating, and Ingram and his wife were both convicted.
Almost 25 years later, the couple still maintain their innocence. However, in Tarrant’s eyes, one moment should have been a warning sign.
Chris Tarrant realised Charles Ingram red flag months after Who Wants To Be A Millionaire appearance
Speaking to This Morning ahead of Quiz’s original release in 2019, Tarrant said he hoped the series wouldn’t suggest that Ingram was innocent.
“I have sat through so many hours with the police and the fraud squad… he is so guilty. Once you lock into it, it’s like, ‘Oh, for god’s sake,'” he said.
So, what gave it away? Remember, it’s said that Ingram cheated via timed coughs. He’d list the answers, and when he heard a cough from fastest finger ‘accomplice’ Tecwen Whittock, he’d know which one to pick.
Tarrant has admitted that he never heard the coughs as they were happening. However, there is one thing that should have given him cause for concern.
“The guy’s winning £1 million… there were people roaring and screaming. People cough like mad… I had no idea,” he said.
“If you do the £500,000 question, and you’re playing for the million, I say to you, ‘Eamonn Holmes, you’ve got £500,000. If you go for it, next one you get right, you get £1 million. But if you get it wrong, you lose £450,000.
“Everyone I’ve said that to over 15, 16 years, you see their face go [panicked]… except, and I only thought about this months later, the major who went, ‘Yes, let’s play!'”
Tarrant believes Ingram knew he was going to win £1 million, and that’s why he was more relaxed.
Chris Tarrant says Charles Ingram is guilty
Despite Ingram insisting he’s innocent and he never cheated, Tarrant no longer doubts his guilt.
In another interview with Radio X after Quiz’s release, the former host said his only gripe with the series was how it suggested Ingram might not be guilty.
“He [was a] serving British army major, £30,ooo a year, in rented accommodation, and he’s going, ‘Oh yes, £500,000… let’s risk it,’ and you think, ‘Why would you do that?'” he said.
When Tarrant sat with the fraud squad, it quickly became clear that Ingram had cheated. “Nothing has changed my mind, to be honest,” he said.
Charles and Diana planned to appeal their verdict with the help of lawyer Rhona Friedman. That was first reported in 2020, and there have been no updates since.
