A Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? contestant has delighted viewers after winning £64,000 thanks to a fortunate question involving her former job at a publishing house.
Mainga Bhima, from Rossendale, was the final player to appear on last night’s episode of the ITV competition and raced through the questions, using only two of her lifelines before reaching the £64,000 round.
The Bristol University medical student, who planned to pay off her tuition fees with her winnings, secured her prize after correctly answering this question: ‘In 2013, Penguin merged with which other company to form the world’s largest book publisher?’
She had a choice of four answers, including Simon & Schuster, Random House, Pan Macmillan and Harper Collins.
At the sight of the question, Mainga beamed and explained that she used to work at the company that the question referred to, before giving Random House as the correct answer.
Mainga thankfully placed her safety net at £64,000, and so still walked away with that amount after failing to answer the £125,000 question correctly.
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Mainga Bhima (pictured), from Rossendale, was the final player to appear on last night’s episode of the ITV competition and raced through the questions, using only two of her lifelines before reaching the £64,000 round
As host Jeremy Clarkson asked Mainga the £64,000 question, the university student couldn’t help but smile and hold her face in her hands in disbelief.
The presenter mentioned that he’d seen the contestant’s notes and so understood why she was reacting in such a joyful manner to this question.
Mainga then explained that she used to work for Random House and was there when the merger took place.
‘I can’t believe this. I used to work there,’ she said. ‘I was there when they merged! It was Random House!
‘So I worked at Random House Publishers and then we merged with Penguin to become Penguin Random House. And I spent a good few years working in the children’s fiction editorial team, shoutout to all those guys.’
The Bristol University medical student (pictured), who planned to pay off her tuition fees with her winnings, secured her prize after correctly answering this question: ‘In 2013, Penguin merged with which other company to form the world’s largest book publisher?’
The contestant had a choice of four answers, including Simon & Schuster, Random House, Pan Macmillan and Harper Collins. Pictured, presenter Jeremy Clarkson
Before admitting it was the ‘weirdest thing’ that she received that question, Mainga told Jeremy that the answer was Random House ‘a million times over’.
Viewers at home were astonished by Mainga’s luck and shared their delight following her win.
One person said: ‘Well done Mainga, great performance tonight,’ while a second wrote on Twitter: ‘£64,000 is an amazing and incredible amount of money, so you still are a winner Mainga.’
Thankfully, Mainga placed her safety net at £64,000 so still went away with her winnings despite answering the £125,000 question wrong.
At the sight of the question, Mainga (pictured left) beamed and explained that she used to work at the company that the question referred to, before giving Random House as the correct answer
Viewers at home were astonished by Mainga’s luck and shared their delight following her win
The £125,000 question asked: ‘Which athlete has not achieved the triple of a knighthood, being Team GB’s Olympic flag bearer and winning BBC Sports Personality of the Year?’
Her four options were Bradley Wiggins, Steve Redgrave, Andy Murray and Chris Hoy.
Not knowing the answer, Mainga decided to phone friend Sam, who said the answer was Andy Murray.
Despite still having another ‘phone a friend’ lifeline to use, the contestant decided to take her friend’s word.
However, unfortunately, the correct answer was Bradley Wiggins – meaning Mainga didn’t go any further in the competition.