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You Can Now Watch The Original Charles Ingram Cheating Scandal Episode

Ciara Sheppard

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You Can Now Watch The Original Charles Ingram Cheating Scandal Episode

Featured Image Credit: ITV

Last week, Quiz left the nation divided.

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The ITV drama centred around the infamous Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? coughing scandal.

And half of us finished the three-episode mini series convinced Charles Ingram, his wife Diana and accomplice Tecwen Whittock had cheated their way to winning £1million, while the other half came out feeling they'd been unfairly accused and had been on the bad end of a vicious media storm.

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On 9th September 2001, Ingram, a former army major, won the quiz show's Fasted Finger First bagging his place in the hot seat opposite Chris Tarrant.

Charles answered seven questions correctly, using up two out of three of his life lines and earning him £4,000, before the klaxon sounded for the end of that night's show.

The following evening, Charles returned to the show and began breezing his way through the questions. However, ahead of the final question, sound technicians raised alarms about tactical coughing in the audience.

'Quiz' stars Matthew Macfadyen, Sian Clifford and Michael Sheen (Credit: ITV)
'Quiz' stars Matthew Macfadyen, Sian Clifford and Michael Sheen (Credit: ITV)
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Head of Celador and show producer Paul Smith refused to stop filming and Charles went on to win the maximum prize money of £1million. However, the Ingrams never got the chance to cash their cheque as producers de-authorised it after reviewing footage.

Producers took the decision to not air the episode after playbacks suggested they'd cheated.

The couple stood trial for the conspiracy and were eventually dealt an 18-month suspended sentence and fines of £25,000.

Since then, segments of the footage have only ever been aired as parts of documentaries on the cheating scandal, but now, Charles' episode is finally available to watch in full for the first time.

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Uploaded by the official Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? YouTube channel, viewers can make their mind up for themselves with 45 minutes of footage, along with handy descriptions and rewinds alerting viewers to the key moments.

These include the first suspicious cough, which took place during the first round of the second night, and the moment sound monitors pick up where the coughs seem to be coming from: fellow Fastest Finger First contestant, Tecwen Whittock.

Later, we watch as Charles tackles question number 10, on who was responsible for hit 2000 UK album 'Born To Do It'. There appears to be no coughs from Whittock during this round - something prosecutors put down to him not knowing the answer.

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However, one isolated cough comes from Charles' wife Diana, who is sat in the audience, when Craig David is read out.

Cameras also see Diana repeatedly glance to her bottom left at the Fastest Finger First area during the round, instead of straight ahead at where her partner is playing.

The episode includes key moments such as when Diana Ingram coughed in the audience (Credit: ITV)
The episode includes key moments such as when Diana Ingram coughed in the audience (Credit: ITV)

After initially saying he has never heard of Craig David and telling Chris Tarrant he was going to go with A1, Charles takes a sharp U-turn after Diana's cough and chooses Craig David, winning £32,000.

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The jury's still out on whether the Ingram's cheated - but at least now we have the full footage to dig our teeth into.

So: did they or didn't they?

Topics: TV News, TV Entertainment

Ciara Sheppard
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