Who Wants To Be A Millionaire cheat spotted working on a market stall
The coughing ex-major who cheated to win the jackpot on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire is now selling home-made jewellery on a market stall.
Charles Ingram, 53, tried to swindle his way to £1 million fifteen years ago last month. He and his wife Diana recruited lecturer and game show regular Tecwen Whittock to sit in the audience and cough when the correct answer was read out.
Ingram was only caught out after the event when producers listened to a recording of the show.
After a four-week trial, all three were convicted of procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception. They were fined and given suspended prison sentences.
Now, though, Ingram has been spotted at a market stall in Frome, Somerset, selling glass jewellery made by wife Diana.
"He was in good spirits, laughing and joking with customers. He was definitely the salesman. His wife didn't say a lot, he was doing all the patter," plumber Chris Oyston tells the Sun.
"He was saying it was all homemade, explaining how long it took to make and what it was made of. If you're into that sort of stuff, then it was quite nice, but put it this way we didn't buy anything."
Ingram, who later went bankrupt, has complained before that his notoriety makes it impossible to find a job. Earlier this year, it was revealed that he paid just £1,240 of his fine, which was cut from an original £25,000 to just £5,000. Diana had her fine quashed on appeal.
However, despite this, the Ingrams still managed to send their three daughters to a £30,000-a-year boarding school.
Ingram may have been the biggest game show cheater - but he's by no means the only one.
Two years ago, for example, model Adriana Abenia did suspiciously well in Spain's Pasapalabra quiz show when asked to name various songs. It turned out that she had a phone hidden between her legs and was using the Shazam app to identify the tunes.
On other occasions, contestants have found legal ways to beat the system. Michael Larson, for example, won big on CBS's 1980s game show Press Your Luck by watching hours of video tapes of the show. Realising that a supposedly random sequence of lights wasn't random at all, he was able to take home $110,237.
And in 2014, Khaled El-Katateny won $100,000 on Australia's Millionaire Hot-Seat - despite, he says, knowing none of the answers. Instead, while mulling the answers over aloud, he monitored the body language of the host to make his choice.
