Jackie McGregor: For richer or poorer: The game show question that sparked a domestic

No, the reason for our quarrel was pure, unadulterated greed.

We were watching ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire?’ The contestant had won £250,000; the next question was for an eye-watering £500,000.

Unfortunately, she did not know the answer to the big money question. The challenging questions in "Millionaire" at the high-value level often can't be solved with logic – they're usually answers you either know or don't know.

I could hear Dennis Hopper’s voice in my head from the movie ‘Speed’ asking the question, “Pop quiz...what do you do? What do you do?” (I have a very dramatic internal dialogue!)

“Take the money, you idiot!” I yelled at the TV. “Gamble,” hubby countered.

“She’s guaranteed a quarter of a million, why give that up? She doesn’t know the answer,” I huffed.

“She’ll never have the opportunity to win that kind of money again!” he said. “Why risk £250,000 on a guess?” I queried. His adventurous nature contrasted with my preference for certainty.

The £500,000 question was: “According to Guinness World Records, which of these has travelled at over 260 miles per hour during a competitive game or match?” The contestant guessed an ice puck; the answer was a shuttlecock. She lost the £250,000 but walked away with her safety net of £64,000, so all wasn’t lost (apart from £186,000!) People have debated whether she was brave or greedy.

In my opinion; greedy. If I had £250,000 in the bag and was guessing at the answer to a £500,000 question, I’d have woken host Jeremy (who usually looks on the point of a boredom-induced coma) and announced I was taking the money.

The contestant essentially flipped a metaphorical coin over life-changing money. Losing £186,000 over a guess about a shuttlecock is a ghost that will probably haunt her.

Watching her, I was reminded of Aesop’s fable about the dog crossing a bridge with a bone in his mouth. The dog glances down and sees his own reflection in the water, mistakenly thinking it’s another dog with an even bigger bone. Motivated by greed, the dog attempts to seize the reflected bone, resulting in the loss of his own, which falls into the river, lost forever. That tale of avarice was written over 2,000 years ago; it turns out human nature hasn’t changed much.

Like the dog in the ancient fable, the contestant, saw the “reflection” of £500,000 on the screen and snapped at it, letting the £250,000 fortune she had already secured slip from her jaws.

“It wasn’t the question that beat her, it was her own greed. She wasn’t satisfied with what she already had and wanted more,” I pointed out to hubby.

“It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” he concluded, annoyingly still defending the gamble and trying to have the last word – a challenge I was happy to accept.

“But the £250,000 wasn’t an opportunity; it was her reality and she threw it away. We’ll just have to agree to differ. And by the way, I was right about the blue bin.” I scoffed. “Final answer.”