Man becomes seventh Millionaire jackpot winner

A retired IT analyst has become the seventh person to win the £1m jackpot on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

Roman Dubowski said winning the ITV game show, which is hosted by Jeremy Clarkson, was "unreal", adding that he "had to have a cup of tea" afterwards and "let it sink in".

The contestant, who does quizzing as a hobby, is planning on buying a new house with his prize money and also hopes to travel, including trips to New Zealand and South America.

Dubowski, from Stockport, said that when he saw the final question he thought: "I think I know this straight away".

Dubowski correctly answered the final 15th question, which was: "Used since 1876, which trademarked logo is described in the James Joyce novel Ulysses and depicted in works by Manet and Picasso?"

The options were Bass Ale, The Famous Grouse, Coca-Cola and Stella Artois.

Dubowski said: "When it came up… I thought, I think I know this straight away."

He explained that he had seen the Manet painting – called A Bar at the Folies-Bergere – at The Courtauld Gallery in London.

He said he could "distinctly" remember seeing a red triangle on the painting, which "has always been the symbol of Bass beer".

The contestant decided to use the 50/50 lifeline to answer the question and said that when the answers were narrowed down to Coca-Cola and Bass Ale, he thought "well I may as well go for it".

Dubowski, who is originally from Manchester, correctly answered Bass Ale.

Asked to describe how he felt when he answered that final question correctly, he said: "It felt unreal… it didn't feel like the real world, almost, this isn't where I expected to be. It didn't sink in until later."

Dubowski said he had experienced a "strange bit of self-doubt" earlier after he was asked what was mixed with vinegar, mustard and oil to make a basic mayonnaise.

The possible answers were plain flour, salted butter, egg yolk and double cream.

He said he made the decision to ask the audience and 93% had chosen egg yolk, and he thought he "might go and walk away with nothing" at that point.

Asked how he celebrated the win, he said: "I did sort of go home quietly, to be honest, I didn't get drunk – I had to have a cup of tea.

"I think it was just sitting in a quiet room and letting it all sink in, and thinking about what happened in the previous 24 hours."

He said the first person he told was his sister, who was "absolutely thrilled" for him and he said he would be giving some of his prize money to his niece and nephew.

Dubowski had applied to go on the show when Chris Tarrant was host but "didn't get a response", and he had applied again after lockdown but was not successful.

"Then in October last year, I suddenly saw an advertisement, or something online saying they're recruiting for new competitors again," he said.

"I thought oh, might as well try again, got nothing to lose, and just from that sort of casual opening, it ended up with the top prize.

"So I'm just happy I did it really."

Other winners include: Judith Keppel (2000), David Edwards (2001), Robert Brydges (2001), Pat Gibson (2004) and Ingram Wilcox (2006).

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