A 44-year-old translator just won £500,000 on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and the first thing he said he’d do with it surprised everyone

Andrew Fanko, a 44-year-old translator, has successfully secured a £500,000 ($630,000) prize on the latest episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, walking away after making a strategic decision to stop before the final question. As first highlighted by LADbible, his performance marks a high point for the show, which has seen a flurry of success recently, including another contestant who claimed the full £1 million ($1.26 million) prize just weeks prior.

Fanko’s journey to the half-million mark wasn’t without challenges. The early rounds were relatively straightforward, with questions as simple as identifying the G in G&T, but the complexity ramped up quickly. By the time he reached the £125,000 ($158,000) milestone, he had burned through both his Phone a Friend lifeline and the 50:50 option just to navigate a tricky biology question about cell types and the presence of a nucleus.

The real test came at the £500,000 question: “Which of these Agatha Christie characters is killed in the novel Murder on the Orient Express?” Faced with options including Linnet Ridgeway, Astrides Leonides, Samuel Ratchett, and Carmichael Clarke, Fanko relied on his instincts. He later described his correct choice of Samuel Ratchett as an educated guess while speaking with host Jeremy Clarkson.

Walking away was the right call for his family

After securing the prize, Fanko chose to walk away rather than risk it all on the £1,000,000 question. That final hurdle involved identifying which artist out of Lin-Manuel Miranda, Cher, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Bette Midler holds EGOT status. Andrew Lloyd Webber was the correct answer, which could have doubled his winnings, but Fanko expressed that he felt incredible about his decision regardless.

He noted that the win came at exactly the right time for his family, as the translation industry has seen a decline in available work. The prize provides a financial buffer that will allow him and his wife time to consider their next career steps. Among his plans for the winnings, Fanko said taking his daughter to Disneyland is a priority, as she is obsessed with Frozen and is looking forward to meeting Elsa. Before that trip, the family is planning a cruise to the Norwegian fjords this summer, which will include both sets of parents.

On a more practical note, he plans to pay off his mortgage, which will significantly reduce his monthly outgoings. It is a measured approach to a sudden windfall, not unlike a Baltimore man’s scratch-off win that similarly prompted a practical response to unexpected prize money.

This recent wave of success on the show is a shift from the high-stakes losses that have become part of its history. Contestants like Rob Mitchell, Duncan Bickley, and Nicholas Bennett have all faced tough moments where guessing wrong cost them hundreds of thousands of pounds. Nicholas Bennett holds the unfortunate record for the biggest loss on the UK version, having walked away with £125,000 ($158,000) after missing the final £1 million question.

Fanko actually applied for the show twice before securing his spot on the stage, and his persistence paid off. The show has seen at least one other contestant reach the final question during this run, with host Jeremy Clarkson noting the tension in the studio as truly extraordinary. Not every big winner manages their prize wisely, as a Kentucky Powerball winner’s arrest for breaking into a home demonstrated, but Fanko’s grounded plans suggest a different trajectory entirely.