Mentor Donald Veer took home the final prize for television last night by winning the grand prize on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire – winning the grand prize for his brother who had won £ 500,000 on the show a year earlier.
The 57-year-old Donald was the coolest player ever on an ITV show as he used only one of his Four Lifelines to cross the road to becoming the sixth and first winner in 14 years. He answered the 15 questions from host Jeremy Clarkson in just under 20 minutes to compete for the award.
Donald, who has returned to teach history and politics, told The Mirror how he took advice on how to win from his brother Devith, who nearly won the jackpot in September last year after posing a £ 1m question but walked away when he couldn’t. Answer it.
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Donald remembers the moment he won the fastest round of fingers to get to the hot seat, he said, “Immediately when they read my name and I was faster, in that second I thought my brother told me, ‘Go on the show and do a professional job’ work, focus and focus. And I did.
“So at that moment you see me looking serious, there were no punches in the air or that kind of lark, I was in the area. The next thing to negotiate is to sit on the chair because I was a bit worried that I would fall because my leg is so short!”
But there were no mistakes by Donald in the chair or when it came to the questions. He used one 50:50 question to £ 32,000 but seemed confident the whole time.
“Of the 15 questions I knew, probably 13 of them, right before the options arose,” he said.
It was including the Million Pounds Question, £ 500,000 including the £ 250,000. Too easy if you know the answers.
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“What did I feel when I asked the Million Pounds Question?” I know the answer. I’m just going to go for it. So the idea of “Oh my God I’m on a tight rope here with a terrifyingly long drop underneath,” never crossed my mind. It was a simple question and most history gurus Those who deserve their hope will know the answer even though it is not part of the curriculum. This was one of the easiest questions worth a million pounds. “
Referring to the appearance of his ex-brother, Donald added, “He is very happy with me. We actually went and spent the night in a hotel with our wives last week, we were completely plastered and he kept petting me and saying, ‘How happy he was and how happy he was, etc.
“Obviously we’ve had tough competition throughout our lives, he’s two and a half years older than me. But he’s never happier as I was with him when he won the show.
“He’s actually smarter than me but I was a lot, I was luckier with questions and the last question.”
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The show that came out last night was actually filmed in July, and Donald and his 33-year-old wife Depp celebrated a million-strong win on a modest UK holiday in a caravan.
He said, “We booked the caravan vacation early. We were supposed to take the ferry from Plymouth to Santander. Then stay in Santander, Bilbao and Pamplona and drive over the Pyrenees to France and see the castles but Covid had other ideas. So we tried very hard to get what we got.” We can, Whiteley Bay in a caravan.It seems to be in effect, but this is the Northumberland coast and we did a boat trip around Faroe Island and I saw 4,000 birds and loads of seals. He was a poet and we had beautiful walks along the coast.
“I’m thinking about having a mobile home, I didn’t have a home before, so we’ll try to rent a house. I’d like to hop on the next plane to the US, that’s not an option. Right now it’s great Britain and maybe Wales, so the mobile home is in Wales.” It is what I’m going to spend a million pounds on haha. “
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Donald watched his win again on ITV with members of his family at home, and his wife Depp has four children; Cat 31, Ali 30, Easy 26, Chris 22.
Asked how the rest of the money would be spent, Donald added: “I am a somewhat democratic socialist so to speak, and as my brother did with his victory, this money will be spent on all family members.
“I intend to donate at least 70% of the money and leave enough money for me so that I can have a comfortable retirement. To be honest if I had a million pounds, I wouldn’t have a clue how to spend it. I could buy an Aston Martin for example, but I can get into this thing, but I can never get out of it. I’m fat! The only other thing you can spend on it is moving the house but I’m very happy with our home. It’s in a beautiful area and we’ve spent 27 years there and we have lovely neighbors so why move. So why do you move. Keep the money and give it to the one I love. A mobile home is the only purchase in sight. “
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Donald returned to the Haberdashery Grammar School in Newport, Shropshire yesterday and will remain in his teaching position until the end of December, retiring two years earlier than planned. As homework, he had assigned his pupils to practice watching last night’s show but hadn’t told them how much he had won. They’ll have to ask him about his new fortune on Monday.
He said, “I resigned the day after the show, the rules have to go at the end of the term, but I will never investigate the possibility of a comeback at all.” To what extent would my A-level students be unfair?
“They are amazing people and that would have let them down completely. So what I said is that I will do this semester and I will make sure not to miss Year 13 students in any way or shape. I will make sure to release the twelve. It never occurred to me not to come back at all.”
Donald is the sixth winner of the show with a million pound prize and the first since the show returned with new host Jeremy Clarkson in 2018, who replaced Chris Tarrant.
Judith Keppel was the first female millionaire winner in the United Kingdom in 2000. She remains the only woman to receive the first prize. Now 78, it spent £ 100 to call the show more than 50 times to secure a venue.
Former physics teacher David Edwards and Oxford-educated banker Robert Bridges both won in 2001.
Pat Gibson, world champion in Irish multiplayer competition, became the fourth person to win first prize in the United Kingdom in 2004 and was followed by civil servant Ingram Wilcox in 2006.
Major Charles Ingram also won £ 1 million in 2001 – at the peak of the show’s popularity.
But the episode never aired and his award was stripped after he was found guilty of cheating in 2003.
- If you missed last night’s episode, you can watch Donald win a million on the ITV Hub.
