_ Cine vrea să fie milionar? Nu eu! Al șaselea concurent care câștigă un jackpot de 1 milion de lire sterline la emisiunea de chestionare ITV își dă averea și își petrece retragerea jucând tenis de masă, snooker... și participând la chestionare la pub local

Unul dintre singurii câștigători ai întregului concurs. Putem dezvălui premiul jackpot cu șapte cifre în istoria de 25 de ani a lui Who Wants to Be a Millionaire și-a dat în liniște averea.

Donald Fear, 61 de ani, a devenit doar al șaselea concurent care a câștigat marele premiu la foarte popular emisiune de test ITV în 2020.

Dar el a păstrat doar o parte din câștigurile sale - suficient pentru a finanța o pensie modestă - și a dat 700.000 de lire sterline din câștigul său extraordinar de un milion de lire familiei și prietenilor.

Și domnul Fear chiar a uitat să facă cumpără-și soției orice din câștigurile sale – cu excepția unei perechi de ghete de 30 de lire sterline.

El a spus pentru MailOnline: „A da banii a fost cel mai bun lucru care s-a întâmplat.”

Și, incredibil, a intrat în emisiune doar după ce fratele său a câștigat penultima etapă cu un an înainte în emisiune: Davyth Fear a luat acasă 500.000 de lire sterline în 2019, o victorie care l-a inspirat și pe Donald să aplice - doar pentru a merge mai bine.

Fostul profesor de istorie și politică, domnul Fear, își petrece acum zilele jucând tenis de masă și snooker, precum și concurând la două chestionare locale la pub pe săptămână și având grijă de nepoții săi iubiți.

El rămâne singurul concurent britanic. să fi câștigat folosind doar o singură linie de salvare - 50:50.

El este, de asemenea, singurul jucător care a cucerit concursul cu Jeremy Clarkson ca gazdă, cu Judith Keppel, David Edwards, Robert Brydges, Pat Gibson și Ingram Wilcox a luat acasă milionul de lire sterline în timp ce Chris Tarrant prezenta. Fostul maior de armată Charles Ingram a câștigat și el, dar s-a constatat mai târziu că a înșelat.

După câștigul său, a decis să păstreze suficient din premiul în bani pentru a-i permite să se retragă de la predare după 33 de ani și să-și cumpere o autocaravană pentru el și soția sa Debs, în vârstă de 60 de ani, să-și ia vacanțe.

Dl Fear și soția sa, care sunt căsătoriți de 37 de ani, au spus că nu s-au gândit niciodată să-și părăsească casa din zona rurală din Shropshire, pentru care au cumpărat-o. 47.000 de lire sterline în 1993.

Domnul Fear a dat 110.000 de lire sterline fiecăruia dintre cei patru copii ai săi și a împărțit încă 160.000 de lire sterline între părinții săi, fratele său, cele două surori ale sale, precum și mama soției sale și cei doi frați.

Doamna Fear, o fostă profesoară și asistentă medicală care s-a pensionat anul trecut, glumește că a fost tratată cu o pereche de cizme de 30 de lire sterline – și chiar a plătit pentru noua bucătărie a cuplului cu banii ei.

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Vorbind alături de soția sa, la casa lor din cătunul adormit din Shropshire Admanston, domnul Fear a declarat pentru MailOnline: „Victoria va avea o moștenire pentru câteva generații care vor veni cu speranța.”

Doamna Fear, a adăugat: „Nu a schimbat cu adevărat viața așa cum ar crede oamenii, deoarece a decis să ajute familia atât de mult, ceea ce a fost minunat... Cred că avem gusturi destul de simple. Nu mergem după lucruri grozave.

„Asta a fost lucrul frumos – de care toată lumea a beneficiat. Nu cred că aș fi putut fi fericit dacă am fi avut mulți și mulți bani și membrii familiei noastre nu ar fi avut. Am beneficiat cu toții.

„Un alt lucru care a fost drăguț a fost că oamenii erau cu adevărat mulțumiți de noi și spuneau că nu s-ar fi putut întâmpla unor oameni mai drăguți. Și a fost minunat să aud asta de la mulți oameni.”

Dl Fear, care s-a născut în Bristol înainte de a se muta în Țara Galilor și apoi în Shropshire, a continuat: „M-a lovit după aceea că singura persoană care nu Nu am primit nimic a fost [soția mea] pentru că pur și simplu nu mi-a trecut prin minte! În ceea ce mă privea, erau banii noștri.

Soția lui, cu care s-a căsătorit pe 8 august 1987, a glumit: „Cred că mi-ai cumpărat o pereche de cizme! Cizme de 30 de lire sterline am primit!

Mr Fear replied: 'You'd think I'd have got you a car or something… I'm very lucky not to be divorced as a result of that I think.'

The couple have, however, enjoyed trips to France and Spain in their £53,000 motor home, which proudly sits in their driveway. After Mr Fear won the show, they celebrated by taking the caravan down to Whitley Bay, North Tyneside.

His wife joked: 'It was already booked anyway!'

Reflecting on life after teaching, he added: 'I love retirement, I can waste time for England me. I've joined the Rotary Club, I play league table tennis, I play snooker a couple of times a week, I do a couple pubs quizzes, it's an amazing social life, it's great. And of course, the grandchildren have all come along since.'

The Fears have also been attending Slimming World at their local community centre - but Mr Fear confessed that he's 'giving up because it's a waste of time!'.

The father-of-four won Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in July 2020 with no audience due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The final question he answered correctly was: 'In 1718, which pirate died in battle off the coast of what is now North Carolina?' He said he knew the answer – Blackbeard – before the options even came up because he taught it to his pupils at the Wakeman School in Shrewsbury, which he worked at before joining Haberdashers' Adams Grammar School in Newport.

He had to keep his win a secret until the show was aired on ITV two months later. Mr Fear, who would go on to retire in December that year, announced to the school assembly that they should all watch ITV at 8pm that night.

After his secret was finally let out to the world, neighbours of the couple came and congratulated them outside their home.

Mrs Fear recalled: 'I remember the night it was shown on TV at the end all the neighbours came out and they were all standing outside clapping. And they said 'Oh I expect you're going to be moving now'.'

'And it never even entered our heads to move house. We like this area.'

'Quite honestly there wasn't enough money left to move house,' Mr Fear added.

He continued: 'If you buy a million-pound mansion, what's left? Nothing left or you've got a big mortgage. I don't intend to go into retirement with a mortgage, no thank you. It took us long enough getting rid of the first one!'

Mr Fear had to wait four weeks for the million to land in his bank account after the show aired.

He recalled: 'I went to bed on the crucial night and took a last look at my bank account at about 11.30pm and there was £7,000 in it, something like that, all the money I was able to save over my entire 33-year career, I know pathetic!

'But then I woke up the next morning and it was £1milllion and the £7,000! That was quite a feeling I have to say. I took a photograph of it because I knew I was going to be giving large sums away and so it wouldn't be there very long so I may as well enjoy the moment!'

Mr Fear, who was described at the time as 'one of the best contestants ever' by Clarkson, said he has made a number of home improvements since winning - and he now plans to embark on more trips with his wife in their retirement.

The couple plan to holiday to France and Italy in the caravan this summer and hope to travel further afield to India or South America in the future. Last February, they enjoyed a trip to Australia which they insist they would not have been able to do without the win.

Mr Fear, who continues to live a humble life, said the money has allowed them to make home improvements such as in their living room and their bedroom as well as spending £10,000 on a veranda in the garden.

'The major thing it bought me was early retirement, so I was able to retire at 58 when I would have struggled to retire at 60, given that I'd always been in a poor bloody infantry as a teacher,' he added.

'I was never head of department, well I was head of department of a one-man department which hardly counts! I was never head of year or deputy head or anything like that so the salary of which my pension was based was going to be fairly modest so retiring before 60 was just going to be a pipe dream.'

Mr Fear now competes in pub quizzes on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Red Lion in Wellington and the Last Inn Newport.

'We don't always win and frankly I'm the weakest member of our team!' Mr Fear added. 'There's a couple lads I teach in the team, one of them particular is an absolute genius. If he was going to go on Millionaire, he'd win it for sure.'

Although the pub quiz regulars joke 'oh it's him again!', Mr Fear describes himself as 'very much on the Z-list of celebrities'.

He added: 'For a couple of months I was being recognised at places like Shrewsbury Market. But that didn't last long - no one knows who I am now!'

Mr Fear says it is 'wonderful' to have made such a positive impact on the lives of his family.

'It's nice because the eldest and youngest daughters both used it for property, middle daughter didn't need it for property but she was able to set up a small business instead,' he explained. 'That made her so much happier, she was working minimum wage jobs for not very nice employers to be honest and she became her own boss.

'It's wonderful. Nothing compared to the positive impact they've had on me! I'm a much better person because of those people.'

Mrs Fear added: 'It's been nice. Unfortunately my father passed away at the time of the win and he never got to know because we had to keep it quiet, so I think the money made such a difference to my mother because she did a lot to her house, it kept her busy, I think it helped her get over it.

'Every time I see her, she still talks about it how grateful she is and what a lovely thing you did. So it really has made a difference to people.

Mr Fear continued: 'Quite frankly, it didn't occur to me not to do it - I'd already had a list of people who was going to get what. It's just wonderful to have the opportunity to do that kind of thing.'

The grandfather-of-four has around 60 to 70 per cent left of the £300,000 he ended up with - but it is all tied up in investments.

He joked: 'It's probably just as well, if it was just in a current account I'd be dipping into it for no reason at all. I'm not the most frugal of people, unlike my wife!

The most recent Who Wants to Be a Millionaire winner says that he has only watched his episode back twice - but he is looking forward to telling his grandchildren that their grandfather was once on TV.

He also hopes that one day there might be a reunion episode with the five other Who Wants to Be a Millionaire winners.

(Fluierul)