Charles Ingram Controversy: Ingram was born in Shardlow, Derbyshire, in 1963. Before he joined the Army in 1986, he got a degree in civil engineering and a masters degree in corporate management. He joined the Royal Engineers as an officer and became a Major in 1995. Ingram worked for NATO for six months to keep the peace in Bosnia. After his court case in August 2003, he was forced to quit the Army.
Who is Diana Ingram?
Diana and Charles got married in 1989. They met at Barry College in South Wales, where she was learning to be a teacher. They went on to have three children. She had been on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? before. She won 32,000 before her husbands appearances, the same amount that her brother Adrian Pollock won.
Charles Ingram Controversy
In 2001, Major Charles Ingram correctly answered 15 questions on the show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? to win the big prize. But when he left the studio, the check was taken from him because people were getting suspicious.
A court said that he knew the answers because another contestant, Tecwen Whittock, coughed to let him know what the right answers were. It was also said that Ingrams wife was in on it.
When the controversy started, Whittock, a college professor from Cardiff, was waiting in the fastest finger first group. A few days after the show aired, Ingram got a message to call the boss of the company that made the show, Paul Smith.
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Mr. Smith said that there were irregularities while the show was being taped, so it would not be shown. The police were also called. It was said that Whittock coughed loudly to show the right answer and blew his nose loudly when the major was about to give the wrong answer. It was said that pagers and cell phones had been used to help.
What Happened in The Court Case?
The trial at Southwark Crown Court in 2003 lasted four weeks, and Ingram said that the shows videotape had been unfairly changed. He said he didnt hear the coughing, but during the second night of the show, 192 coughs were recorded. Of these, 32 were from the ten Fastest Finger First contestants, and 19 of them were significant.
Prosecutors said that these coughs came from Whittock, who said that he had always had a persistent cough. On April 7, 2003, all three were found guilty of lying to get valuable security executed. Diana and Charles were each given an 18-month prison sentence that was put on hold for two years. Whittock, on the other hand, was given a 12-month prison sentence that was also put on hold for two years.
Where Is Charles Ingram Now?
After he was sentenced, the Army Board made Ingram quit as a major after 17 years of service. In spite of this, he continued to be a TV star and showed up on several competition reality shows. He was on The Weakest Link with his wife Diane. He was also on The Game with Kevin Simm, who used to be in the band, Liberty X.
Charles was on the Channel 4 show Wife Swap, where he and Jade Goody switched places. Ingram only paid $1,240 of the $25,000 fine he got in 2003, even though his court case cost the taxpayer more than $8 million. Later, he was given a fine of 5,000. On appeal, Dianas fine was thrown out.
He went back to his home in Westbury, Wilts, and set up a market stall to sell jewelry that Diana had made. In October 2016, The Sun reported that he was selling handmade brooches for 5 and necklaces for up to 40.
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The Sun found the cheater, who was putting his things into a van to move to a flat on a farm far away. After the scandal turned him into a recluse, he decided to sell his 450,000 country home. In 2019, Charles was last seen selling jewelry at a stall at a Christmas market in Bath. Just a few months earlier, he had gone bankrupt for the fourth time.
After the ITV show Quiz aired, Charles tweeted about the actor who plays him, Matthew Macfadyen, saying, Matthew is so damn handsome I cant sleep. Im trying to convince myself that I looked like that 19 years ago, but Im failing badly. Diana told me my name was Matthew while I was brushing my teeth.
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