Günther Jauch warned her: "Are you crazy?" But the contestant follows her partner into the who wants to be a millionaire abyss. Another triples his profit – and Jauch always goes to the service station toilet for free.
The who wants to be a millionaire dream had a disappointing start and even worse end for this couple. Benjamin Burg and Kerstin Jacob-Rauch were the first couple ever to make it to Günther Jauch's studio together on Monday. The editors only noticed later that they belong together. Both managed to jump on the hot seat on the first day of the "three million euro week". But then the WWM bad luck struck twice. Jauch showed little sympathy for the strategy: "The idea is stupid. Nobody has rolled the dice here."
Burg had already crashed to 500 euros in general on Monday. Thanks to 32,000 euros, his partner made it into the final. There Jauch tried to convince his 15 potential selection candidates to hunt for the three million. However, they had to give up their previous win to do so. Jauch lured Jacob-Rauch with a promise to increase their earnings by a guaranteed 7,000 euros. "I'm actually only doing it because my partner said: No matter what he offers you, gamble," explained the teacher of German as a foreign language. In fact, it seemed at first as if her daring would be royally rewarded.
The WWM candidate from Bodnegg initially got through the rounds easily, also thanks to her helpful jokers in the studio and on the phone. With the 50,000 euro question, however, she wanted to prove something to herself. "I have to show a bit of courage at some point in my life. If that goes wrong now, then at least I know that the courage track is not my track. Then I've also learned something," explained Jacob-Rauch.
After the 50:50 joker, the spellings "Masachussetts" and "Massachusetts" remained for the US state. While Jauch fought the tension in the studio with a sip from his large tankard of strong beer ("I would drink a beer, but not a Kölsch"), the rather insecure candidate suddenly logged a death-defying answer C – only to whimper the next moment to hide behind a note.
Her daring was initially rewarded. At that time, Jacob-Rauch was worth 57,000 euros. She had increased her original result by 25,000 euros. Actually, it should have been with gambling, as the now joker-free candidate promised. But then she got too greedy. For 100,000 euros, Jauch asked which animals with black fur are also referred to as black panthers. Possible answers: cheetah
Jacob-Rauch immediately settled on the incorrect assessment that black panthers could definitely be cougars. Suddenly the candidate seemed to be gripped by the hunting fever. She even tried to get an additional 50:50 joker from Jauch. The moderator bluntly rejected it. "Are you crazy? I'm about to get a phobia from you," he blocked the candidate, who suffers from a pathological fear of shimmering buttons.
When Jacob-Rauch suddenly pulled a cube out of his pocket that she had found in a parking lot the day before and was supposed to let him decide what to do next, Jauch lost the last bit of commitment to the candidate. "You end up leaving it to a stupid cube?" he asked in disbelief. After much back and forth and even more whimpering, the German teacher sealed the decision for "Puma
"Oh, what a pity," Jacob-Rauch carried her case from 32,000 to 8,000 euros with composure. Jauch took the whole thing as a good sign for the hapless candidate's relationship. "Could there be a stronger connection between your husband and you? He crashed at 500, you crashed on this show and come home with Plus. So: Terrible fates look different," said the moderator.
The final of the WWM special week was really lucrative for Maik Müller. The radio presenter from Potsdam increased his earnings from 32,000 to 110,000 euros and was the winner of the almost four-hour final.
Müller was not satisfied with Jauch's initial bid for a guaranteed 7,000 euros and traded the moderator up to 10,000 euros. "That's not enough. I can't even pay for the food at the wedding," said Müller, who wants to tie the knot in the summer. His fiancé broke down in tears shortly after his win at the studio - but not so much out of joy as out of sheer relief. "How many marriages did we start with this show and how many finally separated?" Jauch asked himself on this occasion.
Müller had to know for 100,000 euros: who should be responsible for an event that, according to legend, happened on June 26, 1284? The Pied Piper of Hamelin, Viktor Frankenstein, King Arthur and Pinocchio were available. Müller's co-moderator typed rather helplessly on King Arthur as a telephone joker. In view of the specific date, however, Müller suddenly tended towards the German legendary figure. "Mr. Jauch, you're getting me down," the candidate grieved. "That's the point," replied the WWM host.
Mueller logged on answer A with the courage of desperation. When the field lit up green, he and his fiancee were clearly on edge. First she asked for his glass of Kölsch to calm her down. With the following question for a quarter of a million euros, what the toilet is literally about, the Potsdamer then got out (correct answer: a little handkerchief).
Jauch was able to reveal on the subject that he was allowed to use the Sanifair toilets free of charge at rest stops throughout his life. A manager once slipped him a voucher. "He gave it to me like winning the lottery," Jauch recalled. In view of the price increases, however, he now appreciates the gift. "I drive with a completely new feeling on German autobahns. I want to stop all the time."
The finale of the "three million euro week" also ended well for Ann-Kathrin Krimmer from Munich and Heiko Borscheid from Gaggenau. The management consultant was able to almost double her profit from 16,000 to 30,000 euros. The spokesman for a women's soccer club in the second division did the same, jumping from 32,000 to 60,000 euros. Not a bad result for someone who initially had zero interest in participating in Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? would have had.
To this day it is a mystery who submitted Borscheid's application to RTL. Borscheid waved his thanks to the e-mail that he had been selected: "I'm not interested in the show." A minute later, a lady on the phone was able to dissuade him from getting out. "So you have to be forced to be happy," Jauch said.
But the five extra-long special editions of WWM at the beginning of the year were again not enough for the ultimate triumph. It will soon be the third anniversary of the last victory at Jauch. The Cologne juice bar owner Ronald Tenholte cracked the million dollar question on March 24, 2020. The record profit has been in the hands of Nadja Sidikjar for more than seven years now. She won exactly 1,538,450 euros in the jackpot special on November 13, 2015, without answering the million dollar question. But there is no shortage of opportunities to get rich quick. Jauch will start again on Monday.
