Who is Tecwen Whittock and what happened to him after Who Wants To Be A Millionaire scandal?
14 April 2020, 19:50
Who is Tecwen Whittock? Did he go to jail and what happened to him after the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire scandal?
Quiz premiered on ITV this week, telling the story of the ‘coughing scandal’ on ITV game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?.
Back in 2001, Charles Ingram (played by Matthew Macfaydan) allegedly cheated his way to winning the £1million prize, along with the help of his wife Diana (Sian Gifford) and Tecwen Whittock (Michael Jibson).
But who is Tecwen and what happened to him after the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire scandal?
Who is Tecwen Whittock?
Tecwen Whittock (played by Muchael Jibson in Quiz) was a college lecturer from Cardiff, and was a contestant on series 10 of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire on 15 September, 2001.
He walked away with £1,000 after incorrectly answering his £8,000 question.
Tecwen was later found guilty of helping Charles Ingram win £1,000,000, by allegedly using a coughing technique to hint at the correct answers.
Before his appearance on the show, Tecwen had also been on Sale of The Century, Fifteen To One, The People Versus and Brain of Britain.
How was Tecwen Whittock involved in the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire coughing scandal?
When Charles Ingram appeared on the show, it was alleged Tecwen coughed every time the correct answer was read out.
At the time, the sound team noticed he also seemingly blew his nose whenever Charles was about to pick the wrong answer.
He is said to have coughed 192 times during filming.
Quiz | This April on ITV
The £1m prize money was suspended and in 2003 Tecwen, Charles and his wife Diana were arrested.
The trio have always denied the charges, with Tecwen insisting that he had a persistent existing cough, and it was all a "coincidence".
Where is Tecwen Whittock now?
After being found guilty of procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception and received a 12-month suspended sentence, a £10,000 fine plus £7,500 in costs.
Not much is known about Tecwen now, but he gave up his job as a lecturer at Pontypridd College shortly after the trial and is said to have sold his Whitchurch home to pay fines.
He is now approaching 70-years-old and has kept out of the spotlight.
