Waterford man wins big on popular TV show

Ger Crowley, from Waterford, appeared on the popular TV show A resident of Waterford, Ger Crowley, has clinched over a quarter of a million pounds on ITV’s renowned quiz show, ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire’.

The 28-year-old, who hails from Stradbally, showcased his intellect on the programme, securing the remarkable sum, equivalent to €293,000.

Currently residing in London, Ger is a Post Doctoral Researcher specializing in neuroscience.

His path to the coveted seat on ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’ began three years ago, with his participation in a preliminary feeder show called ‘Fastest Finger First.’ His subsequent appearance on the main show, hosted by Jeremy Clarkson, was recorded for television in February 2023, but was aired this week. As a result, Ger had to keep his triumph under wraps for over a year.

Speaking with The Waterford News & Star, he reflected on the delayed celebrations, commenting: “My phone was hopping on Sunday night. It was filmed in February 2023, so its been quite a long time that I have been holding onto the secret.” Outlining his preparations for appearing on the show Ger said he did some final research on common quiz topics, such as British prime ministers and the Royal Family, however, he refrained from watching re-runs or overstudying.

“Growing up I would have been doing quizzes a lot,” he said.

“Table quizzes in primary school, and then pub quizzes when I got a bit older, so I think I had a fairly good knowledge built up from that,” he added.

Speaking further on his performance on the show, he said: “I got to the £64,000 question, and I had all of my lifelines remaining, and I decided to set my safety net.” “I was very thankful I did, because that question was a really tricky one for me, and I had to use the three lifelines to get to the correct answer,” he said.

“I asked the audience, used my 50/50, then phoned a friend, who’s a Gaelic football teammate of mine over here in London, and he was able to give me the correct answer,” he added.

Ger said he was delighted to get to that point in the show and didn’t anticipate going further.

With regard to how he celebrated the win, Ger said: “On Sunday evening we had half of Stradbally in the house!” “So that was a great celebration, with cousins, relatives, neighbors and people from the community,” he said.

“I’ve had so many people congratulating me, and I’d like to thank everyone because they’ve been very kind and saying very nice things,” he added.

Ger plans to use some of his winnings to travel the world: “I’d really like to go down to Australia and New Zealand, because we have a lot of friends who have emigrated out there. I have some relatives living there there, and it’s a breathtaking part of the world. It would be phenomenal to go there.” Filed under: Waterford, Waterford News, Who Wants