Second chance at jackpot for Llewellyn-Bowen

Changing Rooms star Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen missed out on the £1m (€1.5m) jackpot in Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, but will get a second shot at the prize after a mix-up over the question, it was revealed today.

The presenter faced the £1m (€1.5m) teaser in a celebrity edition of the show, filmed last night.

He appeared to give the wrong answer and saw his prize money plummet to £32,000 (€46,800).

But programme makers Celador decided to let him try again after admitting the question had not been fair.

The question was: Translated from the Latin, what is the motto of the United States?

Llewelyn-Bowen and wife Jackie had to choose from the following answers: A) In God We Trust, B) One Out Of Many, C) All As One, D) Striving Together.

The presenter, who had sailed through the previous questions with ease, confidently replied: “It’s In God We Trust.”

But the answer was One Out Of Many and the £1m (€1.5m) prize was lost.

However, Celador has now said it is not satisfied the question “meets our usual high standards of fair game play”.

In God We Trust is indeed the official motto of the United States, adopted on July 30, 1956, and appears on US currency – but it is not a translation from the Latin.

One Out Of Many is another US motto and is a translation from the Latin E Pluribus Unum. It has appeared on the Great Seal since 1782.

The Llewelyn-Bowens were appearing in a Valentine’s Day couples special to go out on February 11.

They had answered the £750,000 (€1.1m) question with ease – the highest figure yet reached by a celebrity on the ITV1 show – and believed they had won the £1m (€1.5m) for their chosen charity, the Shooting Star Children’s Hospice.

A Celador spokeswoman said: “We are not satisfied that the question they went out of the game on meets our usual high standards of fair game play, so we have invited them back to resume the game with a new question at the same level. The question they answered was ambiguous.”

Llewelyn-Bowen said: “We feel as if we’ve been reprieved from the firing squad. How unusual is it to get a second chance in life?

"But as far as we are concerned, this charity really deserves this so we’re clearing our diaries and going back for another onslaught, and we’re grateful to Celador for the opportunity.”

The US Embassy confirmed neither of the answers was wholly correct.

“In God We Trust is the motto of the United States, so that part of the answer is right, but it wasn’t translated from Latin. So he’s right and he’s wrong,” a spokeswoman said.