Who Wants to be a Millionaire? fans tuned in droves to watch controversial contestant Shane O'Doherty plump for enduring marital happiness rather than risk losing £93,000 last night.
Presenter Gay Byrne asked the £250,000 question: "Name the Dublin-born Olympic gold medalist who went on to become a nationalist MP for South Kerry".
For an agonising five minutes (later edited for television viewers) Mr O'Doherty was leaning towards one of the incorrect names, but decided instead to take the money.
"My wife was quoted somewhere as saying she'd leave me if I got this wrong," he said.
Gay Byrne congratulated Mr O'Doherty on his wise judgment, because John Pius Boland was the correct answer. He went back to Knocklyon, Dublin, with £125,000.
Mr O'Doherty said it was against his nature not to attempt an answer but he thought the question was "iffy". He said he was now looking forward to spending the money "foolishly".
The contestant said he would miss the limelight but hoped that his public appearances might result in a "career move". He will be back at work this morning at his events management company.
A spokeswoman for Tyrone Productions, the company behind the programme, said she had received a "large volume" of calls from members of the public saying they didn't want to know the outcome of the show until it was aired last night.
Despite this, the result was published in some newspapers over the weekend after the show was recorded on Friday.
"We would've loved to keep the suspense for the sake of our viewers and we were disappointed that people didn't respect that, but we weren't surprised," she said.
