Frances Schoppe-Müller was still three questions short of a million – but in the end she failed not only because of a lack of knowledge, but also because of the technology. The young woman from Wismar was a candidate on the RTL quiz show “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” to see and had confidently gambled up to the 125,000 euro question. For this sum, moderator Günther Jauch wanted to know the following from her: “Anyone who wants to start training with the federal police needs at least which grades on the last school report?”
Schoppe-Müller tended to exclude answers A and D and suggested that if you wanted to work in the police force, sport might not be entirely unimportant. Eventually she decided to use her remaining telephone joker and call a friend – from there the mischief took its course. Instead of a ringtone, only a short beep could be heard. “What was that? Federal police are listening,” joked Günther Jauch. Then the line was busy. “Everything’s cut. He doesn’t seem to have paid the monthly rate for his cell phone in the short term,” said the moderator, slightly at a loss. Meanwhile, the direction came from the direction that you wanted to call another phone number.
In fact, someone picked up there – not the announced telephone joker, but his grandmother. “Is he near you or is he not allowed to answer the phone alone?” Günther Jauch asked. The elderly woman started looking for her grandson in the house without success. Finally she explained that he must be staying with his parents, who live nearby. Out of sheer excitement, she immediately gave the phone number, which was, however, beeped by the editors. “It was nice that I ended up with you. Thank you for the help,” said Jauch.
His candidate then explained to him that her acquaintance wanted to go to his parents because the reception for his mobile phone was better there. Nevertheless, he was not operational as a telephone joker. All attempts to reach him failed. When the message finally came, “No connection under this number,” Günther Jauch threw his hands over his head and cursed: “It can’t be done. Now we’ve got it all figured out. It won’t work. I don’t think he wants to.”
That’s why Frances Schoppe-Müller was able to fall back on a second girlfriend as a telephone joker. She could be reached immediately, but couldn’t help with the question. The candidate decided to drop out and went home with €64,000. In doing so, she intuitively guessed correctly on answer C.
