I was pleased to see the new series of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? return this week. It’s one of those shows which, a few years ago, ran its course and was rightly axed by ITV (are you paying attention, Simon Cowell). Now it’s back, everyone is loving it again (that doesn’t always apply – sorry, Simon)

However, now that I am a homeowner, I cannot watch WWTBAM in the same way in which I used to. This is because just over a year ago, I spent tens of thousands of pounds, and borrowed an awful lot more, to buy a property. When I started watching the series under Chris Tarrant, all my finances were calculated based upon how many DVD and Nintendo 64 games I could buy (which shows just how long ago that was).

The other night, a woman won £125,000. The problem was, that she also lost £125,000. Basically, she had £250k, became greedy and gambled it, in an attempt to win half a million pounds.

I was able to see the entire catastrophe unfold, because I knew the correct answer. My knowledge of historical explorers is next to nothing, but while the woman spent the majority of the hour-long episode, pondering over what she should do, I Googled the answer.

£125k is half the price of a small house. Of course, it all depends on where you live in the country – in London, it’s a small coat cupboard, whereas in Middlesbrough, you could buy an entire postal code.

When the woman started to ponder whether or not to risk losing the money, I was getting twitchy for her – YOU’RE GAMBLING HALF A HOUSE! HALF A HOUSE!

If, away from the television studio and Jeremy Clarkson’s evil gaze, she had been offered a chance to bet a six-figure sum on a racing horse, with the opportunity to double her money, she would have laughed in your face – any sane person would. Therefore, why do contestants lose their minds (as well as their money) on these TV game shows…

Greed? Excitement? Stupidity? A bit of all three, perhaps?