The Millionaire Cough

The 11th season of Kaun Banega Crorepati just started and needless to say the loved quiz show is getting all the attention it deserves because of 2 players winning the coveted 1 crore prize money in the first month itself. But have you ever imagined somebody would ever win this thing on the basis of anything but their knowledge?

It did happen and the story is as interesting as you think it will be.
In the year 2001 a real life hero appeared on the British version of ‘Who wants to be a millionaire?' 
Major Charles Ingram said all the right things and had the whole nation backing him up when he came on the stage of the quiz show,  the military façade coupled with the pitiable story of his wife winning £32,000 on the show a few months ago made him a fan favourite even before he started answering questions, but what happened next would become the biggest scandal in game show history ever.
Charles Ingram's appearance on the show started pretty badly. By the time he had stumbled his way to the £4,000 [$5,300] mark, he'd already used up two of his lifelines. The production team and even the audience sitting there at the time all doubted that he'd make it any further. Then a miraculous thing happened. During the next day's filming, Major Charles Ingram stomped his way ungracefully to a million.
You might think how is that even possible? What comes ahead is a story that will blow your mind.

A plan had been devised to get him there, Diana Ingram his wife had found a plant: Tecwen Whittock, a college lecturer from Cardiff who was also a contestant on the show that time and was watching Charles from the side-lines. They colluded as a three, creating a system to carry Ingram to the higher reaches of the game. The Major would read the four possible answers, and Whittock would cough after the correct one. On hearing the cough, the Major would know he had said the right one and proceed to offer this answer. The plan wasn’t terrible but the way they executed it gave them away. He would first try to answer it himself and in that process sometimes say he doesn’t know any of the options given but as soon as he starts reading the options and waits for the cough from Whittock he miraculously answers a question he did not understand a few minutes ago.
This pattern continues. The Major admits to not knowing any answers. Bafflingly he continues to say, "I don't know what that is," "I'm sure it's not that," or "I've never heard of that" but then gets . By the time he reaches the million pound question, he is clearly not feeling anywhere near the sort of pressure he should be. He flips between final answers, taking the money, A, B, C, and D every time making the production team suspicious of his behaviour. Even though people were catching on to his behaviour they couldn’t stop him from winning the million pound prize money
After the taping of the show Ingram did get caught, his expressions of fear and the loud coughing were things that led to his downfall. The £1,000,000 prize money was suspended, and following a four-week trial Diana Ingram, Tecwen Whittock, and Major Charles Ingram were convicted of procuring the execution of a valuable security by deception, and fined £115,000.

This story raises a very important question of what we as humans value more, do we play by the rules and keep our morals or do we let greed take us over?