I was in the audience on night two when Charles Ingram cheated and won the £1m. I’ve even got a fleck of that winner’s glitter somewhere in a box in my loft, true story.

Some observations for #Quiz fans

Personally I didn’t notice the coughing at all, and nor did the person I was with. I know we all know the story now, but it was just not on anyone’s radar.

What I did notice: The major behaving weirdly. Reading the answers out over and over, changing his mind.

I called The S*n after the recording to tip them off about his win and didn’t mention any coughing or cheating at all. Didn’t even cross my mind.

But the one thing that really strikes me, seeing it re-enacted, is Chris Tarrant’s obvious disdain for Charles.

He kept shouting “major” like a bad Fawlty Towers sketch and telling him to his face how he basically thought he was stupid and mad.

It all makes sense now, seeing how suspicious the production team was even as it was being recorded.

Tarrant was trying to do his thing like a pro but he was obviously fuming even as the cameras were rolling

One of the weirdest things about the whole episode is how the news story got swept away by 9/11 happening hours later. So when the cheating story surfaced in The S*n days later, with my quote in it from the night, I was like... what

When the case went to court the Ingrams’ lawyers contacted me and asked me to take the stand and say something in his defence.

I’d given The S*n a false date of birth so I politely declined, saying I’d be quickly humiliated in the dock. Oh and also maybe they cheated?

I did another interview with The S*n in preparation for the end of the trial, and in another weird War on Terror twist the verdict came through during the Battle of Baghdad and my feature with pictures got biffed down to a couple of paragraphs, as did my fee

Meanwhile I declined to do an interview with my future employer of 13 years, the BBC, because they wouldn’t give me work experience in return for my clip (which was absolutely the right call from them).

19-year-old me was a bit of a bellend, unfortunately. /ends

Muting this thread now because, the internet. Before I do:

- No I’m not proud of calling The S*n, thought I’d made that pretty clear

- Yes I do realise the ITV drama is a dramatisation

- Tarrant’s a pro, I sensed some disdain, maybe it was just banter, it was 20 years ago