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Tom Wollnik (left), software developer from Berlin, revealed how many croissants Chancellor Merz consumes on a short flight on "Who wants to be a millionaire? Even more impressive was his dizzying climb up the question ladder.
Picture: RTL
It's not often that "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" presenter Günther Jauch gets excited: "Kids, when was the last time we asked a million-dollar question? I can't remember!" Last night was the night.
Tom Wollnik from Berlin is a software developer. The 28-year-old is single but in a relationship. He brought his mother to "Who wants to be a millionaire?" for emotional support. He chose the game variant with four jokers, probably not yet realizing that he would make RTL history on Monday evening ...
Worth 2000 euros: "Which island is home to the 'Mount Gay' distillery, which has been in production since 1703 and is considered the birthplace of rum?" Barbados, Mauritius, Jersey, Spiekeroog? After the 50:50 joker, the answers were reduced to A and D. Wollnik chose correctly: A.
The 16,000 mark: "Whose record of 894 league goals was broken by a certain Alexander Ovechkin in 2025?" Christiano Ronaldo, Nikola Karabatic, Tom Brady, Wayne Gretzky? The telephone joker knew it was an ice hockey player and recommended D. Correct!
In small talk with presenter Günther Jauch, viewers learned that Wollnik's christening tree was planted by none other than the then Environment Minister Angela Merkel.
The 32,000-euro question was also about nature: "Among other things, the enzyme ... is considered to be digestive and anti-inflammatory?" Papain from papaya, banain from banana, mandain from mandarin, maracuja from maracuja?
The audience joker helped the candidate overcome this hurdle. 88 percent of the swarm intelligence voted for answer A. That was correct.
Worth 125,000 euros: "Which skin fungus introduced from Asia poses a deadly threat to the animals mentioned in its name in this country?" Wasp hunter, rat catcher, pigeon killer, salamander eater? The additional joker correctly recommended answer D.
"You have a penchant for denunciation." This sentence irritated Günther Jauch. What was meant was that Tom Wollnik had already recognized both Angela Merkel and Olaf Scholz while shopping.
The latter even under a mask and surrounded by security guards during the Corona period. The candidate's biggest revelation concerned the current Federal Chancellor, who was sitting next to him on the plane: "He ate four croissants on the short 40-minute journey from Berlin to Munich!" The audience laughed. "If only the voters had known that beforehand!" joked presenter Jauch. And continued: "But he has a great figure."
The candidate who played his way to half a million also cut a top figure. For 500,000 euros, Günther Jauch wanted to know: "Which company was the largest private employer in the world in 2024 with over two million employees?" UPS, Walmart, Volkswagen, Amazon?
Rom Wollnik immediately wanted to follow his gut feeling: "Walmart". The presenter warned: "If that works, you'll have half a million and we'll burst into tears here at RTL. If that goes wrong, the first three digits will remain - 500."
Jauch emphasized: "500,000 or 500 - we haven't been faced with that alternative for a long time." Tom Wollnik dared to follow his first intuition.
The sensation: "Kinders, when was the last time we asked a million-dollar question?" even Günther Jauch was excited. "I have no memory of it. And when was the last time we had a millionaire? I can't imagine!"
But as the presenter was about to ask the jackpot question, the horn sounded, signaling the end of the show. "No! Guys! That's mental cruelty, you can't do that!" protested Günther Jauch.
Now patience was required until the next show ...
However, this is now available on RTL+ with the usual one-week lead time before the RTL broadcast. If you don't want to spoil the suspense until the TV broadcast next week, you should therefore not read on here.
The one million question is: "According to the ECB, which euro coin had the fewest coins in circulation at the beginning of 2026?" The possible answers: A: 2 euros, B: 50 cents, C: 20 cents, D: 5 cents.
Tom Wollnik immediately thanks him for making it so easy: "I don't know, I'd have to guess, and I don't dare."¨
He turns down Günther Jauch's tongue-in-cheek invitations to gamble. He would have guessed C, 20 cents, the correct guess would have been B, 50 cents. The candidate wants to use the half a million to pay off the loan on his condominium in Berlin and take a few trips.
