Bake Off judge Prue Leith leaves viewers in shock after Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? blunder on ‘astonishingly easy’ question

Viewers were appalled at the Titanic question that stumped the TV judge

Great British Bake Off judge Prue Leith left Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? viewers dismayed after crashing out on an “astonishingly easy” question about the Titanic.

Leith appeared as a contestant on the game show's celebrity edition last night (27 December) in order to raise money for a charity of her choice.

The restauranteur started out well, answering multiple questions with ease. However, on the cusp of winning £64,000 for her chosen charity, Leith was stumped by what viewers have called an “easy” question.

The TV judge was asked: “Which of these senior crew members on RMS Titanic survived the sinking?” and was offered four options: 1st Officer William Murdoch, Chief designer Thomas Andrews, 2nd Officer Charles Lightoller, and Captain Edward Smith.

Flummoxed at the question, Leith used her 50/50 lifeline to remove two wrong answers and was left with Lightoller and Smith.

Still clueless to the correct answer, the 80-year-old went on to use her Call a Friend lifeline, which unfortunately did not sway her opinion either way.

The South African TV personality took a stab in the dark and wrongly opted for Captain Edward Smith, despite confirming that she had seen the 1997 film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.

Leith, therefore, lost £48,000 for the charity of her choice – Chefs in Schools, an organisation which encourages chefs to become school caterers in order to teach children to learn to eat healthier. Chefs in Schools was still given Leith’s remaining winnings of £16,000.

Viewers took to Twitter in disbelief over her wrong answer, which presenter Jeremy Clarkson declared a “bit of a disaster”.

“Prue Leith had a Titanic moment,” wrote one user. Another added: “The captain survived the Titanic… really @PrueLeith.”

A third Twitter user wrote:  “Had the Captain survived the Titanic – do you not think that we would ALL know that..???!!!”

Others echoed the same sentiment of shock, writing: “Doesn’t prue know the rule of the captain goes down with the ship?”

“Why would Prue gamble £48,000 of a charity’s money with an answer she hasn’t got a clue is right,” added another.

One user chimed in: “Prue Leith has seen the film, her nephew said he’s sure it isn’t the Captain, the captain always goes down with the ship. What does she pick? The Captain.”

Leith’s blunder follows shortly after Piers Morgan, who also recently appeared on the competition to raise money for charity, ended up walking away with just £1,000 after taking a gamble on an answer about Formula 1.

The Good Morning Britain presenter is reportedly donating £15,000 of his own money to his chosen charity Scotty’s Little Soldiers – which supports bereaved children of military personnel – to “make up the difference”.