GAME show contestant Sheridan Booth had millions of TV viewers on the edge of their seats when he took part in the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? show.

But as fans of the top-rated programme, hosted by Chris Tarrant, wondered just how much he would win over his two-night appearance, few realised the truth about his background.

In front of the cameras and studio audience the 32-year-old described himself as a labourer and one-time member of the French Foreign Legion.

However, in Hassocks, where he lives, he is better known as a petty criminal. He spent a year in jail for burglary, has a conviction for threatening behaviour and could face a further prison sentence for possessing Class A drugs and shoplifting.

The former heroin addict is to be sentenced for his latest crime at Lewes Crown Court in July.

Booth took the hot seat directly after contestant Tony Kennedy, 29, from Blackpool, controversially scooped £125,000 even though he answered one question incorrectly.

When asked: "What is the minimum number of strokes with which a tennis player can win a set?" he wrongly answered 24 but the answer was shown to be correct by the show's computer. The actual answer is 12.

To win his place in the hot seat on Monday night, Booth beat nine other contestants at correctly putting in the right date order four Chancellors of the Exchequer - Harold MacMillan, Denis Healey, Norman Lamont and Gordon Brown.

Then, for his first question, to win £100, he was asked what was tossed before a football match to decide who kicks-off.

He correctly answered a coin.

And he followed up for £200 by knowing chlorine was the chemical added to swimming pools.

But all appeared to go wrong on his third question for £300.

He did not know that Pakistan and Bangladesh were once part of India and had to phone a female friend called Terri for the answer. She was right, but he was stumped again on the last question worth £500.

He was asked where you would use a gambit, but could not choose between cooking, gardening, carving and chess.

He asked quizmaster Tarrant to reduce the choice to just two answers then correctly guessed chess over gardening.

Monday night's programme ended with him still in the hot seat with £500 winnings and just one life spare.

Booth, who shares his home in Friars Close with girlfriend Adele Mason, refused to comment about his past or his TV appearance last night.

But a Mid Sussex CID officer who knows Booth said: "Any money that he won should help him pay off his fines."

Revelations about Booth's criminal record come as a severe embarrassment to organisers of the show, who have now launched an immediate investigation. And Booth may not now be allowed to keep his winnings.

Show spokesman Christian Cerisola said: "Who wants to be a Millionaire? rules specify that anybody with a criminal record, unless spent, is ineligible to enter.

"Access to criminal records is restricted by law. However, the programme makes all the checks it is able to and asks the contestants at three stages of the selection process to verify their eligibility and sign a legally-binding form to this effect.

"The programme policy is that in the event of a potential breach, any contestant prize money is withheld pending investigation."

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