Oleksandr Druz is a master and multiple winner of the intellectual game “What? Where? When? . He has been delighting the audience with his erudition for many years. All the more surprising and incredible for the public is the scandalous story in which Druz was involved.
Scandal history
February 12 Ilya Ber - editor-in-chief of the program "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" - posted an interesting post on the Internet, revealing the impartial details of the participation in the program of one of the country's main intellectuals, Alexander Druz. Ber accused the famous player of attempting to bribe in order to find out in advance the answers to the questions that would be offered to him on the air. In the event of a victory and winning the main prize - three million rubles - Druz allegedly promised the editor a third of the declared amount.
Ilya Ber stressed that over the 10 years of his work in the show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" never before have participants been given a list of questions. They had an agreement in principle with Konstantin Ernst on this many years ago. As evidence of his accusations, the editor-in-chief presented a dictaphone recording of a conversation with Alexander Druz. At the time, he didn’t reply to the expert’s proposal, feigning misunderstanding.
After much deliberation, Ber decided to put an end to such unscrupulous behavior and turned to the leadership of the International Club Association (IAC) “What? Where? When?”, Demanding the disqualification of Friends and removal from the board.
It is noteworthy that the issue of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" with the participation of Druzya was filmed on November 23, and was shown on the air in December. To the questions of the presenter Dmitry Dibrov, the master answered not one, but together with his colleague Viktor Sidnev. Experts got to the 15th question, to which they gave the wrong answer and won only 200 thousand rubles.
What did Alexander Druz answer?
First of all, the journalists turned to the master himself “What? Where? When? . Druz honestly admitted that his voice really sounds on the recording presented by Ber. However, the situation developed exactly the opposite. The program editor himself invited the famous player to share a list of questions in exchange for a part of the prize. Druz, in response, played along with him, discussed the details of the deal.
He notified his colleague Sidnev about what was happening, after which the experts took a wait-and-see attitude. When Ilya Ber provided a list of questions, they firmly decided, if the information coincided, to leave the studio "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" with a small win. Of course, two well-known intellectuals could not show a very modest result, so they stopped at question 15 so as not to arouse public suspicion.
By the way, according to Druz, the last five questions did not coincide. Experts answered them correctly on their own. And the last task they got wrong was not that difficult. However, following the agreement and wanting to teach Bera a lesson, Druz and Sidnev deliberately chose the wrong option. His attempt to teach the editor a lesson, the master “What? Where? When? called it a rash act. He complained that due to the uproar, he was not feeling well, he was treating high blood pressure.
Opinions and comments
Everyone who previously had or is related to the parties to the conflict spoke out about the scandal that broke out. The head of Channel One, Konstantin Ernst, said that a check was being carried out on this incident. Sorting out the situation will not be easy, he said, since the two intellectual shows involved in the scandal are produced by different producers. As a result, the interests of a large number of people are affected. Ernst also suggested that the reason for the whole situation lies in the personal conflict between Friends and Bera.
Former host of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" Maxim Galkin confirmed the fairness of the show. And although he did not have to deal with such a thing, the humorist noticed unethicalness in Ber's actions. After all, the check, about which the editor speaks, called into question the reputation of the program.
Dmitry Dibrov is currently hosting the show, and also asked Druz and Sidnev questions on the same broadcast. He preferred to take a neutral position, not supporting anyone. A little earlier, Dibrov questioned the need for prompts for such an erudite person as the master “What? Where? When? Prior to this incident, Druz had already come to the game in tandem with Alexander Rosenbaum and successfully reached the amount of one and a half million.
The journalists found out that from a legal point of view, Druz could face charges under Article 204 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Commercial bribery”. If guilt is proven, the punishment is unlikely to be harsh, but will most likely be limited to a suspended sentence. But these are only theoretical assumptions of the worst outcome of the situation, and while the proceedings in the case are ongoing.
