Reality throwback: Charles and Diana Ingram's Wife Swap episode with Jade Goody was peak Noughties TV

Major Charles Ingram played house with the Big Brother star while Diana shacked up with Jeff Brazier
Kimberley Bond14 April 2020

ITV's new drama Quiz has brought the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? coughing scandal back to the forefront of our minds - but the infamous saga is far from the Ingrams' only brush with fame.

Based on the cheating controversy that rocked the nation back in 2001, Quiz looks back at whether Major Charles Ingram, and his wife Diana, really were guilty of using a series of coded coughs to win the £1 million prize on the hit game show.

After being found guilty of conspiracy to obtain a valuable security by deception alongside a co-conspirator Tecwen Whittock in 2003, the couple - who have always maintained their innocence - made numerous reality TV appearances.

As well as popping up on short-lived show The Games and a celebrity version of The Weakest Link, Charles and Diana also featured on a celebrity special of Wife Swap in 2003, exchanging houses, husbands and lifestyles with the late Big Brother star Jade Goody.

ITV's Quiz featuring Michael Sheen (2020) - In pictures

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The middle-class Ingrams lived in the Wiltshire countryside, and Diana said on the programme she was afraid to be stuck sat in a nightclub with Goody’s then-partner Jeff Brazier, living their famed tabloid lifestyle.

Goody, however, was adamant she was not going to get on with Charles, saying she didn’t like "liars or people with chips on their shoulders" ahead of meeting her new partner for the swap.

Rows: The pair butted heads on the programme
Channel 4

While it took some adjusting at first, the pair came to have a grudging respect for one another as the episode - which isn't officially available online, but is currently on YouTube... - went on.

Jade told Radio Times at the time: “At first I didn't like him one bit.

"He was very irritating, very controlling, and he kept talking about how he did a lot round the house, but he never did anything to help me.

Now: Jeff looks after the two sons he shares with Jade, Bobby and Freddie
Instagram: @jeffbrazier

"After about four days, me and Charles had a big run-in, but that sort of cleared the air."

Charles added: “Jade went to considerable lengths to help me see the light and basically making a joke out of things.”

Charles also claimed his innocence in the Millionaire affair on the programme.

“The people either side of Tecwen said they didn’t notice any coughing,” he told Jade.

“That tape was nothing to do with me. It was said in court that it did not represent what I would have heard. It was a perverse verdict in light of the evidence.”

Goody died in 2009, after a battle with cervical cancer.

Quiz continues tonight at 9pm on ITV and is available to stream on the ITV Hub.

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