Laurence Llewelyn Blown-it

Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen proved he's more domehead than dandy - by making it to the £1 million question on a celebrity edition of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

But the foppish interior designer missed out on the jackpot in a nail-biting finale, with even host Chris Tarrant believing he had landed the big prize.

Llewelyn-Bowen, 40, and wife Jackie teamed up for the Valentine's special, which was filmed last night and will be screened on 11 February.

They managed to cruise through a series of tough questions to land £750,000 before the final £1 million teaser: "What is the literal translation of the Latin motto found on American coins?"

When Llewelyn-Bowen confidently replied: "It's In God We Trust" the audience and Tarrant were convinced the TV design expert had won the cash for his chosen charity, a hospice.

But the answer was wrong and the couple's prize plummeted to £32,000.

One member of the studio audience said: "When Laurence gave the answer, the audience and Chris were convinced he was right and that they'd won £ 1 million. But, although 'In God We Trust' is on the coins, it's not the translation of the Latin inscription. So they only won £32,000, which was the last bankable amount."

An on- set source added: " It was a thrilling night. Laurence did very well. He even knew the monarch who developed the idea of the handkerchief - Richard II."

Despite his impressive performance, however, the former Changing Rooms presenter failed to match previous celebrity contestants.

The highest-winning stars on the ITV1 show so far have been David Baddiel and Frank Skinner and, most recently, Frederick Forsyth and Gloria Hunniford - neither of whom made it to the £1 million question but went home with £250,000 for their charities.

A spokeswoman for Who Wants To Be A Millionaire-makers Celador said: "We can't confirm or deny what's happened in the studio. It's a Valentine's special that is going out next month."