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Television host Chris Tarrant has revealed he is leaving Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? as contestants no longer take risks.

The last winner of the million pound jackpot was Ingram Wilcox in 2006, but hopefuls since then have been less willing to gamble their money.

It was recently announced that the quiz is set to end, after launching in September 1998. It was the first quiz show to offer viewers the chance to win £1 million — starting with Judith Keppel in 2000.

Tarrant, who has hosted the programme during its fifteen year span, told the Sun it was because contestants didn't want to risk their money.

He added: "I remember when we first started, we said to people, ‘Well, it’s your only chance... ’ and they’d go, ‘Yes, Chris, I’m going to go for it. It’s the only chance in my life of winning a million quid."

"Last year they were saying, ‘Fantastic, I’ve been on for ten minutes, I’ve got £20,000, I’m out of here.’ And I can’t say to someone, ‘Oh, go on, you’ve got to risk it’ because I can’t do that."

"After the three shows last summer, we sat back and went, ‘That was weird — what happened there?’ And somebody said, ‘It’s the recession, it’s like you can’t afford now to risk'."

Five millionaires were created on the the programme and the British public have won more than £50million.

The last live edition of the programme will feature Sir Alex Ferguson, Rebecca Adlington and Kian Egan.

It will be aired on ITV at 9pm tonight.