A father who managed to bag an eye-watering £70,000 on The Weakest Link has revealed his tactic for getting to the top spot. 

Mike Stratton, 55, reveals he didn't stay up late revising, or try and cram in last minute facts for his appearance on the quiz show. 

Instead, he used clever tactics and played his opponents off against each other. 

The father from Wigan admitted that he was able to mastermind his victory on the hit show, which first aired in 2000, by following the other contestants to the toilet. 

The crafty quiz contestant then convinced them to vote for each other to improve their chances of staying in the competition. 

But little did they know, Mike was in fact double-crossing them and was using the same tactic with almost all the players. 

The clever trick enraged the other contestants when they realised what he had done and they even went as far as to try and turn the hopeful winner in. 

But much to their surprise, presenter Anne Robinson, who stepped down from hosting duties in 2012 and was replaced by Romesh Ranganathan, was impressed with Mike's ingenuity. 

Mike told The Sun: 'One of the guys in the green room said, "You hear what he said then? He said before to me if I didn't vote for him, he wouldn't vote for me." Another said the same thing.

'They all went and complained to Anne Robinson about me. But she loved it. She came and gave me a hug and everything.'

Mike managed to make his way round almost all the contestants except two but it was enough to ensure the Manchester native sailed through and bagged the top prize. 

And those he had duped only realised Mike's master plan when it was too late during a discussion in the green room.

And it wasn't just The Weakest Link that Mike starred on, the father-of-three went also competed on Bullseye, Beg, Borrow or Steal and Fear Factor.

And he was so successful he eventually earned enough through cash prizes to get laser eye surgery and IVF treatment.

And it was perhaps Anne's attitude towards Mark's tactic that led her to conclude she would be sacked from the hit show if she were to host it now. 

In 2021 the former journalist said she would 'absolutely not' be allowed to criticise contestants as she once did.

The Weakest Link saw her earn legions of fans - and the programme bought by TV companies worldwide - thanks to her caustic put-downs to contestants and the catchphrase 'You are the weakest link - goodbye'.

She was known to utter insults including: 'Who's jaw needs to be wired shut?' and 'Who's had no immunity against stupidity?'

Speaking to Woman's Hour, she told Radio 4 presenter Chloe Tilley: 'I wouldn’t get away with how I used to host Weakest Link today - absolutely not.

'We’re in a different age, the woke age, where almost anything you say upsets someone.'

Anne oversaw more than 1,690 episodes of Weakest Link between 2000 and 2012 and also hosted a short-lived American version of the show.

She said if she presented the show now, which is being rebooted with comedian Romesh Ranganathan, she'd have to curtail the queen of mean so as not to offend people.

Robinson said: 'I wouldn’t like to be doing Weakest Link with sort of leg irons on, having to worry all the time, "We’ll have to cut this, we’ll have to cut that"...'

She added: 'Language has changed and attitudes have changed. It was very lucky to be able to do it at the time I did it.