Lilit Manukyan
Armenian game show contestant
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lilit Manukyan (Armenian: Լիլիթ Մանուկյան; born 1979)[1] is an Armenian game show contestant in Spain. In 2014, she became the first foreigner and first non-native Spanish speaker to win the vocabulary-based show Pasapalabra, taking a jackpot of €318,000. From 2020 to 2026, she was a "Chaser" on El cazador, Spain's version of The Chase.
Early and personal life
Manukyan was born in Yerevan[1] in Armenia, and lived in Russia between the ages of 16 and 28.[2] In Russia, she graduated with a degree in foreign business and worked in several companies.[1] She then moved to Spain, choosing the country due to having a cousin there and not perceiving it to be hostile to immigrants.[2]
Manukyan had taken only a few classes in Spanish before arriving in the country in June 2007, and began working as a babysitter or car washer, making far less than €1,000 per month.[1] As of 2022, Manukyan was married and had a daughter, and was employed as a commercial operator coordinator at a Renfe train station in Valencia.[2]
Game shows
Manukyan, who was already a fan of television game shows, began watching Saber y ganar and Pasapalabra in Spain.[1] When she discovered she knew the answers to ten of the questions on the latter's rosco final, she began training to win it, using an online forum to learn from a former jackpot winner.[1] Believing that winning Pasapalabra was more economically viable than her work at the time, she studied six hours a day for the show.[3] Manukyan said in 2022 that her ability in the Spanish language was not perfect, particularly on grammar, but that Pasapalabra only required knowledge of definitions.[2]
Manukyan began competing on Pasapalabra in December 2012.[4] After 37 shows,[1] on 21 November 2014, she won €318,000, becoming the first foreigner and first non-native speaker of Spanish to win the jackpot on the vocabulary-based show.[2] She lasted 85 episodes on the show.[5] Manukyan's jackpot and number of episodes were both the second-most for a female contestant on the show, behind fellow future cazadora Paz Herrera.[3] In September 2017, to mark the show's tenth year on Telecinco, Manukyan took part in a Supercopa, finishing runner-up to fellow future cazador David Leo and taking €25,000.[6]
After Pasapalabra, Manukyan also competed on Atrapa un millón, the Spanish version of The Million Pound Drop on Antena 3; and 15 episodes of Saber y ganar on La 2.[7]
In December 2019, Manukyan was announced as one of four game show veterans to be cazadores on El cazador, the Spanish adaptation for La 1 of British game show The Chase.[8] She combined the role with her job in Valencia.[4] Manukyan had to study general knowledge for the role, with her weaknesses being football and modern music.[9]