{
  "type": "article",
  "title": "CRPF officer who banked 50 lakh on KBC reveals soldiers sometimes have to eat snakes to survive in the jungle",
  "summary": "CRPF Deputy Commandant Manoj Kumar Yadav won 50 lakh rupees on KBC Season 18 and chose to quit rather than risk it on a 1 crore rupee question. He also spoke about COBRA battalion survival training and a serious eye injury he suffered during an encounter in Jharkhand.",
  "content": "Manoj Kumar Yadav, a Deputy Commandant with the CRPF, took the hot seat on the 18th season of the television quiz show Kaun Banega Crorepati this week and impressed viewers with his calm reasoning. Originally from Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh, he currently serves at the CRPF Intelligence School in Gurugram, Haryana. The episode drew attention not just for how far he progressed in the game, but for the glimpses it offered into the risks that come with his job.\n\nThe road to 50 lakh rupees\nYadav used every one of his lifelines while working through the game, getting 14 questions right in a row and banking a substantial 50 lakh rupees. Along the way he opened up to host Amitabh Bachchan about several personal details and recounted a few hair-raising incidents from his years on duty.\n\nA one crore rupee question he chose not to gamble on\nOnce the 50 lakh rupees was secured, Bachchan put the 15th question to him, worth 1 crore rupees. It asked which explorer and candidate for the American presidency is credited with naming the strait that the famous Golden Gate Bridge later took its name from. The four options offered were James Blaine, John Fremont, Winfield Scott and Leland Stanford. The question demanded precise historical knowledge rather than general awareness, and unsure of the correct answer, Yadav decided against the risk and made the sensible call to walk away from the game with the 50 lakh rupees he had already won.\n\nHis guess after quitting turned out wrong too\nAfter exiting the game, Bachchan asked him to take a guess anyway, and Yadav named Winfield Scott, but that answer wasn't correct. The right answer was John Fremont. John C. Fremont had been a candidate in the 1856 American presidential election, and it was he who named the San Francisco strait Golden Gate back in 1846, because the spot reminded him of the Golden Horn harbour in Istanbul. Decades later, in 1937, the landmark Golden Gate Bridge was completed at that very location.\n\nSurvival training that sometimes means eating snakes\nDuring the conversation, Bachchan also asked about the survival training given inside the COBRA battalion. Yadav explained that soldiers go through extremely tough training to survive harsh conditions deep in the jungle. He said that in especially difficult situations, troops sometimes have no choice but to eat snakes to keep themselves going. This, he noted, is a deliberate part of the training, meant to prepare soldiers to hold their ground on the battlefield even without any regular access to food or water.\n\nAn encounter in Jharkhand's forests left a bullet splinter in his eye\nYadav also shared the story of a dangerous encounter in the jungles of Jharkhand. He said his team had travelled to the hideout in ordinary civilian vehicles to stay hidden from the enemy. The moment they called on the men to surrender, heavy firing broke out from the other side. During that exchange, a splinter from a bullet lodged itself in the retina of his right eye. The injury underscored just how close he had come to losing his eyesight altogether while carrying out the operation. Yadav said that suffering an injury like that in the service of the country is nothing but a matter of pride for him.\n\nQuestions & Answers\n\n1. How much did Manoj Kumar Yadav win on KBC?\nHe won 50 lakh rupees by correctly answering 14 questions.\n\n2. What is Manoj Kumar Yadav's position in the CRPF?\nHe is a Deputy Commandant, currently posted at the CRPF Intelligence School in Gurugram.\n\n3. Where is Manoj originally from?\nHe is originally from Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh.\n\n4. What was the 1 crore rupee question about?\nIt asked which explorer and American presidential candidate is credited with naming the strait after which the Golden Gate Bridge is named.\n\n5. What was the correct answer to that question?\nThe correct answer was John Fremont, who named the strait Golden Gate in 1846.\n\n6. What did Manoj guess after quitting the game?\nHe guessed Winfield Scott, which turned out to be wrong.\n\n7. What does COBRA battalion survival training involve?\nSoldiers sometimes have to eat snakes to survive in difficult jungle conditions as part of the training.\n\n8. How was Manoj's eye injured?\nA splinter from a bullet lodged in the retina of his right eye during an encounter in the jungles of Jharkhand.\n\nInspiration & Lessons\nManoj Kumar Yadav's story is not just about winning on a quiz show, it is also about making sound calls under pressure.\n\n• Don't gamble without a sure answer: Choosing to protect his winnings rather than risk them on a guess for the 1 crore rupee question shows that safeguarding what you've already secured can be the wiser move under uncertainty.\n• Prepare in advance for tough conditions: The COBRA battalion's survival training reflects the value of being mentally and physically ready for hard missions well before they happen, no matter how extreme the conditions.\n• Treat the risks of duty with pride, not complaint: Despite a serious eye injury, Yadav spoke of it as a matter of pride in serving the country, a mindset that helps in facing adversity without resentment.\n• Keep going after a major setback: Continuing his service after a severe injury, and later sharing that experience publicly, shows that difficult experiences can be turned into strength rather than something that holds a person back.",
  "url": "https://trendkia.com/en/tv/50-lakha-jitakara-bicha-men-ruke-crpf-ke-dipti-kamandenta-manoj-kumar-yadav-bataya-jngala-men-sarvaivala-ke-lie-javanon-ko-sanpa-t-28186",
  "category": "TV",
  "publishedAt": "2026-09-05",
  "tags": [
    "KBC",
    "Kaun Banega Crorepati",
    "CRPF",
    "Manoj Kumar Yadav",
    "Golden Gate Bridge",
    "Amitabh Bachchan",
    "COBRA battalion",
    "Jharkhand encounter"
  ],
  "language": "en",
  "site": "TrendKia"
}