In early 2002 the regulator of the National Lottery, Camelot wanted to rebrand the lottery. Therefore they changed the name of main jackpot draw to Lotto and make a very small tweak  to their crossed fingered logo. With the BBC continuing to broadcast the draws live. They decided to spice things up by changing how the draws are produced by bringing in a draw host who would assist the person hosting the main lottery show. It was announced by that the BBC have commissioned a new nine episode quiz show to go alongside with the lottery rebrand. Namely, In It to Win It. This was a summer lottery show to air along side the current shows of Winning Lines and Jet Set.

Produced by a new company that was formed in 2001 (by David Young, former Executive Producer of Weakest Link and inventor of Friends Like  and The National Lottery Jet Set), 12Yard Productions featured a first for lottery shows by giving away life changing cash prizes up to £100,000 by answering general knowledge questions. Hosted by Dale Winton of Supermarket Sweep fame. The show featured five contestants, all represented by a coloured ball. The colours were taken from the Lotto draw balls  (white, blue, pink, green and yellow). A random ball machine would pick a ball and that person would enter and sit in Winners Row. That person can earn money towards a prize fund by answering a multiple choice question correctly. Each correct answer placed £5,000 in the prize fund. However, if they answer a question incorrectly their place will be put into jeopardy as they move to Red Area. If at least one person is sitting in the Red Area then a new contestant would enter Winners Row. The person or persons in the Red Area must answer a question without any choices. Answer correctly and they return to Winners Row. Answer incorrectly and they return to the start with the fate out of their hands whether they will return. After around twenty questions a klaxon would sound. The contestants who are sitting in Winners Row have to answer one more question correctly to win a share of the prize fund. Answer incorrectly and they leave with nothing.

When In It to Win It first aired in 2002 many viewers, including ukgameshows.com columnist, Iain Weaver (http://www.ukgameshows.com/ukgs/Weaver%27s_Week_2002-05-25) thought the show was on a clock as it wasn’t certain how many questions would be asked but it was revealed later on in the show’s run the prize fund was capped at £100,000. The opinions of viewers after the first show were mixed with the majority being on the negative side with “there are not enough questions”, “the show is too slow with the contestants mulling with the answers” and “this is boring, just give us the lottery draws”. However, the ratings defied the critics of the viewers as it had 7.68 million viewers. Becoming the second most watched show on the night (behind Casualty) and beating everything on ITV1. Including Blind Date and new and the new, live quiz show The Vault. The first series ended on 20th July with a series average of 5.8 million viewers. A second series for 2003 was commissioned straight away. Future series would air in the summer but it was on 5th September 2004 it achieved the impossible as it managed to beat ITV1 popular quiz show, Who Wants to be a Millionaire by nearly 1 million viewers. Due to the increased popularity a decision was made in 2006 to produce two series of the show. One in the summer, the second in the autumn. In 2008 another decision was made to move In It to Win It to a New Year slot. This resulted their continued dominance on Saturday night as it beat every show on rival channel ITV but becoming the most watched show on the night surpassing long running hospital drama Casualty. The winter shows regularly placed them in the top 10 BBC One programmes for some weeks. In 2010 a special series was commissioned to celebrate the 2012 London Olympics by having Olympic themed questions and the coloured balls to represent the contestants were the colours of the rings on the Olympic logo. In It to Win It’s ten years on air have seen popular lottery shows come and go. Including Winning Lines, Jet Set and 1 Vs 100. It is now the longest running lottery show of all time and the longest running BBC One prime time quiz show since Mastermind.

We’ve now talked about the show’s format and history. How did it get it right to captivate the audience throughout the decade?

1. The cardinal rule of television game shows is if you overexpose a show then the viewers will turn off. As of today In It to Win It have transmitted only 128 episodes within ten years. Making an average of 12.8 shows per calendar year.
2. The questions of the show and the format have been designed that anybody can take part in their living room from children to grandparents. The BBC launched an interactive function in 2010 where viewers with Freeview and Sky Digital can play along with the show via the Red Button service. Adding the realism to the show. Viewers can see how many questions they answered correctly.
3. A popular reason behind Family Feud/Family Fortunes success is the contestants giving daft answers. This trend has lead to In It to Win It creating laugh out moments and viewers shaking their heads where contestants have given many silly answers in the Red Area and giving reasons for their answers in Winner’s Row.
4. A successful show can be down to the Master of Ceremonies. Dale Winton has been a veteran of hosting a game show after he hosted ITV daytime show, Supermarket Sweep for eight years. His popularity on the show led him to become a National Lottery draw presenter and later had his own entertainment show entitled National Lottery Stars. He he liked with the Great British public and his job on the show has seen him interacting well and bantering with the contestants. Making them feel comfortable and encouraging for them to win. In 2005, Dale Winton was interviewed by Jonathan Ross on his BBC Radio 2 show and stated that after years of hosting many shows. In It to Win It is the best one out of the lot.
5. The element of surprise. Given how the format is set up the viewer doesn’t know the final outcome right until the final minute of the show. With the musical chairs style you can have one person playing for the prize fund or all five. It has been noticed in many shows one person could reach Winners Row before the klaxon without putting anything in the prize fund. Meaning someone could win a share of the prize fund by answering only one question.
6. The show’s set up and it’s budget. One of the reasons that it has surpassed Winning Lines, 1 Vs 100 and Jet Set is down to the set up and budget. In It to Win It can record a whole series in three days by recording up to three shows a day. Also each show only needs five contestants per show. Although Winning Lines was part recorded/part live. Their show had to be recorded every Saturday. Also unlike In It to Win It they had to invite down 49 contestants every week. Making the travel and accommodation budget quite high. Jet Set might have had seven contestants but the show was transmitted live every Saturday and had to use an extra OB film crew to film the champions jet set lifestyle around the world. 1 Vs 100 might have adapted the same recording schedule as In It to Win It but BBC and Endemol had to look after over 100 people for one recording day and pay for their travel and accommodation. In addition, the fourth series of 1 Vs 100 got beaten massively by Britain’s Got Talent on ITV1.

To celebrate the tenth anniversary of this successful British quiz show we have got two clips. The first clip is taken from the very first show on Saturday 18th May 2002. The second is from last Saturday’s latest show. You will see how vastly the show has changed since day one. Including the set up of the Red Area and how the show is produced.

Then

(Video: Watch this video on the post page)

Now

(Video: Watch this video on the post page)

Videos courtesy of BBC and 12Yard Productions (an ITV Studios Company)

Here are some statistics from the show.

As of Friday 18th May 2012.

• 640 contestants have appeared on the show.
• Over £6.5 million has been given away to 190 contestants.
• An average of 2.06 contestants per show leave with a share of the prize fund.
• On nine shows all contestants went home empty handed.
• On three shows all five contestants shared the prize fund.
• Two people have won the maximum prize fund of £100,000. Eleri Owen on 29th July 2006 and  Toni Cox on 24th January 2009. On 15th May 2010 a third contestant, Olly Lewin answered all twenty questions to place £100,000 in the prize fund. However, he answered his final question incorrectly to leave with nothing.
• The lowest prize fund awarded on the show is £15,000. This was shared between two people.

Katty Kay and Dr. Mehmet Oz each won $10,000 for their respective charities International Women’s Media Foundation and HealthCorps.  Jeopardy! provided us with a clip of Final Jeopardy! plus a short interview with Chris.  Take a look below.  Photo and video courtesy Jeopardy Productions, Inc.

In addition to the play-along, the popular Lifeline “Ask the Audience” will be getting a revamp.  The long running Lifeline will be renamed “Ask the Nation”.  In addition to the studio audience, the home audience’s answers will be displayed for the contestants to consider.  A similar concept was attempted on the American version.  People using AOL Instant Messenger were sent the questions as contestants used Ask the Audience and both results were displayed.  The gimmick only lasted one season.

Three live civilian episodes have been ordered for this summer.

“The concept that every dater has hidden baggage—small, medium and large—has struck a chord with GSN’s viewers,” said Amy Introcaso-Davis, EVP, programming and development. “Its pop cultural relevance has made Baggage a top performer, and we are excited to partner with NBCUniversal Domestic Television to bring this buzzy show to a new audience.”

Stations airing Baggage include WPIX New York, WCIU Chicago, WPHL Philadelphia, WLVI Boston, WATL Atlanta, WKCF Orlando, WSTR Cincinnati, WNUV Baltimore and WTTE Columbus, Ohio.  If it shows up in your market, let us know.  I know we’ve got a lot of people looking forward to this, so hopefully you won’t be in that 5%.

The title gives it away, but how did you do?  Regardless of my issues with the insane cheapness of the show, I always have enjoyed their Showcase and it’s a cool moment.  What do you think?

Tuesday’s game featured CNBC anchor David Faber, NBA star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Dana Perino of Fox News.  David came out ahead in the end and scored the $50,000 for his charity New Visions for Public Schools.  Kareem and Dana won $10,000 each for their respective charities Skyhook Foundation and Pets2Vets.  We’ll have more video later, but for now check out this cool clip from a rehearsal game.

On today’s episode of Jeopardy!, Power Players Katty Kay, Dr. Mehmet Oz and Chris Wallace face off for at least $50,000.  Chris Wallace is very, very smart so I wouldn’t be shocked to see him win, but you never know.

Photo courtesy Jeopardy Productions, Inc

His ability to control his body is unbelievable. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me at the start. Yes, he’s a great contortionist, but his muscle control is something I’ve not seen on this show. The Chinese Lion dancing group was fantastic, too.

If you watched, though, I doubt you’ll be forgetting Mr. Special. I can’t, and I’ve tried so hard.

Any highlights for you?

Moreover the show peaked at 355,000 viewers at 8:20PM, which is right around the time the first Gold Run aired.  For comparison, last year the network’s highest show was an episode of Millionaire at 251,000 viewers.  Congratulations to their success, and I hope it continues.  Interestingly, the show trended on Twitter in the top five during the airing.  For a small network, that’s a remarkable feat.

If you watched the first episode of Blockbusters, it’s easy to tell why it was a success.  They did it just about as well as you could.  The show, presentation wise, has been updated to 2012 standards.  However, they know the game works and that Challenge viewers like it, so they didn’t mess with it.  That’s what basically any good revival should do.  Tweak the show to fit with the times but don’t throw the entire thing out.  Extremely enjoyable half hour of television and I look forward to more.  Other places should take note.  By the way, Challenge has released an online version which you can play by clicking here.  Very fun game.  Can’t wait for the multiplayer version.

We’re waiting for permission from Talkback to show you the first Gold Run legally, but I’m sure you can find the episode elsewhere if you look.  What did you think of All New Blockbusters?

The British Chaser taking on contestants is Mark Labbett.  He’s arguably the most popular Chaser on the British version, and definitely the most intimidating and engaging, so good choice there.

Taking the role of the American Chaser is Jeopardy! champion Brad Rutter.  Brad Rutter is the winner of Jeopardy!‘s “Million Dollar Masters” tournament, the “Ultimate Tournament of Champions” where he won $2M more, and helped win his team $600,000 on ABC’s Million Dollar Mind Game.  He’s won just about every modern intelligent game show out there, and he’s got a great on-screen persona, so great fit.

According to reports from the set the format of The Chase has largely stayed the same.  A team of four takes on one of the Chasers in an effort to bank more money for a team.  The team first plays a 45 second Cash Builder, where each right answer banks the contestant $5,000 to start.  High offers, to tempt the contestants to come closer to the Chaser and risk being eliminated if caught, have been said to reach $250,000.  Over $500,000 could be banked and split between the team.

No time table has been set for the show, obviously, given the show just taped.  We’re hoping it gets picked up for a full series because I would like to believe that a fast paced, exciting quiz show can survive on television today.  If you want one, The Chase is currently as good as it gets.  We’re crossing our fingers.  Stay tuned and we’ll let you know what happens with it.

He’s probably the smartest man in show business and has an acute eye for talent.  He’s honest with people, he gives good critiques, but he’s also incredibly entertaining to watch and listen to.  More than that, though, if you watched, you saw a judge that was more thoughtful and, frankly, nicer than previous judge Piers Morgan ever was.  The show’s in good hands as we all figured.

Now that we’ve all digested Howard, how about we review some of the acts.  The highlight of the evening, to me, was the Earth Harp.  The talent and ability that takes is beyond belief, and this is an act you can imagine in Vegas.  Imagine this act with a larger budget.  It’s going to blow people away the further we go.  If William Close doesn’t go far, I’m going to be very disappointed.

However, the opening acts are great for the bizarre people that come on. The act, known as Simply Sergio, was something. What started as a joke ended up being one of the best turn-arounds I’ve ever seen, and a great Howard Stern moment. Why he chose to start with what he did at the opening I’ll never know, but it worked out.

Any favorite acts of yours? The Earth Harp guy and the illuminated dinosaur show were incredible.  Another two-hour episode is tonight at 8:00PM ET on NBC.  Photo and video courtesy NBC.

One of our readers was a contestant on the show, so we’ll let you know when he airs.

Photo and video courtesy MTV

As we previously stated, NBC has also picked up several other unscripted television series.  The one most around here will be interested in is White Elephant, where Howie Mandel hosts the classic parlor game where you can either steal a prize previously revealed or keep your own.  A new stunt show called Stars Earn Stripes is also coming, where nine celebrities tackle intense challenges and stunts that some of America’s biggest heroes perform daily.

Meanwhile NBC has cancelled several other unscripted shows such as Minute to Win It, Fear Factor, and Who Do You Think You Are.  Minute to Win It survived two seasons and Fear Factor just one abbreviated season.

Take a look.  Again, the £250,000 is almost overshadowed in comparison to what happens.  Spoilers and discussion after the video snippet.

Can you believe that?  Would you have swapped back?  These moments are always tricky.  Noel Edmonds is correct that the swap may be the hardest part of Deal.  But to swap twice?  The Banker got into her head, and sadly it cost her a lot of money.  Still, however, unbelievably exciting moment and an episode no fan of the show will forget.  What did you think of the Banker’s tactics?  This just continues to show why the unpredictability of this version was a lot better than the rather mundane, watered down version we got here. But we did have 26 models.  So there’s a perk.

Two teams face off.  One takes to the ten step floor, starting at space one, while the other team sits to the side to start.  You’re presented a question with one answer.  You can either “Take” that answer if you think it’s right or “Leave It” for an answer you haven’t seen yet if you think it’s wrong.  If you’re right you move forward a step and keep control.  If you’re wrong the other team takes your place on the next step.  After a right answer a board of 20 safes appears.  Each member of the team picks a safe.  The first safe is shown, and you can “Take It” and add it to the bank or “Leave It” and just hope the 2nd safe has more cash.  If you find one of the two “Booby Trap” safes then your opponents take control.  Whoever has control after the 10th question plays for the bank.

The winning team plays the end game for up to £50,000.  Five more 50/50 questions are asked.  After answered the question order rearranges with the correct answers first and the incorrect last, but they don’t tell you when correct stops and incorrect begins, or if they even do.  Six colored safes rise from the floor.  The team goes through each question one at a time.  You have the option to “Take It” and accept the answer they gave, or “Leave It” and end the game and choose a safe.  If they take a right answer one of the bad safes is removed from the game.  Take a wrong answer, though, and it’s game over.  If the team can select the safe with the cash in it, they leave with the bank.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH AN END GAME (EMBEDDING DISABLED)

Looking back at clips at it, it’s a very impressive production for 2006, especially from, let’s be honest, not a giant network.  I always have issues with games that let people win for literally doing nothing, by the fault of the other team losing on the last question.  That’s the biggest issue I have, though.  It’s a fun and exciting show.  It’s got good trivia, the luck part is well thought out and interesting, it looks good, and it fit well with the time.  GSN, many years ago, was actively developing this show for its lineup but it got lost in the shuffle.  Shame.  I think it could have done well for them in the Deal or No Deal era.  Again, I’ve got issues with how the game can end up, but for what it was I enjoyed it quite a bit.

What do you think of the show?