Ant and Dec were on This Morning this morning (surprisingly enough!) and said that the £50,000 won in the heats is not guaranteed unless a player folds in the final.
If they don't fold and are eliminated, as well as losing the money earned in the final, they lose the £50k themselves!
They also confirmed that they do know how the players are doing. Personally I think it be better if they didn't and had to work out who was bluffing as much as the other contestants!
This show is proving very watchable - I'd say put this on over Millionaire on Saturdays at the moment (though ITV have announced they've signed up Millionaire to 2008).
From what I have seen so far it is a great Saturday night format but the only problem are the presenters. Ant and Dec are good at general entertainment, but not good at this type of Gameshows (they should go and bring back Friends Like These which was perfect for them). Need a more serious presenter - someone in the same vein of Chris Tarrant (or even Greggles - sorry but he is a very versatile person and completely under-used on QM).
I don't think it carries as a stripped show mainly because there are no overlaps between episodes (a al Millionaire where contestants come back) therefore I predict it would work better as a weekly show.
Graphics need to be less in-your-face and the slow start (i.e. where the contestants find about each other needs a bit revising as this is where the viewers will switch off through boredom!).
Hopefully it will make it to a second series and with slight amendments it could be an even better show.
On another note its about time that Millionaire had a rest for about 6 months and was brought back as an event TV show (like when it first started) stripped over 10-14 nights 2 to 3 times a year.
Another good gameshow that would work well ona Saturday Evening is Russian Roulette (it was made by Granada and presented by Rhona Cameron but it featured celebrities!) with normal people as contestant - again a great format that could last.
If they do decide to bring it back, how do they expect to fund the £1m jackpot each time? I know they could have the phone element like Millionare but this programe has to give away £1m each week its on unlike Millonare which gave away £1m once in a blue moon.
Agreed - the perfect result. So happy he got absolutely nothing!
Re: hands by the button. It appears they only have to have their hands there when the countdown starts - Julian isn't the first to do it!
Not sure whether I think them able to see someone like Geoff attempting to fold is a flaw of the format or actually makes it a bit more interesting!
I think it will be back - ratings haven't been spectacular (4-5m), but the soaps have only been getting around 7m this week and programmes like Bad Girls 5m - so relatively speaking it's performed quite well!
I think the mistake they made was putting the first show on at 8pm on Monday. They should have ran it in Corrie's 7.30pm slot, with Corrie at 8.30pm - so people would have no reason to turn over in the first half hour!
And to think it's not that long ago ITV had a strict "10m or axed!" policy.
On another well-known forum, everyone appears to be talking about how great looking Sarah (The £1 Million Winner) is and also (
apparently
)how she has been on In It To Win It previously - therefore must have Pokerfaced the producers when she claimed not to have been on a quiz show before. But cos Ant and Dec thought she was outstandingly beautiful during her interview with them, they let her on the show regardless...
Doesn't bother me - I agree with Ant and Dec personally!
I hope this show returns sometime in the future in a weekly format with a few tweaks here and there!
She did indeed appear on BBC1's In It To Win It on the 16th July
2005
- exactly a year ago! - and won £32,500. Added with the million she won on Poker Face, it means she's the biggest gameshow winner in UK TV history.
