[Brekkie]

To be fair, unless they test every question on an audience beforehand, you’re always going to get ones that are in the wrong place on the ladder. That’s always happened.

The big issue with this version of the show remains the casting. Having contestants who just shrug their shoulders and say ‘that’s fair enough’ to losing out on £32,000 proves that casting is wrong. The famous Fiona Wheeler episode was on Challenge a few weeks back and her winning £32,000 was much more entertaining than seeing a Doctor or Solicitor winning big or even crashing down from £125,000. I know the fear is people who need the money won’t gamble, but that’s all down to casting and I’m sure they can get around that by casting people who aren’t risk averse. Ultimately if the money doesn’t mean a meaningful change to their lives, the might as well be playing for Monopoly money or a Mastermind glass vase.

It’s become a running joke that when I see a contestant I guess whether they’re a solicitor or some kind of doctor. Something like Beat the Chasers is cast much better.

Completely agree and people just seem to get to £125k and above with relative ease now, rather than six figure wins being something of a rarity. In many ways it doesn't feel like the money is even a factor in the game now. That last new episode was probably the best of the series getting three players within the hour with two of them really having to think about whether to play on.

I think ITV have now renewed it but scandals aside given how much they do pay out nowadays I'm surprised that doesn't work more against commissioning decisions. I'm sure the stats are out there but feels like their average payout per episode would be significantly higher than Beat the Chasers and Limitless Win, the two other big money primetime shows.

[Jon]

I agree with the overall sentiment (and wonder if the previous phone line model brought in more people who would normally never apply to be on a quiz). Also worth remembering though that the value of the prizes has roughly halved since Fiona Wheeler due to inflation.

I think the problem even existed with the original version after the initial buzz had died off, with FFF first lines ups mainly being middle class males and now famous quizzers appearing on FFF multiple times. I suspect that was partly down to professional syndicates becoming involved who knew how to game the system. But at least then you still had a variety of professions represented.

But with being able to cast the contestants, the casting should be strong. Sometimes it feels like it’s cast so Clarkson doesn’t look down on contestants.

[Brekkie]

Did enjoy the blooper they kept in last night's episode at the end - hadn't seen that guest time around.

Would have been an idea to rerun the Fastest Funger First series a couple of weeks ago instead of Lingo repeats so referencing a long axed series didn't seem so out of date.

[gottago]

Watched the ITV1 repeat of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire last night, and must've not seen it on first broadcast, as there was a right stinker of a question which I don't remember seeing before. It asked about a Spanish dish. The contestant confidently ruled out tortilla, thinking of the flatbread, and after using Ask The Audience went with their answer - resulting in him going home with nothing, as it was only the £1000 question and tortilla was the correct answer. It was actually asking about an omelette. If even the audience couldn't get it right, then no way should that have been such a low value question. It should've been worth at least £16,000.

But then the vote may well have been influenced by him so confidently ruling it out beforehand. Just one of those questions that end up being more subjective in people's knowledge of it than you realise. I knew the answer before the options came up, thought it was very easy and was surprised to see what happened.

Did enjoy the blooper they kept in last night's episode at the end - hadn't seen that guest time around.

Would have been an idea to rerun the Fastest Funger First series a couple of weeks ago instead of Lingo repeats so referencing a long axed series didn't seem so out of date.

Maybe they know it's one of the worst daytime quizzes they've ever commissioned and would rather never have to broadcast it again.

[XIII]

Ask the Audience is really only useful in the early rounds, it's pretty much useless later on.

[Jon]

Ask the Audience is really only useful in the early rounds, it's pretty much useless later on.

Quite often if there’s an obvious or more well known answer but the second highest answer gets a higher percentage than the other two, it’s the second answer. Because people who don’t know the answer tend to go for the thing they’ve heard of and the smaller percentage of people who know an answer will go for that but it’ll usually be higher than the other two.

But a lot of the people who play the game don’t know how to play the game.

[DE88]

The big issue with this version of the show remains the casting. Having contestants who just shrug their shoulders and say ‘that’s fair enough’ to losing out on £32,000 proves that casting is wrong. The famous Fiona Wheeler episode was on Challenge a few weeks back and her winning £32,000 was much more entertaining than seeing a Doctor or Solicitor winning big or even crashing down from £125,000. I know the fear is people who need the money won’t gamble, but that’s all down to casting and I’m sure they can get around that by casting people who aren’t risk averse. Ultimately if the money doesn’t mean a meaningful change to their lives, the might as well be playing for Monopoly money or a Mastermind glass vase.

Duncan Bickley had no regrets about losing £218,000, and he was great fun throughout. "It's only money, innit?" (Chris: "It's quite a lot of only money!")

I also love the title of the BBC News article about his big loss: "Who wants to lose a fortune?" Simple, but effective.

I think the problem even existed with the original version after the initial buzz had died off, with FFF first lines ups mainly being middle class males and now famous quizzers appearing on FFF multiple times. I suspect that was partly down to professional syndicates becoming involved who knew how to game the system. But at least then you still had a variety of professions represented.

When 2waytraffic took over the show in 2007, they changed not only the money ladder and the music but also the application process, to a mix of auditions and the traditional phone line - almost certainly in response to those professional syndicates, and the number of men getting on the show being a bit too great.

Then in 2010, as well as bringing in the clock they eliminated the phone line *and* FFF, so that everyone had to audition and if you were successful, you were straight into the hot seat. (Though by then, of course, the majority of contestants who got to £20,000 were stopping there - yes, the recession almost certainly had something to do with that, but IIRC even Chris wasn't too happy.)

But then the vote may well have been influenced by him so confidently ruling it out beforehand. Just one of those questions that end up being more subjective in people's knowledge of it than you realise. I knew the answer before the options came up, thought it was very easy and was surprised to see what happened.

The ATA fail in this video (if you can forgive that it's a 16:9 picture squashed into 4:3) might well have been influenced by the contestant ruling out the right answer beforehand, too, if not so confidently:

www.youtube.com 

[Nobby]

Are the audience encouraged to guess if they don't know the answer? I assume so, otherwise you'd end up with 99% choosing the correct answer and the majority probably not choosing any answer at all.

If I was in the audience and I didn't know the answer, unless I hated the contestant, I wouldn't choose an answer, would you?

[rick]

I'm assuming the audience talk to one another, and if someone doesn't know, they can whisper the person beside them "what's the answer?" and then pick what they did. Also, considering that sometimes the silly answer in an early questions gets some voters, I think everyone votes.

[Ash101]

Ridiculous getting a 2pm repeat on ITV1 from Monday. Is this the first time they’ve expanded the quiz shows out to 4 in a row?