Five Minutes to a Fortune
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''Five Minutes to a Fortune'' is a
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
game show, which aired on
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
from 6 April 2013 to 5 May 2013 and was hosted by
Davina McCall Davina Lucy Pascale McCall (born 16 October 1967) is an English television presenter. She was the presenter of the reality show ''Big Brother (UK), Big Brother'' during its run on Channel 4 between 2000 and 2010. She also hosted Channel 4's '' ...
. It offered pairs of contestants the chance to win a top prize of £50,000 (or £100,000 for celebrity specials). The show aired weekdays at 5:00pm but was unable to generate high ratings to compete with
ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
's '' The Chase'' and
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
's ''
Pointless ''Pointless'' is a British television quiz show produced by Banijay subsidiary Remarkable Television for the BBC. It is hosted by Alexander Armstrong. In each episode four teams of two contestants attempt to find correct but obscure answers to ...
'', both of which air roughly in the same timeslot.


Format

In the studio stands a hourglass filled with tokens that represent an initial prize pot of £50,000. At the start of the game, the two contestants each decide which role they will play. One is the "Game Player" and must play through five rounds; the other is the "Time Keeper," responsible for deciding how much time the Game Player will have to complete each round before the prize pot begins to decrease. In addition, the Time Keeper chooses the category for each round. Seven vague categories are presented at the start of the game, such as Animal Lover, Couch Potato, Film/History Buff, Trivia Junkie, and Wordsmith; categories are removed from the list as they are used. The Time Keeper is given a total of five minutes to allot over the five rounds, and is advised to give more time to categories that may pose a challenge to the Game Player.


Gameplay

In each round, the Game Player must give five correct answers. Once the Time Keeper chooses a category, an example of the specific game to be played (27 in all during the first series) is shown to both contestants, after which the Time Keeper sets the time limit. Frequently, the Game Player must respond in an unconventional manner, such as spelling the answer backwards or by using the numbers on a touch-tone telephone keypad. He/she may pass as often as desired, but as there is a limited bank of questions for each round, passing too often will eventually cause the questions to cycle. The Game Player may guess on any question as many times as desired, but can move on to a new one only by giving the correct answer or passing. Answers to any passed questions are revealed once the round is complete. If the Game Player reaches the final 10 seconds of the time allotted by the Time Keeper, the hourglass begins to flip. Once time runs out, the tokens start to drain into the lower section and the prize pot begins to decrease accordingly, at a steady rate of £625 every three seconds (£12,500 per minute). The round continues until either the Game Player gives a fifth correct answer or the hourglass has completely emptied. In the former case, the draining stops as soon as the answer is given; in the latter case, the Game Player "crashes out," the game ends, and the contestants leave with no money. If the Game Player completes the round within the allotted time, the prize pot remains intact but any extra time remaining on the clock is lost. The two contestants may not confer at any time once they have chosen their roles. Once during the game, the Time Keeper may press an Emergency Stop button to halt a round if the Game Player is struggling badly. The current category is thrown out, and the Game Player plays a makeup round (the "Emergency Game") using a category randomly chosen from the ones still in play. The Game Player has the same time limit for the Emergency Game as he/she had for the one stopped by the Time Keeper, but this time is not deducted from the team's overall five-minute allotment. Money drained during the stopped game is not replaced in the hourglass. At the end of each round, the drained money is counted and removed from the hourglass, and the remainder is kept in play for the next round.


Final game

After the fifth round, the Time Keeper plays one last game, choosing one of the two remaining categories (or the last one if the Emergency Stop has been used) and with no help from the Game Player. The Time Keeper is shown the heading of a list with 10 hidden answers, and the hourglass begins to turn once the heading has been read aloud. (E.g. "The first 10 children's books written by
Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short-story writer, poet, screenwriter, and wartime fighter ace of Norwegian descent. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide. Dahl has be ...
.") After 10 seconds of play, money begins to drain at the same rate as in the previous rounds. If the Time Keeper names any five of the hidden answers before the hourglass is empty, the draining stops and the contestants split the remaining money. If not, they leave with nothing.


Celebrity episodes

Five episodes were filmed with pairs of celebrities competing on behalf of selected charities. The initial prize pot for these episodes was doubled to £100,000, and the money draining rate was also doubled to £1,250 every three seconds (£25,000 per minute).


Production

The show is recorded in Studio 8 at
BBC Television Centre Television Centre (TVC) is a building complex in White City, London, White City, West London, that was the headquarters of BBC Television between 1960 and 2013. After a refurbishment, the complex reopened in 2017 with three studios in use for ...
. Contestant auditions took place in London,
Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
, Birmingham,
Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
,
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
and
Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
. The
hourglass An hourglass (or sandglass, sand timer, sand clock or egg timer) is a device used to measure the passage of time. It comprises two glass bulbs connected vertically by a narrow neck that allows a regulated flow of a substance (historically sand) ...
is the creation of Julian Healy and Scott Fleary.


International versions

The French channel
TF1 TF1 (; standing for ''Télévision Française 1'') is a French commercial television network owned by TF1 Group, controlled by the Bouygues conglomerate. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network. TF1 is par ...
is the first international broadcaster to launch a local format of the show. It will be called ''Pas une seconde à perdre!'' (Not a second to lose!) and hosted by
Estelle Denis Estelle Denis (born 6 December 1976) is a French journalist and television presenter. Early life and education Estelle Denis was born in Paris but spent her childhood in Le Coudray-Montceaux, a town in the department of Essonne. In 1994, she ...
and Gérard Vives. In this version, the hourglass will contain €25,000 and it will premiere at the end of January 2014. Legend: Currently airing   No longer airing   Upcoming version  


See also

*'' Take On the Twisters'', another 2013 British game show based around the use of an hourglass.


References


External links

* * * {{Twitter 2013 British television series debuts 2013 British television series endings Channel 4 game shows 2010s British game shows Television series by Sony Pictures Television