Five Minutes to a Fortune
| Five Minutes to a Fortune | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Game show |
| Presented by | Davina McCall |
| Voices of | Gideon Turner |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 1 (inc. 1 celebrity) |
| No. of episodes | 25 (inc. 5 celebrity) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes (inc. adverts) |
| Production company(s) | Victory Television |
| Distributor | Sony Pictures Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | Channel 4 |
| Picture format | HDTV: 16:9 |
| Original release | 6 April – 5 May 2013 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Take On the Twisters |
Five Minutes to a Fortune is a British game show, which aired on Channel 4 from 6 April 2013 to 5 May 2013 and was hosted by Davina McCall. 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's The Chase and BBC's Pointless, both of which air roughly in the same timeslot.
In the studio stands a 15-foot (4.6 m) hourglass filled with coin-like tokens, representing 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.
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.
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