The Money Pump US

By | November 21, 2016

Here’s some Monday night fun, do you remember Israeli format The Money Pump? It’s a bit like Million Pound Drop if the contestants couldn’t talk to each other. We discussed it here.

Anyway it looks the show’s creator put up an English language pilot recorded for CBS, look:

 

ITV Studios had the rights to it at one point.

17 thoughts on “The Money Pump US

  1. Dale

    Seems like a cool show. But I really wish the US would get rid of the corniness that has been present in modern game shows. GSN has taken a good step with The Chase and Hellevator.

    Reply
  2. Brekkie

    Broadcast reporting that the BBC are to stop showing the Saturday night Lottery draws on BBC1 (they’ll be on iPlayer).

    I’m guessing the lottery quizzes will continue without the lottery but do wonder how valuable that link to the lottery has been to establish new shows and keep existing shows going. Could In it to Win It’s days finally be numbered!

    Reply
    1. Brig Bother Post author

      Well they’re looking for contestants for Who Dares Wins so I imagine the shows that can stand on their own two feet will continue to do so.

      When’s the contract up? You’d have to presume ITV would buy the rights.

      Reply
    2. John R

      Who on earth is going to watch the lottery draw on iPlayer rather than just checking the numbers on the National Lottery website?! I guess they have to show it is fair but they’re already doing most of the draw videos on YouTube, and they get <10,000 views

      Presumably it was not worth the time or effort any more for the BBC to be having to continually find a presenter each week (Whatever did happen to Jenni Falconer anyway?!) and then a celebrity guest for a bit of filler each week

      The main shows should be more than safe as they bring in cheap decent ratings for Saturday night, hopefully Alan Dedicoat still gets to do the voiceover for the actual quiz shows as it would feel totally weird otherwise

      Reply
      1. Brekkie

        I thought Camelot had took over responsibility for the shows quite some time ago, though I guess the BBC being the BBC probably meant they still had to pay for them to avoid it counting as advertising.

        I also thought (probably incorrectly) that Camelot part funded the prizes on some of the quiz shows, hence how shows like In it to Win It were able to give away much bigger jackpots than normally seen on the BBC.

        Reply
  3. Cheesebiscuits

    What is the point of the control? If you only need one correct answer to move on, the control can only hinder?

    Reply
    1. Brig Bother Post author

      The punishment if one person gets it wrong is that the pump gets faster next time. If someone takes control if they know the answer it guarantees them safety, and if they sort it with three seconds they get the bonus.

      Reply
      1. Cheesebiscuits

        Ah right, i didn’t have the patience to watch past the first few questions 🙂 – it is very slow and I don’t like this way of constantly explaining what could happen next – it feels like filler.

        Reply
  4. M622

    Ya know this is off topic, but im soooo bored so…..
    What do you think of this hypothetical format? 12 Girls Sign up For a Paradise hotel style Show, But They Find out That their getting guys…. Fictional Guys. as in tv, movies, etc etc characters played by actors. Separated in 2 diffrent sections of the house Before the hookup (to make it easier for the writers of the “fake Guys”), in order to survive, they have to hook up and survive judging at the end of the group date. if they are the leftover couple standing at the end of hookup They are marked for elimination, they are also marked if they are chosen as the worst couple after the group date. the best gets a solo date and the real girl gets a prize.
    The two marked couples compete In the elimination date and the losing couple goes home. the finale is the marked couple in hookup chooses another one to compete in a elimination date. the last 2 couples go on 1 group date and solo dates. The winning couple’s Real girl gets $50,000 The format for a regular episode is this. 1 Scene with “real girls
    2 Scene with fake guys
    3 Hookup
    Last guy and last girl Marked for elimination date
    4 Group Date
    5 Judging: one couple is selected solo date , real girl is given prize
    One couple is Marked for elimination date
    6 Solo date
    7 elimination date
    Hookup marked couple and
    Judging marked couple Compete
    Losing couple is eliminated

    Mind you this is a though experiment, and probably wont air on tv (im 17 after all) but i as i said. i was bored. What do you think?
    I’ve always wanted fictional characters to compete on games shows. Has that happend before in tv? outside of that celebrity family feud episode

    Reply
    1. Nico W.

      Well I’m no expert, but I don’t see why it would be interesting to see fake people date. If I should bond with one contestant, I would want her to be happy with the one she loves, not some guy acting. And I don’t see a reason for dates to be competitive, I want real(-ish) emotions and see people get closer. I see why a task to decide who goes on a date is fun (e.g. all those vh1 dating shows like Flavor of Love), but then I want the daters to seem to feel something.
      I like the idea of characters competing on game shows as well, but a format like Match Game/Blankety Blank would be more suitable for that than some show that plays with/includes real emotions imho.

      Reply
      1. M622

        You are kinda right on that “i like the format but i dont want fake pepole.” Tbh i wanted a “hook” to this series. otherwise to me, it would be any other dating show. And

        …. Maybe i could change it so that the characters, could’int be ” famous ones” But rather Show created and have it be framed more as an experiment. Could this “couple” (AKA Contestant and actor) work out for real or not? aka Joe millionaire. We also only tell the constestants the twist
        after their eliminated

        Reply
  5. Des Elmes

    “Whatever did happen to Jenni Falconer anyway?!”

    Good question, John R. I do prefer Gaby, though. 😉

    I wasn’t tremendously surprised when the Wednesday and Friday draws left the BBC1 schedules at the end of 2012. Four years on, I’m not tremendously surprised that the Saturday draws are following suit.

    As John says, most people these days are happy just to check the numbers online. And the last time the draws were must-see TV was probably the last time Mystic Meg was on. 😉

    Brekkie asks if In It to Win It’s days could finally be numbered. I hope so, TBH – as I said on the 500 Questions thread back in August, it’s done just about everything it can do, Dale doesn’t seem quite as interested in it as he used to be, and viewing figures have been falling the last few years.

    I’ve recently gotten back into Who Dares Wins, after watching Chrissy and Joe’s complete run on YouTube (12 wins, four more than any other team, and yet they DIDN’T break the record for the most money won?!?) and accepting that the vast majority of the teams being one man and one lady is probably something 12 Yard want (in addition, of course, to every contestant having a sizeable personality). So I’m not disappointed that it will, in all likelihood, continue for some time after the draws have gone – just as long as it doesn’t pass its ask-by date, as (IMHO) IItWI has done.

    Not too fussed whether or not Win Your Wish List and 5-Star Family Reunion survive, though I do like the former more than the latter. (Still prefer Secret Fortune, though, which definitely ended at least one series too early.)

    And finally, assuming Auntie continues to commission new game shows in the Lottery slot, I presume the category will have to be given a new name. Can’t really be “Saturday Night Game Shows” as it would then almost certainly have to include Pointless Celebs (which, of course, has never had and never will have any association with the Lottery), while “Saturday 8pm Game Shows” also wouldn’t really work as they don’t always air at around 8pm. Any other suggestions?

    Reply
  6. John R

    Someone on TV Forum pointed out that after Who Dares Wins returns from it’s short ‘break’ it’ll likely be around January so already missing the Lottery references

    Reply

Leave a Reply to John R Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.