This week’s big gameshow excitement is The 1% Club Rollover which doesn’t feel like it’s different enough to count as a spin-off like they’re constantly doing with Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and the like (I say “and the like” – it’s mainly Millionaire) but feels like a noteworthy twist. If the 1% question isn’t answered correctly (or nobody goes for it) the prizemoney rollsover to the next night, but if you reach the 1% question you also come back whether you answer it correctly or not. Perhaps this makes the 1% question gamble more interesting, and if it’s rolled over a few times, the walk away decision more interesting, or perhaps it won’t we’ll see.
Last year they just had a load of unaired episodes to fill the post I’m a Celeb week gap and it seemed to go well enough that they’ve deliberately comissioned this special week this year. Are we at the point of 1% saturation?
Speaking of Millionaire spin-offs, last night was the inaugural Tournament Edition in Italy. It begins with 10 contestants answering three rounds of five questions at the fastest finger seats, with the three players who have the fewest cumulative correct answers (ties broken by time) being eliminated after the first two rounds, and one person eliminated after the third round leaving three people left who each win a small guranteed prize (€2k, €3k, €5k) and in turn attempt a 10-question ladder, with whoever getting highest (qualifying position breaking ties, and you can see how the previous contestants did) winning the money. Seemed to go down alright in Italy with the ever popular Gerry Scotti hosting, seems like a cheap-ish way to pad out an extended episode of Millionaire with only one main payout.