Composer(s) Marc Sylvan Original language(s) English No. of episodes 30 First episode date 10 November 2008 Presented by Bradley Walsh Number of episodes 30 | Country of origin United Kingdom No. of series 1 Executive producer(s) Glenn Hugill Final episode date 19 December 2008 Location Pinewood Studios Genre Game show | |
 | ||
Similar Game show, A Question of Genius, The 21st Question, The People Versus, Cleverdicks | ||
Spin Star is a British television game show that was broadcast on ITV, and was hosted by Bradley Walsh. It is based around a five-reel slot machine called the Moneyspinner. The reels displayed question subjects, the names of the five contestants who will answer the questions, and cash amounts that are won if the questions are answered correctly.
The five contestants do not win the money for themselves however; instead, they are winning it for the Spin Star, the contestant who has been there the longest. Therefore, each contestant will be on the show for six episodes, five answering questions for someone else, then one where they are in charge of the Moneyspinner.
The first reel has a range of categories of questions on it, each given a star rating of up to three stars. One star means the questions are of easy difficulty, two stars mean the questions are of medium difficulty and three stars mean the questions are of hard difficulty. After a category has been used, it is replaced by a new category, with any unused categories from a previous show being re-used.
The second, third and fourth reels have the names of the five daily players on them. These reels decide who will answer the questions.
The fifth reel has a range of cash values on it which increase with each spin. This determines how much money will be added to each player's totals for correct answers.
In the first round, the Spin Star has three Speed Spins. Each daily player is given £500 to start with and the Speed Spins allow the daily players to attempt to win more money for the final round. The maximum amounts that can be won for these spins are £2,000 for the first spin, £3,000 for the second spin and £4,000 for the third spin.
The second round introduces two penalty spaces on the category and money reels. On the category reel, are two Brain Buster spaces. If one lands on the category reel, the questions that are asked are the most difficult questions that could be found. On the money reel are two Bank Buster spaces. If one lands on the money reel, if any player gets their question wrong, they lose all the money they have accumulated so far. In this second round, the Spin Star gets 3 more spins and if the Spin Star does not like the way the reels have landed, then they can elect to respin, however, they cannot respin the category or money reels if they land on a Brain or Bank Buster on them. Also, they cannot respin one reel on its own, it must be two or more. In either round, if the three middle reels have the same player name on the win line (for example: Sital, Sital, Sital), it is classed as a Jackpot line and the value of each question is doubled. The maximum amounts that can be won for these spins are £5,000 for the first spin, £7,500 for the second spin and £10,000 for the third spin.
In the final round, the values that the daily players have accumulated are put onto the three middle reels of the Moneyspinner (twice on each reel). Also, one Bank Buster is placed on the first reel, two on the second and three on the third. The Spin Star spins the category reel (respinning if it is not a desired category, but only once). The Spin Star is asked a question on each reel. If the answer is right, a Bank Buster is taken away, and if wrong, one is added. After each question is asked, the reel is spun and whatever amount lands on the win line is added to the Spin Star's total. If a Bank Buster comes up on any reel, the total is wiped out, but the Spin Star can carry on playing if a Bank Buster appears on reels one or two. It is possible for the same player's total to appear more than once, so, if one player accumulated £6,500 and it came up three times, the total would be £19,500 (£6,500 + £6,500 + £6,500). The maximum winnings any player could ever win was £568,500 but the odds of this happening are incredibly rare; in order for that to happen, one player's name must appear on all three reels for all six spins and the maximum value for each spin must appear in the first two rounds (2 × 3 × (£2,000 + £3,000 + £4,000 + £5,000 + £7,500 + £10,000) + £500 = £189,500) and that same player's total must appear on all three reels for all three spins in the final round (3 × £189,500 = £568,500).