The National Lottery: In It to Win It

Format

Five contestants wait on the right side of the studio, hoping to be randomly picked to play by joining 'winners row' by way of a lottery machine filled with balls of various colours. When in ‘winners row’, players are given multiple choice questions to answer. £5,000 is added to the prize fund if a question is answered correctly. However, in the event of the player getting the question wrong, they are sent to the ‘red area’, situated in the middle of the studio.

At this point, another player is randomly selected to join 'winners row'. However, before they are asked a question, the player in the red area is given one more chance to be on 'winners row' by answering a non-multiple choice question correctly. If they fail to answer correctly, they'll go back to the beginning row of contestants.

After 20 questions, a klaxon sounds, signalling the end for anyone not in 'winners row'. At this point, each player in 'winners row' has to answer one more multiple choice question to gain an equal share of the prize fund. Players who get their question wrong push up the winnings of those who have answered correctly. In the event of no-one getting their final questions right, no-one goes home with the money.

The maximum prize fund is £100,000 (twenty £5,000 questions answered correctly), although every time a player gets their question wrong, they'll effectively reduce the maximum possible total by £5,000. The top prize was finally won single-handedly by Eleri Owen, on 29 July 2006, who answered all twenty questions and her final question correctly, to walk away with the top prize of £100,000. The £100,000 top prize was won for a second time by Toni Cox on 24 January 2009. The £100,000 top prize was in sight for Olly Lewin on 15 May 2010, who had got to the end single-handedly, however, his last question was to name the year that Richard Pryor, Bruce Lee and John Lennon were born. The options were 1935, 1940 and 1945. After much deliberation, he wrongly answered 1945, losing everything. The actual correct year was 1940.

One question was edited out on 27 February 2010. It concerned the fashion designer Alexander McQueen, who had died between the show being recorded and broadcast. After the unfortunate death of David Elias, Kevin Ashman began to set the questions for the show in 2007.

The programme includes the Saturday night Thunderball and Lotto draws. Originally, the entire show was pre-recorded with Dale Winton presiding over the Lottery draws live, however, now, the programme is fully recorded with a presenter at 'Lottery HQ' conducting the live draw.

John McGivern from Northern Ireland is the youngest winner in the shows history, winning £50,000 at 18 years old. The show was broadcast on 4 September 2004.

Ratings

Episode viewing figures from BARB.