The Rich List (Australian game show)

Gameplay

The Gameplay is similar to the format used in the United Kingdom (although, despite the fact that an entire series was filmed with Eamonn Holmes as host, it has never been aired). It consists of two rounds. A best of three no money amount lists followed by "The Rich List" where a team can win $250,000 for completing each list with 15 answers. There is no limit to how many "Rich Lists" a team can partially or fully complete and therefore, teams are capable of winning an unlimited amount of money.

Best of three lists

Two teams of two players, one of which are the champions from the previous episode and the other are a new pair of challengers, are presented to the audience. The two teams, who have not met before the show, are placed in separate soundproof isolation booths, with audio that is turned on or off by the host. He announces the category for the list, such as "Wimbledon Men's Singles champions" or "Squares from a Monopoly board" then asks the challengers to place a bid on the number of items they must name to win the list. The host switches the audio on and off between the booths as the bidding continues. Note that if players do not feel they can bid higher than their opponents' bid, they can choose to bluff their bids (as the opponent side cannot hear the team's conversations) in an attempt to pressure the opponents to raise their bid further. The host turns both audios on when one team has challenged the other to fulfill the bid.

The challenged team must list in a row as many items as their bid in order to win the list. If the team makes one mistake along the way, the list is awarded to their opponents.

The first team to win two lists has won the best of three and goes on to play "The Rich List".

Tiebreaker

If each team wins one list apiece, a sudden death tiebreaker is played. The host gives the category, both booths are switched on, and the teams alternate their answers. In order to win the list and the best of three, one team must give an incorrect answer while the other team gives a correct answer. In case if both teams fail to name an item on the same turn, both teams get another chance to name another item. Should that fail, another tiebreaker list will be used to break the tie.

The Rich List

The winning team moves on to play "The Rich List" where Andrew gives the team a new category and the chance to supply up to 15 correct answers. Winnings increase after every third correct answer is given, according to the chart to the right.

If a wrong answer is given at any time, the team loses all accumulated money they won from that "Rich List", but all winnings from previous "Rich Lists" that the team may have completed are safe. After every third answer, they can choose to stop playing, winning all the money accumulated from the current "Rich List" or play on, until the team lists all fifteen answers, therefore winning $250,000. Regardless of the outcome, the team then returns to the isolated soundproof booths to play the game again against a new pair of opponents. Only a loss when playing "The Best of three lists" can eliminate teams from the show.

Errors

Many lists in the show are known to have mistakes or inaccurate information in them. The list about countries adopting the euro contained a country called "Holland", which is in fact a region of the Netherlands. There have also been other mistakes in lists such as "Island Nations" where the list included nations that share the land territory of the island with other nation-states, and "Top 20 countries with the most land area". A list of nation's common names beginning with B listed Bermuda, which is a British Overseas Territory, and Britain, which is the name of the islands off the western coast of Europe on which the United Kingdom, except Ireland, is situated. A list of countries beginning with A also accepted America, as it "is the way most Australians would say it", despite the country in question actually being called the United States of America. Lately, countries was replaced as Sovereign States to avoid any short naming (United States and America), confusion or partial duplicating (Great Britain and England).

Ratings

The show's premiere on 29 January placed fourth in daily ratings and second in its timeslot Ocean's Deadliest on Nine Network, which aired at the same time as The Rich List, attracted about 250,000 more. However, the show performed better in the next episode. Despite attracting less viewers than 1 vs. 100 in the first few weeks, the show attracted 40,000 more viewers on 5 March.

The show is usually in the top 20 most watched programs each week according to ratings measuring company OzTAM.

Today Tonight aired a feature article on the Rich List and interviewed two contestants, Bec and a guy who named at least 15 British Prime Ministers. They won $250,000 but couldn't get the money until the episode was actually shown.

Season 1 (2007)

¹ This list was not broadcast due to the list ending up in a tie.

² This list was not broadcast due to Andrew O'Keefe claiming he had accidentally mentioned one of the characters on the list which was later submitted by Paula and Michael.

Season 2 (2008)

¹ This list was not broadcast due to the list ending up in a tie.

Champions and their winnings

This is a list of all contestants who have won the preliminary round and have played The Rich List. This also includes any contestants who failed to win any prize money from The Rich List.

¹ There was no 9 April 2008 episode due to the Easter long weekend. ² The carry over champions continued in Season 2 from where they left off in Season 1. ³ Season 2 went on hiatus from 31 May until 3 November. ⁴ This team is currently the carry over champion and number of lists and prize money may change in future episodes.

Total prize money given away during season one: $2,705,000

Total prize money given away during season two: $895,000

Total prize money given away overall: $3,600,000