Lose A Million
| Lose A Million | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Andrew O'Connor, Toby Freeman and Stephen Leahy |
| Presented by | Chris Tarrant |
| Voices of | Honor Blackman |
| Theme music composer | Simon Etchell |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 1 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Andrew O'Connor and Stephen Leahy |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Action Time for Carlton Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | ITV |
| Original release | 22 September – 1 December 1993 |
Lose A Million was an early 1990s British game show which was produced by Action Time for Carlton Television and was hosted by Chris Tarrant with voiceovers by Honor Blackman.
In a twist to the traditional gameshow format, the contestants each started with a million pretend 'pounds' and the object of the game was to get questions wrong, therefore losing money. The contestant with the least money at the end was proclaimed the winner and received the opportunity to play for £5,000.
The champ was asked a question with six possible answers and had to accurately identify all five of the wrong answers (in a similar vein to the American game show Trivia Trap) by placing a fictional £200,000 on each answer. If at any time the contestant chose the correct answer, the game ended, but they got £500 for each wrong answer. If the contestant accurately picked all five wrong answers (and thus, losing a million quid), they won £5,000.
The set of the show resembled an art-deco cruise ship.
The show is briefly featured in the film Shallow Grave, with Ewan McGregor watching it and calling out segments of the host's opening monologue along with the studio audience.
Ironically, five years after this show ended, Tarrant went on to host Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?; the objective is entirely the opposite of Lose a Million.
International versions
In Singapore, a similar version called Here's A Million, was screened on MediaWorks TV Works in 2001.
This version debuted in Indonesia called Tantangan 1 Milyar, was aired on SCTV in 1997. It was hosted by Jody Sumantri.