I know that the show makes a big thing about saying that all the players choose their boxes at random and that only the independent adjudicator knows what is in each box.

BUT

Who chooses which competitor plays each day? If it is the same independent adjudicator then Endemol can have a level of control over how much is won.

Eg. If a contestant carries the 1p box to the table then they are MORE likely to win less than a contestant who carries the £250K box.

But that applies wether or not the show is fixed.

The production team apparently choose a week's worth of players in advance, before any boxes have been filled, sealed or distributed.

Thanks never-wrong. Do you have that on good authority or just a wise guess? Do the "partners" get to know when their friend will be on the show or do they have to attend all the games too?

wakey1512 - That is exactly my point. Is it coincidence that the £250K box took 90+ shows to come to the table?

If the selection was purely random it should appear every 22 shows.

In that case, I wondered if Endemol make sure MORE games are played with boxes containing blue numbers than red numbers. If they do then they will give away less money.

I'm pretty sure I read it somewhere. It was either in an article posted on here or divulged by an ex-contestant - either way, it's pretty kosher

I know that a lot of "partners" actually spend time in Bristol with their other halves so end up watching all the shows while they're there anyway. I've also heard of a few instances where a player was to have a family member come up on a certain day, only to end up playing their game the day before. I think that was the first Mike.

Not at all. The fact it's random means pretty much entirely the opposite - I'd be more convinced of a fix if it did appear exactly one in every 22 shows. Toss a coin 10 times - will it land heads and tails five times each?

What isn't made clear is that Noel knows who is going to play, a few minutes before the game when he is given the cue card with the player's details on. No-one else on set knows who is going to play. When the player is chosen, there is a fifteen minute break; whilst the player in question calms down, has their microphone fitted and has extra make-up applied. At this point, they move family / friends to the position where they sit in the audience. Then they start filming again and the contestant does the walk of wealth.

Correct h, like a lot of people do not know this, I tried before to see what player would be playing that day because when they come out with the mic on I thought they had that on in the wings, this was when the show was all new to me at the start, but I soon copped on to this.

Wouldn't they all be wearing a microphone anyway..... Advice etc.....

Noel doesn't use his microphone when doing a sweep

They have microphones on the table, JimmyB. Hence, when Mark did that strong box-opening, there was a "clunk" when he knocked the microphone with his finger.

Exactly what I was going to say h.

They all have directional michrophones in front of them

Just something else to add but most people stay around 20-30 shows however on occasion (well Lucy once (50 shows)) and some others they stay for longer or less. Is that determined by the producers? Do they decide after they've seen a person how long they should roughly stay like player A will stay for a bit longer than player B etc...

I think its all down to how long the player can stay really. If they have work commitments then its likely theyre going to stay for a shorter time, however if their boss is understanding they can stay for a longer period. It all depends on how much time they are allowed off.

They could be picked earlier than anticipated due to poor health, or as I heard before, because they'd been naughty in the hotel!

What on earth did some people do in the hotel?????

I'm thinking of a three word sentence... just look into my eyes, not to the left of them, not to the right, straight into my eyes...


now, rearrange these three words, and see what you get...

imagination your use...

is the picture becoming clearer?

put it this way, I work close to the hotel....lots of stories, not all printable!