Are contestants expected to pay the £400 bar bill regardless of how much they win? There are plenty of contestants that will have made nothing out of being in the show financially once they've taken time off work, paid for
all their meals and drinks at the hotel, their travel, and then just to round
things off pay a few hundred quid for some drinks. Why can't Endemol
pay for some drinks instead? Some contestants have won amounts
like £1,000 (and many a lot less). Does that mean they have to fork out nearly half of it or more on making sure people have yet another great night and a hangover in the
morning again? What if they want to give that money to their grandchildren, a charity, pay off their credit card or go on a nice holiday instead?

Well if I was playing i'd only buy the drinks if I had a good win ie 10K or above otherwise I would not particularly want to fork out since I don't drink hardly personally and I wouldnt want to waste what little winnings I had to feed everyone elses binge drinking habbits lol lets be honest 90% of this country are binge drinkers or just drink wayyy too much lol tut.
But if i had descent winnings i'd happily buy everyone a few rounds its least I could do for my new friends who would have supported me at my time there. You would look a complete tight get if you did not.

I don't drink myself, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't stick a few quid behind the bar for any fellow contestants who do. There's no way I'd put £400 behind the bar though unless I really won big, then I might put more in - it's all subjective. In reality though, half of that figure - £200 (or just under £10 a player) would be plenty and should get everyone a drink or two plus a bag of cheese&onion crisps. However if I won a low blue amount or even a low red, I would be very careful about how I splashed the cash and how much I put behind the bar, if any. I certainly wouldn't be funding the wives, husbands, partners, friends and family of my fellow contestants - not unless I really won big, well into five figures! If I was unlucky enough to win the 1p, I'd be expecting my fellow contestants to pay for the drinks!

Dave E said in the Behind The Scenes book that it was £300 when he played, and I wondered how he managed to pay it! Also when Lucy won £5 she said "Drinks are on you guys" - meaning she couldn't afford to pay for it!

I think there may be a threshold on the level of winnings for funding the bar, or a percentage?

id like to be the person who gets all the profit from the bar

The other interesting question is that as there are frequently 3 shows recorded each day, does that mean that each of the three playing contestants chip in and if so how much?

I was thinking just the same.

There must be a demand for drinks from the 24 players from that day, upcoming players, their family and possibly some of the crew? So at about, say £2.00 per drink, that comes to about £160 assuming everyone has two drinks. So if there are three players a day, that's about £33 each to pay. Not so much, nothing compared to the £400 The banker was chatting on about!

Back in the old days, I think Endemol put £300 behind the bar each night. When J.T was on the show, he said to me this was the case. In those days there was a culture of the bigger winners pooling together a small percentage of their funds to give a meaningful amount to the smaller winners.

However speaking to Dennis in more recent time there is no money put behind the bar, and the players buy their own drinks. Personally I doubt whether someone who wins very little will have to buy everyone drinks, in that case it is more likely people will buy for them. With a big winner it will probably be a different story. However, I doubt each player is friends with every one of the 21 others on their show, and so I expect they will only fork out for their closest buddies.

Hi everyone its Lisa currently in West Wing, just to let you know the £400 quid given to Rose by the banker stayed with Rose, she wanted to buy everyone drinks but we didn't let her - the winners normally buy a round if they win over a certain amount - can't remember how much it was but it was increased while i was there and if someone wins a small amount all of the other contestants chip in a tenner each so they can have some money to take home. Its great reading the reports of each show, I had a great time in Bristol and this is such a great way of keeping in touch. Bye for now xx