The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime (Australian game show)

The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime was an hour-long prime time quiz show that aired in Australia. It was later adapted for an American audience as It's Your Chance of a Lifetime, so as it was not to be confused with the American game show that used the title The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime.

For the unrelated American game show, see The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime.

The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime
Genrequiz show
Presented byFrank Warrick (1999)[1]
Sandy Roberts (2000)[1]
Country of originAustralia
Original language(s)English
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes26
Production
Running time60 minutes (Including commercials)
Release
Original networkSeven Network
Picture format4.3 PAL
Audio formatStereo
Original release1999 –
2000
Chronology
Related showsIt's Your Chance of a Lifetime

Overview

The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime aired on the Seven Network from 1999-2000. Seven began production on the show when rival network Nine Network announced production of an Australian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, which promised the largest cash prize on Australian quiz show history.

Chance of a Lifetime was produced in house by Seven. It was a knowledge based quiz. The million dollar prize was never won; only smaller amounts of money were awarded to contestants.

Hosts

Frank Warrick first hosted the show in 1999. For the second and last season, Seven personality and sportscaster Sandy Roberts was Warrick's replacement.

Rules of the game

The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime was conducted as follows:

A solo player competed for a chance to win over $1,000,000 in the form of an annuity, doing so by answering ten questions. The first question was dubbed the "Credit Card Question", with a correct answer eliminating any credit card bill debt the contestant had rung up (the bill itself was shredded onstage).

The next question was worth $5,000, and a contestant had to answer correctly to advance. If correct, the contestant would have a maximum of eight questions to answer, being forced to bet at least half of what they had at that particular point in the game. The catch was that each question came from one of ten different categories, and the contestant never knew where they would come from. However, the contestant was shown the category before the question was asked, so they would know and could bet accordingly.

Along the way, each contestant had two "Second Chances", which were used to help the contestant. One "Second Chance" allowed the contestant to switch the question for one in a category of their choice, and the other allowed the question to be made multiple choice. Once a contestant reached the third level of questions, a "Last Chance" was awarded, allowing the contestant to choose one of the two options for a second time.

A contestant could stop after any correct answer, but an incorrect answer deducted the amount of the wager and ended the game for the contestant. Even a miss on the credit card question ended the game. (If the contestant answered the credit card question correctly, their debt was eliminated for good even if they ended on the game on zero.)

A possible $1,280,000 was available to a contestant.

Ratings

Chance aired on Monday nights on Seven. Ratings began to slide after the first episode aired. The show ran for two seasons, and was eventually moved to weeknights at 5.30 pm before the nightly news broadcast; it was then Seven began the practice of airing quiz shows as a lead-in to its news bulletins, which continues to this day. It was eventually cancelled, with weaker ratings and excessive production costs cited as reasons for cancellation.

International versions

Most of the versions is distributed by ITV Studios (exc. Australia)

Country Name Host Network Date premiered Prize
 Germany Die Quiz Show Jörg PilawaChristian Clerici

Matthias Opdenhövel

 Sat.1 2000–2004 DM512,000

€256,000

 Hungary Multimilliomos - Most vagy soha! Gabriella Jakupcsek TV2 2000–2005 HUF 51,200,000
 Indonesia Chance of a Lifetime Dede Yusuf SCTV 2004 Rp 1,536,000,000
 Italy Quiz Show Amadeus Rai Uno 2000–2002 IT₤512,000,000

€264,426

 Lebanon لمين الملايين؟

Lamin El malayin?

 Serge Zarqa MTV 2001–2002 100,000,000L.L
لمين الملايين جونيور

Lamin El malayin Junior

 Carole Sakr 2002
 Poland Życiowa szansa Krzysztof Ibisz Polsat 2000–2002 1,000,000 zł
 United States It's Your Chance of a Lifetime Gordon Elliott Fox 5–10 June 2000 $ 1,000,000

Versions have also aired in Norway, France, Israel and other countries.

See also

References
  1. Terrace, Vincent (2012). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010, 2d ed. McFarland. p. 518. ISBN 9780786486410.
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