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

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The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime
GenreQuiz show
Created byStephen Leahy
Presented byFrank Warrick (1999) [1]
Sandy Roberts (2000) [1]
Country of origin Australia
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes26
Production
Running time60 minutes (Including commercials)
Production companyAction Time
Original release
Network Seven Network
Release1999 (1999) 
2000 (2000)
Related
It's Your Chance of a Lifetime

The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime (stylized as $Million Chance of a Lifetime) is 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 not to be confused with the American game show that used the title The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime.

Contents

Overview

The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime aired on the Seven Network from 1999 to 2000. Seven began production on the show when rival network Nine Network announced production 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

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". 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 game 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 were distributed by ITV Studios except for the Australian version.

CountryNameHostNetworkDate premieredPrize
Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia (original format) [2] The $1,000,000 Chance of a LifetimeFrank Warrick
Sandy Roberts
Seven 1999–2000 A$1,280,000
Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic Kvíz Show Vladimír Čech TV Prima 2004–20051,000,000
Flag of Germany.svg  Germany [3] Die Quiz Show Jörg Pilawa
Christian Clerici
Matthias Opdenhövel
Sat.1 2000–2004 DM 512,000
256,000
Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary [4] Multimilliomos – Most vagy soha! Gabriella Jakupcsek TV2 2000–200551,200,000 Ft.
Flag of India.svg  India Jeeto Chappar Phaad Ke Govinda SET 2001–2002 20,000,000
Flag of Indonesia.svg  Indonesia Chance of a Lifetime Dede Yusef SCTV 2004 Rp.1,536,000,000
Flag of Italy.svg  Italy [5] Quiz Show Amadeus Rai Uno 2000–2002 £it.512,000,000
256,000
Flag of Lebanon.svg  Lebanon لمين الملايين؟
Lamin El malayin?
Serge Zarqa MTV 2001–2002 £L100,000,000
لمين الملايين جونيور
Lamin El malayin Junior
Karol Sakr 2002
Flag of Poland.svg  Poland [6] Życiowa szansa Krzysztof Ibisz Polsat 2000–2002 PLN 1,000,000
Flag of Slovakia.svg  Slovakia SuperKvízPeter Kočiš (2004)
Ján Gordulič (2005)
Jednotka 20041,000,000 Sk.
SuperKvíz Junior2004–2005
Flag of Slovenia.svg  Slovenia Življenjska priložnostMito Trefalt
Borut Veselko
Kanal A 2000–20021,000,000 SIT
Flag of the United States.svg  United States It's Your Chance of a Lifetime Gordon Elliott FOX 2000$1,290,000

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

See also

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References

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