Take the Risk and the Reward Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Apprentice

"The Apprentice" originally had contestants work on two teams to win business-oriented tasks. The winning team got a reward, but the losing team entered a grueling boardroom where, eventually, the project manager brought back two team-mates and one of the three were fired by Alan Sugar.

In 2011, for its seventh series, the format changed. Originally, the winners worked with Alan Sugar in a high paying office job, but few of the winners actually stuck at this job for long, suggesting the apprentice role did not have longevity. For example, series 6 winner Stella English quit the job in October 2011, having been announced as the winner in late 2009.
The format changed to allow someone to get investment for a business plan, probably to reflect that the show's initial role was redundant.

Answer: The X Factor

"The X Factor", appearing in 2004, has been quite a controversial engine. It usually featured an audition stage, a bootcamp stage, a judge's house stage and then the live shows which had typically featured 12 contestants (divided up for each judge). At the live shows, the public got to decide who would be in the bottom two each week and the judges voted someone out. The public also eventually got to decide the show's winner.

The auditions often featured very polarising singers. Either very good or very bad. The very bad ones were often told they were bad, and this was quite distressing or quite amusing depending on their reaction. Originally the auditions took place in a room but were eventually moved to a stage where the audience would also have their say (i.e. boo or cheer in a pantomime fashion).

The winners were to get a recording deal with record company SyCo, but less successful acts like Steve Brookstein and Matt Cardle were not kept for very long, which has reflected poorly on the process as a whole. Although some successful acts like Leona Lewis have retained longevity, it has not always been the dream experience many contestants believe it to be.

Answer: Switch the Question

Switch the Question was instated in 2010 and allowed contestants to swap one question once they had hit the second milestone. This coincided with the shift to a 'quick-fire' question version of the show, where contestants had time limits and there were fewer questions to answer to get the million. As the show appeared in 1998, the show had become stale in many eyes after over 10 years of airing, hence this change. The other three lifelines were original lifelines and were permanent fixtures on the UK show.

Ask the Audience had the audience enter a keypad what they believed the answer was. It was usually highly reliable in early stages of the game and the audience usually had a good hit-rate, based on what I've seen. The contestant chose whether to follow the audience or not.

50/50 removed two incorrect answers from the four possible answers. This was said to be random and could help contestants who could eliminate one or two of the answers as false, if the 50/50 plays their way (which it doesn't always).

Phone a Friend had people, well, phone a friend, to get their advice on a question. They were often in some kind of knowledgeable profession like a teacher, but were often employed on the more difficult questions so weren't always helpful. There was the chance that the friend would be completely useless, which sometimes prompted the contestant to leave with their money and not risk losing it!

Answer: Are You Smarter Than a Ten Year Old?

This show was based on the American show "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?" and had contestants answer questions from age 6-10 school subjects. It was hinted by a producer that the knowledge pool used was not exactly representative of the average 10 year old, however, so most adults should probably not feel too bad if they had had to say "I am not smarter than a ten year old" which they had to do when they lost or quit (whether it was true or not!).

The contestants, like in "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?", also had a lifeline - a young child could help them. The contestant could Peek at their helper's answer and decide whether to go with it or not, Copy it (but be obliged to enter that answer), or be Saved once if they answered correctly and the child answered correctly.

There was a primetime version and a daytime version. The primetime version had prizes of up to £250,000 and the daytime of up to £50,000. No 'prizes' for guessing which show most people would want to go on, eh?

Answer: Wheel of Fortune

The contestants had to face typically two other contestants to try and amass the most amount of points from spinning and guessing letters in the common phrase. The overall winner was the person with the most points at the end of the game, who would then be eligible to win the grand prize. This involved guessing five consonants and a vowel and then attempting to solve one more phrase. The main risk factor was spinning and landing a bankrupt slice, as this severely impacted one's chance to win, especially if spun late in the game.

The prize was typically either a car and/or a money envelope, although the nature of this prize varied across the course of the show's existence. For example, it was reduced to household appliances in the daytime version. The show aired from 1988 to 2001 in the UK.

Answer: Red or black on a casino wheel spin

"Red or Black?" had a large group of the public choose red or black outcomes to several events, until only one person was left. This one person got to guess red or black one more time, but for a giant casino wheel spin, and the casino concept was likely the inspiration for the show. It was entirely chance-based throughout.

Controversially, one of the show's winners had a criminal record, reflecting poorly on the moral success of the show. In addition it was criticised by gambling authorities as it was said to encourage inappropriate gambling practices (the notion of betting all or nothing on a casino spin!). To further add insult to injury, the show was panned for trying to bring the emotionally manipulative aspects from shows like "The X Factor" and integrate them in a completely chance-based game, by giving sob stories to the public and having them say how winning would change their lives etc. Several 'black' marks for "Red or Black?" there.

Answer: The Cube

"The Cube", first airing in 2009 in the UK, had a physical skill element to it unlike many game shows at the time. Like a cat, contestants had nine lives and had to play increasingly difficult games to try and beat the Cube and win £250,000. However, every time they failed they lost a life, and once they committed to playing a game, had to stay until they won or lost.

Contestants who had good hand-eye coordination and could keep their cool under pressure did well in this game, and there were seven games to play in total to win the grand prize. However, in the first four series, only four people even got to see game seven and they all bowed out as the last game was a harder version of a game they had already played (usually one they struggled with).

Examples of the types of games played included:
- Having to memorise a specific pattern to get to the other end of the cube, then walk in the specified directions without guidance, testing memory.
- Catching a ball as it was shot quickly out of a ball-throwing machine, testing reflex and catching abilities.
- With vertical cylinders, create a column of ten which does not fall over, testing a steady hand and calmness under pressure.

Many new games were constantly added to ensure contestants could not practice their way to a win.

Answer: Darts

In the pairs, one person was a public member and the other was a darts player of reasonable stature. The name "Bullseye" reflected the dart thrower's role, as, throughout the game's rounds, the dart thrower had to be accurate in order for the contestant to answer trivia and win money and prizes.

At the final round, the contestant also had to throw darts to try and amass a total of 101 points with their partner. If they won, they got some prizes, like a car, but if they lost, they left empty handed. If they didn't want to gamble, the second placed team could give it a go instead, if they wanted to.

Answer: Blind Date

"Blind Date" was a very light game show and the prize was not necessarily as 'material' as many other game shows, as it was to go on a date with a member of the opposite sex. Typically, three men or women were introduced to the audience and then hidden behind a board as one member of the opposite sex questioned them, got highly cheesy/corny answers and then chose to go out with one of them without having seen them. Although they could choose their holiday location from a set of envelopes, it was rumoured that they all contained the same location, so there wasn't actually a choice at all. The next week they came back to talk about how they'd got on, but mostly how they didn't get on.

Cilla Black became the show's icon after hosting it for so long and was well known for "We'll have a lorra lorra laughs" catchphrase, as well as mediating any conflicts that occurred as a result of the blind dates not getting on well, which provided the audience with humour. Unsurprisingly, the show's ultimate success rate was not high, nor was it probably intended to be, as only a handful of marriages ensued from 18 years of blind dating!

Answer: Deal or No Deal

"Deal or No Deal" was originally based on a Dutch format but came into the UK television world in 2005 and was originally hosted by Noel Edmonds. In the UK, the show typically aired in daytime at mid-afternoon on Channel 4 and won awards in 2006 for being "Daytime Programme of the Year" and "Best Daytime Programme" amongst others.

As you'd expect, opening 26 boxes doesn't take that long. However, the show fleshes the box-opening out by having the contestant waffle on about their life experiences, desires for the money and hopes and dreams whilst expounding and philosophising over how their favourite numbers must surely contain the small numbers so they should open it. The contestant is also given plenty of time to consider taking the banker's offers or not.

Often, the banker's offers are below probabilistic averages, especially early in the game, which pushes people not to make a deal until very late in the game. Even after people make a deal, the game continues to see "what could have been". Some tension has been given when people deal and end up having a larger amount of money in their box, or not dealing when they have the chance. But ultimately it is a game of chance and the notion of regret often gets pushed when there is nothing really to regret.