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.
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 Main game A solo player (chosen randomly from the audience) competed for a chance to win over $1,000,000 by answering a series of 10 open-ended questions. The first of these was a "Credit Card Question"; if the player answered correctly, their entire credit card bills were paid off. They kept this payoff regardless of the outcome of the game. An incorrect answer ended the game immediately and sent the player home with no winnings.
Each of the nine remaining questions was drawn from a different category. The second question awarded $10,000 if answered correctly or ended the game for a miss. After giving a correct answer on any question, the player was told the category for the next question and had to decide whether to continue the game, or end it and keep all winnings. If the player chose to continue, they had to risk a part of their total (exclusive of the credit card payoff). The third question required a wager of anything from $1 to $10,000, and each question's wager must always be larger than that of the previous question. If the player answered correctly, the amount of the wager was added to their bank; if they missed, it was deducted and the game ended, with the player keeping whatever was left of their bank.
Categories were chosen at random before each turn and were removed from play after being used once.
The player was given two chances to switch to a question of their favourite category after seeing that of their upcoming question, but before the question itself.
If the player answered all 10 questions correctly, they won all money accumulated during the game, including the credit card payoff.
Charity If a contestant cleared the second question (for $10,000), they would also get to select a charity organisation, to which Seven would donate $1,000. Home player The show would induce home viewers to join studio games through two hotlines (later one). Each game would feature a home player, which was picked randomly from all hotline callers of the main contestant's city of choice in Australia.
On each question, the home caller would give an answer before the studio contestant. If the caller answered wrong, they would be eliminated; while a wrong answer from the studio player would eliminate both of them, provided the caller was still live.
Regardless of the outcome, the caller would keep their winnings up to their game's conclusion. The first question was worth $1,000 and each question would be worth $1,000 more than the last (i.e., $2,000 on the second, $3,000 on the third, etc.), for a maximum of $55,000.
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 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.
Country Name Host Network Date premiered Prize (original format) The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime Frank WarrickSandy Roberts Seven 1999–2000 A$1,280,000Kvíz ShowVladimír ČechTV Prima2004–20051,000,000 Kč Die Quiz Show Jörg PilawaChristian ClericiMatthias Opdenhövel Sat.1 2000–2004 DM 512,000 €256,000 Multimilliomos – Most vagy soha! Gabriella Jakupcsek TV2 2000–2005 51,200,000 Ft. Jeeto Chappar Phaad Ke Govinda SET 2001–2002 ₹20,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime Dede Yusuf SCTV 2004 Rp.1,536,000,000 Quiz Show Amadeus Rai Uno 2000–2002 £it.512,000,000 €256,000 لمين الملايين؟Lamin El malayin? Serge ZarqaMTV 2001–2002£L100,000,000 لمين الملايين جونيورLamin El malayin Junior Karol Sakr 2002 Życiowa szansa Krzysztof Ibisz Polsat 2000–2002 PLN 1,000,000 Dinheiro à Vista Luísa Castel-Branco TVI 2000 30,000,000$00SuperKvízPeter Kočiš (2004)Ján Gordulič (2005)Jednotka20041,000,000 Sk.SuperKvíz Junior2004–2005Življenjska priložnostMito TrefaltBorut VeselkoKanal A2000–20021,000,000 SIT Fırsat Bu Fırsat Cem DavranKanal D 2000–2001TL512,000,000 Maksimum Risk Haluk Bilginer 2002It's Your Chance of a LifetimeGordon ElliottFOX2000$1,290,000
Versions have also aired in Norway, France, Israel and other countries.
See also List of Australian television series
References
External links
History of Australian TV Quiz Shows