Red or Black?
Red or Black? is a British television game show which was broadcast on ITV between 3 September 2011 and 29 September 2012.
In each round, contestants choose red or black, with those that choose the incorrect colour being eliminated. During the first series, four finalists guessed the colour correctly in the final round and became millionaires. Over 100,000 members of the public applied to be on the show, with the numbers being reduced down to a different final eight contestants per live show each night for seven nights. Whilst most rounds varied, there were two standard rounds in each live final: "Duel" where the final two contestants went head to head, and the final round where the winner chose a colour on a giant wheel similar to that used in roulette. Celebrities including Jedward, David Hasselhoff and One Direction were involved in the rounds of the show where contestants must choose either red or black in order to pass to the next round, while the show was filmed at locations such as Battersea Power Station and the set of Coronation Street.
Red or Black? was commissioned for a second series, which featured the format having been revamped significantly. While the first series featured six pre-recorded rounds in several different locations and four live rounds, the second series featured six pre-recorded rounds that take place in either the Red or Black? Arena or in the studio. Celebrities such as Carol Vorderman, Jonathan Ross and Little Mix were involved in the rounds for this series.
The show is a joint production between Syco TV and ITV Studios, and was initially broadcast on ITV nightly over the course of seven nights from Saturday to the following Saturday, with the exception of the Tuesday night. The show also featured several Syco-related music acts. Sponsorship for the first series was initially targeted at National Lottery operator Camelot Group, but eventually went with Jackpotjoy owner Gamesys and Domino's Pizza. The second series was sponsored by controversial loans site wonga.com.
In the week where the first series of Red or Black? aired, ITV gained a much larger audience share than it had in the week directly previous, where it had been beaten by BBC One on six out of seven nights. Despite this, reviews of the first series were universally negative, and additional criticism was leveled at the show when it was discovered that Nathan Hageman, the first winner of the £1m prize, had a criminal record. This led to ITV dropping three other contestants from the show, with at least one withdrawn because of their criminal record. This was also a major factor in the pre-recording of series 2.
Production
An initial pilot of the show was ordered in 2003 by ITV, from production company FremantleMedia, and was commissioned by Claudia Rosencrantz, who was the controller of entertainment at ITV at the time. It was presented by Brian Conley, but was not broadcast; a series was not produced. Rosencrantz spoke of the pilot in 2011, "I didn't believe people would like to see someone win a vast sum of money, with no skills at all involved. Second, gambling is not a spectator sport, you get an adrenaline rush from participating in it." Richard Holloway, who worked with FremantleMedia at the time of producing the pilot, said, "It was a novel idea, you could win a million pounds eventually, I was surprised it didn't go to series." Rosencrantz left ITV in 2006, and there has been a significant turnover in staff since the pilot was originally put together.The show was launched by ITV and Syco at the Millennium Hotel Mayfair, London, on 3 May 2011. The initial recruitment phase for contestants lasted until 13 May. The updated format was conceived by Simon Cowell, who said that it was inspired by roulette and the story of Ashley Revell, who had bet his entire life savings on "red" in a roulette game in Las Vegas. It is the most expensive game show in history, at around £1.5m per episode. ITV's director of entertainment and comedy, Elaine Bedell, was contacted by Cowell, "This being Simon this was at 1.30 am, but even then it was quite a compelling idea". When later talking about the £1m prize on offer each night, Cowell said, "It's expensive if you have to give away a million every night but we have insurance for that."
Being a co-production between Syco TV and ITV Studios, Cowell began planning for international versions straight away, saying, "I'd love to take it around the world. I think the concept works. If it succeeds it will travel. We've got interest in America already." Some Syco-managed acts appeared on the show, including Leona Lewis on the first episode.
Domino's Pizza was announced as the primary sponsor of the show in June 2011, in a deal worth £1m. It had previously been the sponsor of Britain's Got Talent for three years. National Lottery operator Camelot Group were originally sought after to be the primary sponsors, but did not go ahead. A Camelot spokesperson said, "We were approached by Syco and worked with them and ITV on the Red or Black? concept. However, after discussions, we didn't reach an agreement on the venture."
ITV also signed deals with Jackpotjoy owner Gamesys to produce pay-to-play games for their website on an exclusive basis. Social TV company Monterosa were contracted to create a game that could be played by viewers online whilst watching the show, also allowing viewers to compete with their Facebook friends. Achievement badges could be unlocked by players, and if they managed to get through all ten rounds correctly, then they were awarded entry into the Red or Black? Millionaire's Club, normally reserved for those competitors who won the prize money themselves.
Cowell stated in an interview during the broadcast week of the first series that he hoped a second series would go ahead, and that he had received three separate approaches from the United States to create an American version. Peter Fincham, ITV's chief programmer, said in October 2011 that Red or Black? would only be recommissioned for a second series if some changes were made to the format.
Series 2 of Red or Black? was announced by Ant & Dec on 30 March 2012 during a radio programme appearance on The Chris Moyles Show. In order to reduce production costs, a new game was also introduced to replace the roulette wheel, which is called "The Vortex". In this game, the last contestant remaining must predict how long a ball will take to descend a 'mini velodrome'. If a contestant wins, he or she will receive a rolling jackpot starting at £500,000. This increases by £500,000 for the next show if the jackpot is not won.
Series 1
Format
Each episode of series 1 of Red or Black? consisted of 10 rounds; in each round, the player had to choose either red or black, with those who choose incorrectly being eliminated. The rounds were split into three stages. The first is an arena stage, which is recorded at Wembley Arena, which was named the "Red or Black Arena" during the show. 1,000 contenders are shown the beginning of a spectacular stunt with either a red or a black competitor as the winning outcome, and then have to decide which side will win. To do so, they take a seat at one of two special stands. The contenders who have correctly guessed the winner are given a fortune cookie - 256 of these cookies contain coloured stripes, with 128 of them being red, the other ones being black. After one of these colours gets selected, the players with the winning stripes move onto the location stage, where four more stunts will be shown, with the players have to guess the outcome of each of these stunts. After each of the four games, the field of players will be cut in half. This means that, after the fourth location game, only eight competitors are left. Those eight then go forward to the live studio final, where they are reduced down to the last two players over the course of two more games after each of which half of the players have to go. The two remaining players after both games moved on to the second part of the show.The second part always included the same two games: the "Duel" with the final two contestants and the last round in which the winning contestant gets to play for the million pound prize. The first series was broadcast over seven nights in September 2011, running over the course of a week, except for the Tuesday night, from Saturday to the following Saturday. Over 100,000 people applied to compete in the show.
In the penultimate round, "Duel", a video wall displayed a disc split into eight sections, numbered 1–8. Before the round started, an independent adjudicator randomised which sections were coloured red or black, with each colour having four sections; this choice was hidden to the contestants. A random player chose their colour, while the other player took the remaining colour. Each player then took it in turns to choose a number, with the corresponding section being revealed to the players and the audience. The first player to have all four of their sections revealed progressed to the final round.
The final game was a giant modified roulette wheel split into 36 alternately coloured sections, awarding a £1 million prize if the player chose the correct colour. Red or Black? made its first millionaire in the first show, with bricklayer Nathan Hageman, from Reading, winning on red. The following night the second millionaire was made, with carer Kevin Cartwright also winning on red. Two further millionaires, Darren Thompson and Gary Brocklesby, were made during the series. That means that four millionaires were made over the course of seven shows.