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Ant and Dec’s Limitless Win is the world’s first gameshow with no money limit. How high will the contestants’ greed go?
As with other recent gameshows like Gordon Ramsay’s Bank Balance, we had to hear about the lives of the contestants before they walk on stage, starting with NHS workers Will and Kathryn, who were presumably picked for their perfect teeth. They’ll answer questions in turn before they get a chance on the money ladder. If either gets a question wrong, they’ll keep having to answer questions until they get one right and then it passes to the other in the couple.
Each correct question answered gets them 5 lives. Then onto the ladder section, each question has an answer that’s a number. The number will be how many rungs they climb that ladder. They can afford to be UNDER the exact answer, but they can’t be OVER – so it’s a bit like the end game on The Price Is Right, in that respect. That one always confused me, and I don’t think Bruce Forsyth knew what day it was, either.
One example question is: What is the legal voting age in the UK? So, some questions are easy to answer, while others are very random, like How many items make up a common full English Breakfast? So, giving a rough example with a made-up figure (since I can’t give any answers prior to broadcast), let’s say they give the answer 13. It’s under, and it’s so not an exactly correct answer, but the correct answer is 14, then they’re 1 under. So, they lose 1 life.
Sometimes, they come across blank lines classed as Lifelines, and can use one at a time. For example, if one is ‘More Than’, they can ask if the answer is more than a particular number.
If they get the exact answer, and they’re under a particular figure – eg. £10,000, then they’ll add £10,000 to their bank, and add 5 lives to their total. At any time they can cash out their winnings, prior to locking in the next answer.
So, this is another gameshow where the questions are really drawn out in terms of how long they take to deal with them.
Overall, Ant and Dec’s Limitless Win is worth a look for one episode, and you do eventually get a handle on how the format works, but similar to Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? and Gordon Ramsay’s Bank Balance, one pair of contestants can almost dominate an entire episode’s running time, and that just makes such a programme drag for me. It just doesn’t feel like much variety for me.
It would also be nice to sometimes see a fresh face on an ITV gameshow, not Ant and Dec.
Ant and Dec’s Limitless Win begins on ITV tonight at 8.30pm. After broadcast, each episode will be on the ITV Hub. It’s unlikely to ever be released on Blu-ray or DVD.
Director: Ollie Bartlett
Producer: Roger Johnson
Writer: Andy Milligan
Music: Dan Keen, Gary Barlow, Marc Sylvian
Hosts:
Anthony McPartlin
Declan Donnelly
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.