PokerFace

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This article is about the British game show. For the Indian version, see PokerFace: Dil Sachcha Chehra Jhootha. For other versions, see list of international versions below.
PokerFace
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Created by Ant & Dec
Presented by Ant & Dec
Country of origin United Kingdom
Original language(s) English
No. of series 2
No. of episodes 14
Production
Production location(s) Fountain Studios
Running time 60mins (inc. adverts)
Production company(s) Gallowgate and Talkback Thames
Distributor FremantleMedia
Release
Original network ITV
Picture format 16:9
Original release 10 July 2006 (2006-07-10) –
3 March 2007 (2007-03-03)
External links
[{{#property:P856}} Website]

PokerFace is a British game show broadcast on ITV, where one person is guaranteed to win £1 million. The show was created by Ant & Dec, who also host it. As implied by the title, PokerFace, is based on the bluffing aspect of poker games. The contestants do not necessarily need to get the questions right in order to win, and can bluff their way through the game and pressure their opponents into folding in order to win.

The show was originally going to be called The Con Test, but the name was changed just weeks before the show began. However, the Australian version is called The Con Test. Series 1 of the show was aired nightly for seven consecutive days (the seventh show being the final), whilst series 2 saw the show moved to a Saturday prime-time slot, lasted for seven weeks.

Format

On each show, 6 contestants compete for a prize of £50,000 and a place in the £1 million final.

The show opens with "The Grilling". This is where the 6 contestants (5 in some versions) are introduced, and tell the other contestants about themselves. The viewers can see whether a person is telling the truth or not by the 'TRUE' and 'BLUFF' prompts on the screen. After all 6 contestants have been introduced and grilled, the game begins. Each contestant sits in front of a screen, and they can only see their own score.

In Round 1, there are 8 multiple choice questions with three possible answers, one of them being the correct answer, worth £500 each. Every contestant will have 5 seconds to lock in their answer. After the answer to each question is revealed, viewers at home can see which contestants got it right or wrong by a series of gold ticks and red crosses appearing on the pictures of each contestant. At the end of each round, viewers at home see the leaderboard, and more importantly, who's in last place. Ant & Dec then ask the contestants in turn how they think they did in that round.

After the round has finished, the face-off begins. The contestants stand in front of red buttons that rise from the floor, and a 10-second countdown starts. There are 2 possible outcomes:

  • A contestant folds by pressing the button. They'll lose their place in the game, but take home with them their winnings.
  • Nobody folds. The player with the least money will be removed from the game and they'll leave with nothing. If there is a tie at the bottom, then the person who answered their questions the slowest is out.

In either case, the losing contestant is briefly interviewed and asked to justify their decision. The contestant is then shown a leaderboard which reveals how the other contestants are doing.

There are 5 rounds in total. In each subsequent round, there are just 5 questions, but the prize money increases by £250 each round.

During the final, the £50,000 won in the heats was used as stake money, and the amount on offer per question was doubled. In the final of the second series, the final countdown for the £1 million face-off was also extended to 15 seconds.

Series 1

  • Sunday 16 July - Sarah Lang (also known as Sarah Price) - £1 million (her total from the questions was £84,500).

Sarah is possibly Britain's biggest game show winner in total, having also won £32,500 on The National Lottery: In It to Win It within the previous year. She also appeared on The Weakest Link and Wipeout in 2001, 19 Keys in 2003 and Didn't They Do Well in 2004.[1]

  • Runner-up - Julian Sperring-Toy - £0 - did not fold so lost £75,500.
  • 3rd - Amy - £66,000
  • 4th - Geoff - £59,500
  • 5th - Bill - £54,500
  • 6th - Kim - £51,000

Series 2

The second series of PokerFace began on Saturday 20 January 2007.

Winners

Show Date 1st Amount 2nd Amount Folded? Decision
1 20 January Dominic £12,750 Antonia £14,000 Yes Red XN
2 27 January Del £13,750 Daniel £12,750 Yes Green tickY
3 3 February Shane £14,750 Hilda £11,750 Yes Green tickY
4 10 February Victoria £14,250 Georgeia £14,250 Yes Red XN
5 17 February Andy £15,500 Donna £14,500 Yes Green tickY
6 24 February Colin £19,250 Philippa £19,250 Yes Green tickY

Final

The final aired on 3 March. The result was as follows:

Position Name From show Amount Folded? Decision
1st Dominic 1 £76,000 No Green tickY
2nd Colin 6 £73,500 Yes Green tickY
3rd Andy 5 £65,000 Yes Red XN
4th Victoria 4 £63,000 Yes Red XN
5th Del 2 £55,500 Yes Green tickY
6th Shane 3 £53,000 Yes Red XN

Notes

The two eventual finalists, Dominic and Colin, were the first and last contestants to be introduced in the course of the heats - Dominic as the first person in 'The Grilling' of Show 1, and Colin as the last person in 'The Grilling' of Show 6.

Also, in both series, the winner of Show 1 has won the final. Both winners made it through their heat by making the other contestant fold when they should not have done, but have then won the finals outright.

International versions

Country Name Host(s) TV station Regular top prize in local currency Super final prize in local currency
 Australia The Con Test Andrew G
Brigitte Duclos
Network Ten A$50,000 none
 Brazil O Jogador Ana Hickmann
Britto Junior
Rede Record R$50,000 none
 China 王牌碟中谍
Wangpai die zhong die
Shen Tao
Hua Shao
ZJTV CN¥26,500 CN¥38,250 and
a free trip to Antarctica (2013)
or a car (2014)
 Colombia El Jugador Andrea Serna
Claudia Bahamon
RCN CO$200,000,000 none
 Hungary PókerArc István Vágó
Balázs Sebestyén
RTL Klub 2,000,000 Ft 7,000,000 Ft (Sunday weekly final)
50,000,000 Ft (super final)
20,000,000 Ft (In the 2nd series, the game was only a week long with this prize in super final.)
 India PokerFace: Dil Sachcha Chehra Jhootha Sharman Joshi Real TV none Rs. 10,000,000
 Indonesia Duel Poker Charles B. Sirait
Conchita Caroline
NET. none Rp. 200,000,000
 Mexico Doble Cara Rodrigo Murray Azteca Trece MX$100,000 none
 Norway PokerFjes Øyvind Fjeldheim
Cathrine Riis Lilleaas
TV2 KR100,000 KR1,000,000
 Poland Wielki Poker Cezary Kosiński
Paweł Burczyk
TVP2 50,000 250,000
 Portugal Jogo Duplo José Carlos Malato
Ana Galvão
RTP1 10,000 50,000
 Slovakia Veľký hráč Peter Kočiš
Ján Dubnička
TV JOJ TBA 45,000
 Sweden PokerFejs Gry Forssell
Adam Alsing
TV4 KR200,000 KR1,000,000
 Vietnam Đấu trí[2] Nguyễn Tùng Chi
Lại Văn Sâm
VTV3 15,000,000 30,000,000 (semi-final)
60,000,000 (final)
  • The UK show also aired on TV3 in Ireland.
  • The UK original hosts Ant & Dec attempted to sell the show in the United States to ABC without success, according to an online article on A2 News Central's website that instead referenced the US launch of Wanna Bet?/You Bet! for the same network (a program they will host).
  • Although, some versions have just one host on stage and the other host in the interview room, the Mexican and Indian versions are the only versions with only one presenter. "El Jugador" (the Colombian version) is the first version with two female presenters.
  • The Hungarian version runs as a three-round tournament over six weeks. At the end of the sixth week, the six weekly winners compete in the super final.

References

  1. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. (Vietnamese) Đấu trí – gameshow mới của VTV3 sắp trình làng, October 29, 2007.

External links