The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime (Australian game show)
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For the unrelated American game show, see The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime.
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The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime was 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.
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[edit] Overview
The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime aired on the Seven Network from 1999-2000. Seven began production on the show when rival network Nine Network announced production of an Australian version 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] Rules of the game
The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime was conducted as follows:
A solo player competed for a chance to win over $1,000,000 in the form of an annuity, doing so by answering ten questions. The first question was dubbed the "Credit Card Question," with a correct answer eliminating any credit card bill debt the contestant had rung up (the bill itself was shredded onstage).
The next question was worth $5,000, and a contestant had to answer correctly to advance. If correct, the contestant would have a maximum of eight questions to answer, being forced to bet at least half of what they had at that particular point in the game. The catch was that each question came from one of ten different categories, and the contestant never knew where they would come from. However, the contestant was shown the category before the question was asked, so they would know and could bet accordingly.
Along the way, each contestant had two "Second Chances," which were used to help the contestant. One "Second Chance" allowed the contestant to switch the question for one in a category of their choice, and the other allowed the question to be made multiple choice. Once a contestant reached the third level of questions, a "Last Chance" was awarded, allowing the contestant to choose one of the two options for a second time.
A contestant could stop after any correct answer, but an incorrect answer deducted the amount of the wager and ended the game for the contestant. Even a miss on the credit card question ended the game.
A possible $1,280,000 was available to a contestant.
[edit] 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 5.30 pm before the nightly news broadcast; Seven usually uses quiz shows as a lead in for its own news bulletins. It was eventually cancelled, with weaker ratings and excessive production costs cited as reasons for cancellation.
