The Exit List

The Exit List was a British game show that aired on ITV from 10 January to 28 February 2012 and was hosted by Matt Allwright.

Format

Contestants compete as two-person teams, with the show operating in two parts, where contestants first try to accumulate as much money as possible by answering questions and then try to escape with the money they have won by recalling the Exit List, a list of answers they have given during the show.

To play the game, the contestants travel together through a series of rooms called "The Memory Maze". The first row contains just one room; the second and third have three rooms each; the fourth has five; and the fifth and sixth rows — the latter referred to as the "back row" in the game — have seven each, for a total of 26 rooms. Each room contains a vault with a computer display, a container holding money and two glass cylinders. On activating the vault it will offer either:

• A question for a prize of £1,000, £2,000, £3,000, £4,000, £5,000, and £10,000 depending on which row the vault sits on,
• A question for a prize of £100,000 hidden in one random vault on the back row, or
• A "Panic Room".

Questions

On activating a question, the host gives the contestants a question and four possible answers. The contestants have 30 seconds to answer the question, starting as soon as the final option appears. To give an answer the contestants must state they wish to "lock in" their answer. Once selected, the answer cannot be changed.

If the question has been answered correctly, the option they selected is added to their Exit List.

If the question has been answered wrongly, all four options are added to the Exit List as a group.

Panic Rooms

Dotted around the Memory Maze are five "Panic Rooms". These rooms test the contestants' shorter term memory by showing a series of images and related information in quick succession. The contestants must remember the information and have 30 seconds to recall the information in the order provided to them. Contestants may attempt as many answers as needed until they say the correct one, and either contestant can give an answer. They may also pass.

If all pieces of information are given correctly, nothing is added to the Exit List. But there is no money to be won.

Any pieces of information the contestants failed to get right are turned into an "Panic Code" by taking the first letter or number of each answer, and added to the Exit List. This takes the form of an alphabetical or numerical code which is designed to be harder to recall.

Movement

The contestants begin their game in the only room in the first row and progress through the rooms either left, right or ahead of their current room. No room previously entered can be entered again. On answering a question correctly, or completing a Panic Room with no wrong answers, the row ahead of the contestant becomes available. Contestants do not have to go to the next row, instead opting to increase their winnings or tactically move to the side of the Memory Maze. If a question was answered incorrectly or the Panic Room not completed fully, the room on the next row from the contestants becomes blocked. At this point the contestant can only move left or right, as long as there is an available room they have not entered.

At the end of each question or Panic Room, the Exit List is displayed and read out to the contestants by a voice of the Memory Maze (Kait Borsay). This acts as a reminder and confirmation of the Exit List accumulated so far. The host will then inform the contestants of which topic is contained in each room available to them and give them the opportunity to exit the maze. If no rooms are available (due to being blocked in), the contestants may continue to play. If they take this option they must leave their case behind and their winnings reset to £0, however their Exit List will not be reset and continue to grow. The contestants may still opt to exit the maze instead of losing their winnings.

Exiting the Maze

Once the contestants have chosen to exit, each removes one of the two glass cylinders at random from the vault in the room where they stopped.

The contestant who selected the shorter rod is the one to recall the Exit List, and places a pair of headphones on to prevent them hearing any of the discussions taking place by the host and the other contestant.

The contestant selecting the longer rod returns to join the host where they are offered a sum of money unknown to the contestant still in the Memory Maze. The amount offered is based on the amount won so far and the length of the Exit List. The host asks the contestant to either accept or reject the offer. The decision is not revealed to anyone else.

The contestant still in the maze is now asked to remove the headphones and is told of the task. The contestant must remember the route from their current location to the first room they entered, in order, while remembering the Exit List and carrying the case of money. Any room the contestant enters that was not their original route will be met by a klaxon while the clock continues to count down. The contestant has 10 seconds for each room they entered during the main game in order to recall the Exit List. The Exit List can be recalled in any order; however, groups of answers (which are the result of an incorrect answer to a question adding all four options to the Exit List) must all be answered together for the item to count.

If the contestant has successfully recalled the whole Exit List in the time limit, they win the money in the case. If they fail to complete the task they must leave the Memory Maze without the case. The contestant is met by the host, who celebrates the success or consoles the failure of the contestant accordingly.

However, if the contestant who was given the deal accepted it, the amount offered is the amount taken home regardless of the success or failure of the other contestant. If the deal was rejected, the amount won by the other contestant is taken home, if anything. The final part is to reveal how much the contestants will be taking home based on the acceptance or rejection of the deal.

Winning History

Series 1 (2012)

Notes: ¹Had lost £15,000 as a result of being blocked. ²Had lost £6,000 as a result of being blocked.

International versions

• Hungary: the Hungarian version of the show is called "A kód" (the code). RTL Klub airs the show every weekday since the fall season of 2012. The memory maze is different from the original version. Instead of rooms there are just normal squares without walls. The host (Balázs Sebestyén) follows the contestants in the maze so there is more interaction between him and the players. The structure of the maze and the rules of the Panic rooms are the same like in the original version. The price for a question is 50,000 Ft, 100,000 Ft, 150,000 Ft, 200,000 Ft, 300,000 Ft, and 500,000 Ft depending on which row the vault sits on. Price of the Jackpot is 5,000,000 Ft which is hidden in one random vault on the back row. The show has a great success, regularly winning its time slot with an SHR of 30-35% among 18-49 target audience.^[3]

References

External links

• The Exit List at UKGameshows.com