Playing Catch Up: News Updates From The Past Week

Because I haven’t had much time to regularly post updates on the TBIR Facebook and main page, today’s article is dedicated to briefly covering some of the more prominent game show news stories from the past week including FremantleMedia’s BUZZR facing a trademark suit, BBC unsurprisingly renewing Pointless, Australia’s Seven Network ordering a new game show from ITV Studios and The Price Is Right heading for Nigeria.

Mark Labbett Joins “The Chase Australia” In 2016

Beginning next year, one of the most brilliant minds in Britain will take his quizzing talents down under to Australia’s version of The Chase. “The Beast”, who currently competes as a Chaser on the U.K. and U.S. version of The Chase, will join resident Chasers Brydon “The Shark” Coverdale, Anne “The Governess” Hegerty, Matt “Goliath” Parkinson” and Issa “The Supernerd” Schultz. Labbett was secretly flown to Melbourne to tape his series of episodes, which are scheduled to air around February. 

"The Chase Australia" To Debut September 14 on Seven Network

Looking to replace Deal Or No Deal and Million Dollar Minute, Seven Network is set to premiere its own weekday version of The Chase Monday, September 14 at 5:00pm AEST. Australian viewers will now have a chance to see a team of four contestants compete against one of the show's four formidable Chasers. Hosted by Andrew O'Keefe, the contestants' ultimate goal is to escape the mental clutches of the Chaser and win thousands of dollars in the process. The roster of Chasers lined up to face their foes in this edition of the popular game show are "The Governess" Anne Hegerty (current U.K. Chaser, former Mastermind, Fifteen To One contestant), "The Shark" Brydon Coverdale ($307,000 champion on Million Dollar Minute), Matt "Goliath" Parkinson (Sale Of The Century champion) and "The Supernerd" Issa Schultz (three-time Australian Quizzing Championship Individual winner).

Andrew Skarbek Wins $1 Million Prize On "Million Dollar Minute"

Andrew Skarbek's performance on the Australian game show is a textbook example of how persistence, hard work and patience pays off as he became the first contestant to win Million Dollar Minute's $1 million top prize. After four failed attempts in the million-dollar bonus round, Skarbek finally hit the jackpot on today's episode by winning the "biggest cash prize in Australian TV history": an astounding $1,016,000. During his 23-game run on the Seven Network show, Skarbek defeated 46 contestants, answered 589 questions and amassed $16,000 in Safe Money. Prior to his appearance, Lisa Paton was the only other contestant to make it to the million-dollar level before losing her 13th game in an attempt to go for the million for a third time. Here were the final five questions and answers that won Skarbek the big bucks:

Super Deal & $500K Wins On "Let's Make A Deal" And "Million Dollar Minute"

This week in the wide world of game shows started off with a bang as CBS's Let's Make A Deal and Australia's Million Dollar Minute both witnessed huge wins yesterday and today, respectively. Lisa (still searching for last name) became the third contestant in the Brady era of Let's Make A Deal to win the $50,000 top cash prize in the Super Deal and Dougal Richardson became the biggest winner in the history of Seven Network's Million Dollar Minute after winning more than $500,000 last evening.

Grant Denyer To Host “Family Feud” Revival

While multiple Million Dollar Minute champions have been making headlines recently, so has the show’s former host Grant Denyer. Upon Denyer’s contract ending with the Seven Network last week, Channel Ten acquired him on within a few hours and signed him to hosted the network’s revival of Family Feud. Beverley McGarvey, Network Ten’s Chief Programming Officer, stated “[Family Feud and Grant] will make a great combination and will give us a fun, exciting and entertaining show for the 6pm Monday to Friday time slot.” He described the switch between networks as a “fresh start” after struggling this past year of he and his wife going to rehab to seek treatment for their crystal meth addiction while losing his $750,000 Seven Network contract in the process. 

Game Show Highlights: Lisa Paton's "Million Dollar Minute" Attempt #3 and "The American Bible Challenge" Debut

The last few weeks in the game show world have been quite eventful with Millionaire's moving to Connecticut and Terry Crews signing on as the new host, the Jeopardy! Battle of The Decades coming to a close with Brad Rutter crowned the tournament champion and Julia Collins ranking third among the list of champions with longest Jeopardy! winning streak with 12 wins so far. I have a few more highlights you should look out for, particularly tomorrow, including Lisa Paton possibly becoming the first champion to win the top prize on Million Dollar Minute and The American Bible Challenge resuming its run on its parent network, GSN.