Pick Me!
Contents |
Host
Co-host
Roy Walker (voiceover)
Broadcast
Possessed for ITV, 19 October to 20 November 2015 (25 episodes in 1 series)
Synopsis
A loud and boistrous game of bluff and deduction.
With most of the audience in fancy dress, Stephen Mulhern looks out of place in a sensible suit. He chooses three people to be his "Prize Panel", and a fourth to play the game. Then we hear about the prize for this round. (Roy Walker introduced the show, and describes the prizes.)
The prize is hidden with one of the Prize Panel. But which? To find out where the prize hides, the player will allocate a difficult question to each panelist. These questions are so difficult that no-one would expect to know the answer, but anyone could come up with a sensible guess.
For instance, "Liechtenstein has exactly twenty -- what?"
The player holding the prize will see the correct answer appear on a screen in their podium. The other players will have a moment to come up with a sensible guess. After all three answers have been given (one correct, two made up on the spot), the player picks the most convincing answer. Whoever is picked wins £1000 at once. When they're holding the prize, excellent, the player leaves with the prize.
Who do you trust: a starship traveller, a princess, Elmo.
But when the player picks a bluffer, it's a failure. The player leaves with a consolation prize, a Pick Me! t-shirt. The person picked can take the money, or gamble it on the two remaining answers - if they can spot the right answer, they win the money and the prize.
Stephen picks two more people, one to replace the person picked on the Prize Panel, one to play the next round. Four rounds are played in total.
Many of the audience are in fancy dress. Their attention to detail is meticulous.
Throughout the show, the studio audience has been cheering, offering advice, and doing their best to help the player win. The audience will cheer for their favourite player, as the most popular will take part in the endgame.
Pick of the Day
The audience's chosen player picks their own Prize Panel from other contestants and panelists during the show. The daily final is for a trip abroad. The prize is put in one of three envelopes, which the player gives to the Prize Panel.
In turn, each panelist asks a question to the player. These are a shade easier than in the main game, such as "What carol was voted the UK's favourite Christmas carol?" The player can and should and does ask the audience, hearing answers. The player picks one final answer for each question.
Only then does Stephen start to work if the answers are right. Again, the panelist sees the answer. Only if the answer is correct will the panelist open their envelope. There's a card inside, and when it's "Yes!", the holiday is won.
For this round, Stephen has picked a garland of flowers.
Stephen Mulhern is in his element here, playing the one sensible person in a sea of costumes and madness. He lets the bizarre show unfold with only the lightest of touches to keep it on course; only in the final part does Stephen take command of the programme.
Catchphrase
"Who's got the prize, and who's telling lies?"
Inventor
"A Possessed format", according to the credits.
Title Music
Nigel Powell wrote a particularly bouncy score, and is also credited as Dubbing Mixer.
Trivia
Won the Europe-wide Rose d'Or award as Best Game Show of 2016.
The first commission for Possessed, an arm of ITV Studios set up by Glenn Hugill.
Recorded at The London Studios.
Shown at 3pm, after the second run of Who's Doing the Dishes? ended. Its initial neighbours were Judge Rinder at 2pm, and Tipping Point at 4.
Answers to the questions: Liechtenstein has 20 prisoners, and the favourite carol is "Silent Night".
To promote the series, ITV gave a description:
- "Pick Me! sees an entire audience of colourful characters compete for the attention of host Stephen Mulhern. If he picks them to play they could take home cash, or a brilliant prize, but only if they come out on top in a dramatic, often hilarious game of knowledge, judgement and bluff.
- "Expect lying leprechauns, phoney pirates and bluffing babies, as an ever-changing panel of players are challenged to come up with convincing answers to some of the toughest questions on television. But can contestants spot who's been given the right answer, and who's just made something up on the spot?"
