Which TV quiz show are you most likely to win?
Have you ever sat at home watching a quiz show on TV and thought: ‘I could definitely win that’? Reckon you could beat the Chasers or take on the machine in Tipping Point?
If you fancy your chances but don’t know which gameshow to apply for, then we’re here to help!
We’ve analysed thousands of episodes of the five biggest daytime quiz programmes – The Chase, Pointless, Tipping Point, Eggheads and Lingo – to reveal which ones you have the biggest chance of winning.
See below for the results and decide which show is best for you!
Highest average winnings
For your best chance of winning big, you should enter The Chase, as it has the highest average prize of any show. On successful episodes, an impressive £21,924 is given away in prize money.
Eggheads takes second place, with its average winnings standing at £9,364.
At the other end of the scale, Pointless is stingiest with its prizes, with victorious contestants walking away with just £2,825 on average – less than any other programme.
Highest success rates
To have the best chance of walking away with at least some money, it’s worth applying for either Lingo or Tipping Point, as these two have the highest success rates. On Lingo, 94% of shows feature a winner, just ahead of Tipping Point at 93%.
In contrast, Eggheads is the hardest show to win, with only 9% of teams taking home the prize.
Biggest ever wins
The largest ever win seen on any of these five shows was in 2018 when a team of four players beat chaser Anne Hegerty to receive £100,000 on The Chase. Diane, Luca, Tim and Gayna answered 21 questions correctly in the final chase to defeat The Governess.
This is followed by an impressive win on Eggheads in 2007, where five Oxford Brookes University students beat the quiz masterminds to take home a prize of £75,000. The Eggheads had previously been undefeated in 74 consecutive episodes.
The most money an individual has taken home from a daytime TV quiz show is a staggering £75,000, when 20-year-old Eden beat new Chaser Darragh Ennis in August 2021. Despite being alone in the final chase, the youngster answered 18 questions correctly to take home the record prize.
Tipping Point takes second place on this list, thanks to two double jackpot winners scooping the rare £20,000 maximum prize. On separate shows, contestants Tom and Clive managed to drop the final jackpot token at the same time as the double counter, meaning the usual £10,000 prize was increased.
Methodology:
We watched as many freely-available episodes of each show as we could find. For each one, we noted whether there was a successful contestant(s) in that episode and, if so, how much money they won.
Full datasheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1r7sldSajltqawbvlT0d9-rUPcehyRgjS7GZXe-NL3VU/edit?usp=sharing
The Chase statistics were sourced from: http://onequestionshootout.xyz/stats/summary.htm
Research conducted w/c 24th January 2022
|
|
Pointless |
Tipping Point |
Eggheads |
The Chase |
Lingo |
|
Total episodes analysed |
109 |
44 |
122 |
1813 |
50 |
|
Winning episodes |
53 |
41 |
11 |
435 |
47 |
|
% of shows with a win |
49% |
93% |
9% |
24% |
94% |
|
Amount won |
£149,750 |
£171,050 |
£103,000 |
£9,537,050 |
£200,810 |
|
Average amount won in a winning episode |
£2,825 |
£4,172 |
£9,364 |
£21,924 |
£4,273 |
|
Biggest win |
£24,750 |
£20,000 |
£75,000 |
£100,000 |
£11,180 |
|
Number of winners on a winning show |
2 |
1 |
5 |
3* |
2 |
|
Amount won per person (on average in a winning episode) |
£1,413 |
£4,172 |
£1,873 |
£7,308 |
£2,136 |
|
Biggest win for an individual |
£12,375 |
£20,000 |
£15,000 |
£75,000 |
£5,590 |
*Average number of players in a winning final round