It's Your Chance of a Lifetime aired from June 5 to June 10, 2000. but was canceled before it was to begin as a weekly series the following week. The show was supposed to have aired five nights in a row from June 5 to June 9; however, when ABC decided to put a special episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? opposite it on June 7, Fox opted to not air an episode that day and delayed the remaining episodes one day each. Had the show made it to a regular time slot, it would have aired on Wednesdays in the early time slot. It's Your Chance of a Lifetime was one of the last entries in a boom in million-dollar game shows, fueled by the success of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, that aired during the 1999–2000 season; others included CBS's Winning Lines, NBC's revival of Twenty One and Fox's own Greed, which was still airing at the time. Most of the other million-dollar game shows had been canceled that May.
A solo player competed for a chance to win over $1,000,000 by answering a series of 10 questions. The first of these was a "Credit Card Question"; if the player answered correctly, his/her entire credit card bills were paid off, to a maximum of $10,000. He/she was also invited to run the billing statement through an onstage paper shredder. An incorrect answer ended the game immediately. A list of 10 categories was displayed, with each of the remaining questions drawn from a different category. The second question awarded $5,000 if answered correctly; if the player missed, the game ended but he/she still kept the credit card payoff. Beyond this point, if the player chose to continue in the game, he/she had to risk at least half of his/her winnings on each new question. A correct answer added the value of the wager, while a miss subtracted it and ended the game, with the player keeping whatever remained of his/her total. After each correct answer, the player was given the category for the next question and could either continue on, or end the game and keep all winnings. Once a question was asked, the player had two minutes to give a response and lock it in by pressing a button on the podium; failing to do so before time ran out counted as an automatic miss. The category list was always visible to the player and consisted of the following: Pop Culture, Famous Events, Movies, Famous Places, TV, Pop Music, Toys and Games, People, In the News, and Animal Kingdom. Each category was used only once, and unlike most categorized Q&A shows, the computer chose the category for the next question. Two forms of assistance known as "Second Chances" were available to the player and could each be used once. One Second Chance gave the player three multiple-choice answers to select from, while the other discarded the current question and replaced it with one from the player's favorite category. Reaching the final three questions awarded a "Last Chance", which allowed him/her an extra use of either Second Chance. If the player answered all 10 questions correctly, he/she won all money accumulated during the game, for a potential prize of $1,290,000 including the credit card payoff. The show's biggest winner was Dr. Tim Hsieh, who collected $1,042,309 in his game. All winnings totals over $200,000 were paid as an annuity.
