Minute to Win It
Minute to Win It is an international game show franchise where contestants take part in a series of 60-second challenges that use objects that are commonly available around the house. The first version of Minute to Win It to air was the American primetime game show, which premiered on NBC on March 14, 2010 and ran till 2011 with host Guy Fieri. It was revived in 2013 on GSN with host Apolo Ohno. The second network to air a version of the concept was Brazil's SBT, on April 17, 2010. This series was called Nada Além de um Minuto and was played as part of the pre-existing program Programa Silvio Santos, hosted by Silvio Santos. Then on April 30, 2010 Germany's Sat.1 aired Die perfekte Minute and on June 22, 2010 Australia's Seven Network aired Minute to Win It. Currently over fifty countries worldwide have produced a version of Minute to Win It.
The first two episodes of the American version played back-to-back at 7:00 pm Eastern and Pacific. On October 6, 2010, Minute to Win It was awarded the C21/Frapa Award for Best studio based game show format at the MIPCOM Television Festival in France. A card game, board game, and video game versions for the Wii, Kinect and Nintendo DS have been made for this show. The U.S. season two finale aired on September 7, 2011. On May 13, 2012, NBC announced that the English version of the show would not be renewed for a third season.
Minute to Win It aired new episodes on GSN Tuesday nights at 8/7c. The first season of GSN shows began in June 2013 and ended in October 2013; the second season premiered in February 2014 and ended in April 2014.
An American, Spanish language, nightly version of the game show, titled Minuto para Ganar, debuted on MundoFox on the network's formal launch date of August 13, 2012, hosted by Marco Antonio Regil.
Gameplay
United States format
Rules
The contestant is presented with the blueprint for the first game and must successfully complete the game within 60 seconds to win the first level and advance to the next level. After successfully completing the first, fifth, seventh, eighth, and recently ninth level games, the contestant is guaranteed to leave with no less than the cash award for those levels. If the contestant can complete the final game, the contestant will earn $1,000,000.The contestant is given three "lives" at the beginning of the game. The difficulty of the games progressively increase throughout the show. If time expires or the conditions of the game cannot be fulfilled, the contestant loses a "life". If the contestant loses all three of their "lives", the game ends and the contestant's winnings drop to the previous milestone they passed.
After successfully completing a game, the contestant can leave with the amount of money already won before seeing the blueprint for the next game. However, once the contestant elects for the game, the contestant cannot leave the show until that game is complete or they have exhausted all three of their "lives".
In the first part of season one in the English version, $50,000 was the only milestone; players who were eliminated from the game before completing the level five game left with nothing. The milestones at $1,000 and $250,000 were added in the second part of that season. Then, partway through season two, a milestone at $500,000 was added. For the MundoFox version, $1,000, $5,000, $50,000 and $75,000 are the milestones. In the GSN edition, the milestones are $1,000, $10,000 and $25,000.
In episodes featuring celebrity contestants competing for charities, all levels are milestones, so they get all the money up to their last successful level.
In episodes featuring teams of two contestants, some games are played by both players, while others are played solo. A player can only make three consecutive attempts at solo games. After a player makes three attempts, the other player is forced to attempt the next solo game.
In Christmas episodes, two extra games were added for "the 12 games of Minute to Win It": the 11th game is worth $2,000,000 and the 12th is worth $3,000,000. In the Spanish version, the 11th game would be worth $150,000 and the 12th would be worth $250,000. Both are milestones.
Also in Christmas episodes, some games contain a "Holiday Bonus," in which a contestant wins a gift if the level is passed. A visual representation of the gift is placed inside of a box, which is opened if and when the level is completed. The gifts include:
- An extra life: Contestants who received this "gift" can have one more life than they already have.
- Extra 10 seconds: Contestants who received this "gift" can add an extra 10 seconds to any game, including after a re-attempt following a failure.
- Prize: Contestants who received this gift won a bonus prize.
Variations
Head to head: Two teams of two players compete against each other in a best-of-seven match. Winning a challenge wins a point and the first team to four points wins $50,000 and a chance to play for the million starting from Level 6 with three lives remaining.Last Man Standing: 10 players play against each other and the one with the worst result at the end of the challenge is eliminated. This continues until there is one player left. The winner wins $100,000 and plays Supercoin for a chance to win the million.
Summer Million-Dollar Mission : One player from the audience is selected to play the million-dollar game Supercoin.
The first top prize was reached in Denmark. Only one contestant won $500,000 on the Australian Version; Grant Nelson walked away with $500,000 on 3 August 2010. Two teams won $500,000 on the U.S version; Kimberly Fox and Aaron Hendrick walked away with $500,000 on July 21, 2010. This was prior to the change in rule that allowed contestants to bank on level 9, allowing them to play subsequent levels at no risk. After this rule was established, the Bishop family completed their level 9 challenge to bank $500,000 on February 2, 2011. The Bishops then went on to fail the Supercoin challenge. Their winnings are the biggest prizes in Minute to Win It franchise worldwide.
Prizes
Successfully completing a stunt is worth a specific cash prize at each level. Contestants who successfully complete stunts on levels with bolded amounts in the table below are guaranteed to leave with no less than the cash award at that level should they fail any later stunts.Levels 11 and 12 were only played during Christmas episodes of the NBC and MundoFox version.
United Kingdom format
The UK version of the series used a different format from the United States primetime version. Each team competed in six games – either head-to-head or solo-play against the clock – to win points. The highest-scoring team after 6 games goes through to two games which make up the cash prize round. The first of these games built up the prize fund for every point scored, and the second determined whether or not they won the money. The maximum winnings a team could earn was £30,000. The main reason for this different format was that the show's sponsor was Cadbury, and their famous Spots v. Stripes campaign was happening around the time of the premiere, which had the slogan: "Let's play our way to London 2012."Host Darren McMullen emphasised that each player could only play once in the first six games except for the team captains, who appeared twice; once for a solo game and once for a two-player game. Although not said on camera, Swash's team were the Spots, and Flack's team were the Stripes.
Reception
In a pre-broadcast review, Cinema Blend's Kelly West praised Guy Fieri's "enthusiastic" performance and his ability to interact well with contestants. West also noted that the show could do well with families and viewers who have a preference to non-intellectual game shows, although the challenges were criticized for needing little to no skill to accomplish.Broadcast history
United States
The show premiered on March 14, 2010 and continued with new episodes through May 25, 2010. NBC later announced Minute to Win It would air new episodes during the summer, from Wednesday July 7, 2010 to Tuesday September 14, 2010. The new episodes would be labeled "The Summer of Minute to Win It".On November 1, 2010, NBC announced that season two of Minute to Win It, would begin with three new holiday themed episodes starting on December 7, December 14, and December 21.
Then on November 15, 2010, NBC announced that the second season of Minute to Win It would resume airing on January 5.
Those three shows featured older games, such as Defying Gravity and High Roller, newer games, like Floatacious and Hoop de Loop, never-before-seen games like A Bit Dicey and Mad Dog, and new twists on old games like Don't Blow the Kings, and Mag-Nutstacker. Season two also featured a summer run that began on June 8, 2011. NBC did not renew the show for a third season.
The new MundoFox Spanish-language network announced the first season of a weekday Spanish-language version, which was chronologically the third season of the show, and debuted on August 13, 2012. Marco Antonio Regil, who has hosted Mexican versions of well-known game shows and made the short list for auditions of a well-known game show in English, hosted that version. Executive Producer Adam Zuvich returned to the same role on the Spanish version, and Rich Brown, who oversaw the games on the original English version, also returned to the same role, and was listed as Co-Executive Producer. In February 2013, the Spanish version moved production to New York. Telemundo is currently airing reruns of the Spanish-language version as of 2020.
On July 24, 2012, reruns of Minute to Win It began airing on GSN, and on January 31, 2013, they announced a new series of the English-language version with Apolo Ohno as the host. The first season premiered on June 25, 2013 and ended on October 29, 2013. The second season premiered on February 25, 2014 and ended on April 29, 2014. 40 episodes were produced for the GSN version.
The first season featured individuals, teams, celebrities, last-man-standing competitions, individual head-to-head competitions, and a million dollar mission. The second season features teams, families, celebrities, individual and team head-to-head competitions, former contestants with a second chance, and former contestant redemption head-to-head.
United Kingdom
The show first premiered on August 30, 2011 and aired on ITV2 for one eight-episode series.Australia
The show first premiered on June 22, 2010 and aired on Seven Network for one ten-episode series, airing on a Tuesday Night timeslot.International versions
Currently Minute to Win It has been distributed in more than 50 countries.Note: There were pirated versions in China which had no franchise licensing rights from Friday TV. The table shows versions with distribution rights.
| Country | Local name | Host | Network | Prize | Date premiered |
| لحظه به لحظه Lahzat bi lahzat | Mukhtar Lashkari | Tolo TV | Af. 1,000,000 | June 7, 2013 | |
| لحظه به لحظه Lahzat bi lahzat | Qasim Ibrahimi | Tolo TV | Af. 1,000,000 | June 7, 2013 | |
| Kape Kohën | Gentian Hazizaj | Top Channel | ? | October 7, 2012 | |
| للزمن ثمن Lezaman Thaman | Abdallah El Tuleihi | MBC 1 | SR 1,000,000 | April 5, 2011 | |
| Minuto para Ganar | Marley | Telefe | AR$1,000,000 | July 17, 2011 | |
| Հաղթեք Րոպեում Haxteq Ropeum | Hovhannes Azoyan | Armenia TV | ֏10,000,000 | May 27, 2012 | |
| Minute to Win It | Darren McMullen | Seven Network | AU$1,000,000 | June 22, 2010 - early 2011 | |
| Binnen De Minuut | Staf Coppens | vtm | €100,000 | January 8, 2011 | |
| 60 secondes chrono | Jean-Michel Zecca | RTL-TVI | €100,000 | September 5, 2011 | |
| Nada Além de um Minuto aired as a segment of Programa Silvio Santos | Silvio Santos | SBT | R$1,000,000 | April 17, 2010 | |
| ១នាទីដើម្បីឈ្នះ 1 Neati daembi chhneah | ? | CTN | 40,000,000៛ | January 19, 2014 | |
| 60 secondes chrono | ? | V | CA$100,000 | 2010s | |
| Un minuto para ganar | Julián Elfenbein | TVN | CL$30,000,000 | May 21, 2011 | |
| :zh:爭分奪秒 |争分夺秒 Zheng Fen Duo Miao | Chen Liqing ＆ Yuan Chengjie | Dragon TV | CN¥100,000 | September 18, 2013 | |
| Un minuto para ganar | Silvestre Dangond | Caracol TV | CO$300,000,000 | November 1, 2010 | |
| Minuto para ganar | Karoll Márquez | Citytv Bogotá | CO$20,000,000 | September 15, 2014 | |
| Minuto Para Ganar | Mauricio Astorga | Teletica | ₡25,000,000 | March 8, 2011 | |
| Máš minutu | Richard Genzer & Michal Suchánek | TV Prima | 1,000,000Kč | April 10, 2011 | |
| Det perfekte minut | Robert Hansen | TV2 | DKK 250,000 | August 17, 2011 | |
| Minuto Para Ganar | Yuly Maiocchi | Gama TV | US$50,000 | August 7, 2011 | |
  Egypt & Lebanon | مينت تو وين إت - اتحدى الدقيقة Ethada El Daqiqa | Wissam Breidy | Al-Nahar TV MTV | US$150,000 | May 1, 2014 |
| Sul minut | ? | TV Prima | €1,000,000 | April 10, 2011 | |
| Minuuttipeliä | Marko Keränen | MTV3 | €30,000 | March 21, 2011 | |
| 60 secondes chrono | Alex Goude | M6 | €100,000 | July 12, 2012 | |
| Die perfekte Minute | Ulla Kock am Brink | Sat.1 | €250,000 | April 30, 2010 | |
| Die perfekte Minute | Thore Schölermann | Sat.1 | €200,000 | September 5, 2014 | |
| Minute to win it | Dimitris Hungarezos | Mega TV | €50,000 | March 3, 2012 | |
| :zh:決戰一分鐘|決戰一分鐘 Minute to Win It | Hacken Lee | TVB | HK$1,000,000 | November 25, 2012 – May 19, 2013 | |
| 1 perc és nyersz! | Balázs Sebestyén | RTL Klub | 10,000,000 Ft | February 27, 2012 | |
| Minute to win it Ísland | Ingó Þórarinsson | SkjárEinn | Prizes worth 8,000,000 ISK | September 18, 2014 | |
| India's Minute To Win It | Gaurav Kapoor | AXN | 1,00,00,000 | January 12, 2011 | |
| Home Sweet Home | Divyadarshini and Deepak | Star Vijay | A home worth 20,00,000 | March 4, 2011 | |
| 60 Nodi! Are You Ready? | Star Vijay | 1,00,00,000 | September 29, 2013 | ||
| Super Minute | Ganesh | ETV Kannada | 10,00,000 | August 30, 2014 | |
| Super Minute | Ganesh | Colors Kannada | 10,00,000 | February, 2016 | |
| Minute To Win It | Nyla Usha | Mazhavil Manorama | 10,00,000 | April 9, 2016 | |
| Minute to Win It Indonesia | Andhika Pratama | MNCTV | Rp.100,000,000 | July 17, 2017 | |
| אליפות ישראל בדקה Alifut Israel be Dakah | Ido Rosenblum | Channel 2 | ₪1,000,000 | October 26, 2011 | |
| :it:Un minuto per vincere|Un Minuto per Vincere | Max Giusti | Rai Uno | €500,000 | September 4, 2011 | |
| :it:Un minuto per vincere|Un Minuto per Vincere | Nicola Savino | Rai Due | €500,000 | November 22, 2012 | |
| Минута на победу Minuta na pobedu | Rinat Safargulov | NTK | 1,000,000₸ | May 19, 2012 | |
| Anda Ada 60 Saat | Ahmad Nabil | Astro Warna – New Episode Astro Ria – Repeat | RM500,000 | December 25, 2010 | |
| Oru nimiṭam | Anandha | Astro Vaanavil | RM500,000 | December 2010 | |
| :es:Minuto para ganar VIP|Minuto para ganar VIP | Marco Antonio Regil | Canal de las Estrellas | MX$2,000,000 | July 14, 2013 | |
| :es:Minuto para ganar VIP|Minuto para ganar VIP | Hector Sandarti | Canal de las Estrellas | MX$2,000,000 | July 26, 2020 | |
| Бямба гарагийн саятан Byamba garageen sayatan | MNB | 2019 | |||
| Minute to Win It | Phyo Zaw Linn | MRTV-4 | K1,000,000 | 2013 | |
| Minute to Win It | Hmu Thiha Thu | MRTV-4 | K1,000,000 | 2013 | |
| Minute to Win It | Gordon Heuckeroth | RTL 4 | €100,000 | January 8, 2011 | |
| Minute to Win It | Mike Hosking | TV ONE | NZ$1,000,000 | 2013 | |
| Vinn på minuttet | Carsten Skjelbreid | TV2 | NOK 1,000,000 | March 20, 2011 | |
| Minuto para ganar | Johanna San Miguel | América Televisión | S/.100,000 | January 15, 2011 | |
| Minuto para ganar | Magdyel Ugaz | América Televisión | S/.100,000 | January 15, 2011 | |
| Minuto para ganar VIP | Mathias Brivio | América Televisión | S/.100,000 | November 3, 2013 | |
| Minute to Win It | Luis Manzano | ABS-CBN | ₱1,000,000 | January 14, 2013 – 2014 | |
| Junior Minute to Win It | Luis Manzano | ABS-CBN | ₱500,000 | April 29, 2013 | |
| Minute to Win It: Last Man Standing | Luis Manzano | ABS-CBN | ₱1,000,000 | July 18, 2016 - May 5, 2017 | |
| Minute to Win It: Last Man Standing | Luis Manzano | ABS-CBN | ₱2,000,000 | January 7, 2019 | |
| Minute to Win It: Last Kid Standing | Luis Manzano | ABS-CBN | ₱1,000,000 | December 19, 2016 | |
| Minute to Win It: Last Duo Standing | Luis Manzano | ABS-CBN | ₱1,000,000 | February 6, 2017 | |
| :pl:Milion w minutę|Milion w minutę | Marcin Prokop | TVN | 1,000,000 zł | September 5, 2011 | |
| :pt:Ganha num Minuto|Ganha num Minuto | Marco Horácio | SIC | €20,000 | January 8, 2012 | |
| Câștigi în 60 de secunde | Dan Negru | Antena 1 | 50,000 lei | April 5, 2011 | |
| Минутное дело Minutnoe delo | Timur Rodrigez | Russia 1 | ₽1,000,000 | November 17, 2012 | |
| Savršen minut | Srđan Karanović | Prva | 1,000,000 RSD | March 17, 2012 | |
| Bryan Wong | MediaCorp Channel 5 | S$250,000 | August 9, 2014 | ||
| Minúta hry | TV JOJ | €30,000 | March 21, 2011 | ||
| Minuta do zmage | Bojan Emeršič | POP TV | €100,000 | March 18, 2011 | |
| 사소한 도전 60초 Sasohan Dojeon 60-cho | Oh Sang-jin | MBC | ₩20,000,000 | June 12, 2011 | |
| Uno para ganar | Jesús Vázquez | Cuatro | €500,000 | July 4, 2011 | |
| Home Game in 60 second | Niroshan Wijesinghe | Sirasa TV | Rs. 1,000,000 | October 26, 2010 | |
| Minuten | Peter Settman | SVT | 250,000 SEK | December 26, 2010 | |
| Minuten | Malin Olsson | SVT | 250,000 SEK | February 24, 2012 | |
| Junior Minute to Win It Thailand | PK Piyawat Khempetch | Channel 3 | ฿1,000,000 | July 6, 2013 | |
| Kazanmak için 1 Dakika | Ertem Şener | Kanal D | ₺500,000 | January 6, 2012 | |
| Kazanmak için 1 Dakika | Zuhal Topal | Kanal D | ₺500,000 | November 20, 2012 | |
| Хвилина для перемоги Chvylyna dlya peremogy | Maksim Averin | Ukrayina | ₴500,000 | October 16, 2011 | |
| Minute to Win It | Darren McMullen | ITV2 | £30,000 | August 30, 2011 | |
' | Minute to Win It | Guy Fieri | NBC | US$1,000,000 | March 14, 2010 |
' | Minute to Win It | Apolo Ohno | GSN | US$250,000 | June 25, 2013 |
' | Minuto para ganar | Marco Antonio Regil | MundoFox | US$100,000 | August 13, 2012 |
| Minuto para ganar | Álvaro Navia Eunice Castro Juanchi Hounie | Teledoce | UY$250,000 | September 5, 2010 | |
| Un Minuto para ganar | Nelson Bustamante | Televen | Bs.100,000 | July 12, 2012 | |
| Một phút để chiến thắng | Nguyên Vũ | HTV7 | 1,000,000,000₫ | May 27, 2012 |
The old seasons of American version is also re-broadcasting in Indonesia by MNCTV and Indosiar, and Singapore by MediaCorp Channel 5.