Bradley Walsh’s game show is a hoax – and a wake-up call

The broadcaster has been unusually cagey about the show (Picture: Gary Moyes / Channel 4) For the last week, Channel 4 has been promoting a suspicious new game show hosted by Bradley Walsh titled The Million Pound Shot. The broadcaster has been unusually cagey about the show, coming with no press for Bradley, no trailer online and the promise of ‘one huge secret twist’. Tonight, we found out the truth. But from the start, absolutely no one was buying it. Instantly, TikTok was flooded with speculation over what was really going on, with theories ranging from a new stunt by Derren Brown to someone actually getting shot on television. It’s a strange sign of the times when rational people are genuinely concerned Bradley Walsh is going to put a bullet in someone as part of a wild televised experiment. In actuality, Walsh was hosting a one-off quiz where three contestants had to play with their own hard-earned money for a chance to win £1million. The premise is relatively simple: Whichever player is willing to gamble the most on the first question gets to take the £1million shot first – essentially a glorified roulette wheel. In the episode, which aired tonight, that player is 30-year-old Reece, who bets his own money to answer questions and receives a ball with a huge cash value on it for every right answer, which he can either cash out or use to take a in the final round. Reece tells Bradley the spending limit he agreed with his girlfriend today is £1,700. Every time he wants to put his money on an answer, he has to put his own bank card in the chip and PIN device as if he were in an ordinary casino. The audience was made up of real people (Picture: Channel 4) Within minutes he’s turned £500 into £1,000. The game is even easier than he imagined; he’s already visibly more confident than he was just seconds ago. But his luck soon falls off a cliff. In his panic to reach the high he felt just moments ago, he puts his card in the chip and PIN machine again, and again, and again, egged on by a fired-up studio audience. Eventually that £1,700 spending limit becomes £6,000 and he leaves the studio weeping in the arms of his girlfriend, while one furious audience member stands up to rightly point out how cruel and immoral the spectacle of a man’s downfall has become, only to be told to pipe down by everyone around her. It’s then that Bradley reveals the truth, both to the viewers at home and to the studio audience, which – apart from the heckler – is made up of real people. They have no idea they’ve been tricked into watching a hoax and have genuinely been encouraging a man to blow thousands of pounds on a roulette machine. The show is completely fake. Instead, it’s an effective example of how easily it can be to gamble away money you don’t have. Bradley transforms from game show host to investigator, speaking to experts in gambling addiction about what makes it so appealing (Picture: Channel 4) Reece is played by an actor but is inspired by primary school teacher Patrick, who lost £300,000 to gambling and was dangerously close to taking his own life. Patrick was in so much debt that he lied to the parents of pupils for money, telling them he needed cash to fix his car, pay for emergency dental treatment or settle a tax bill he’d been blindsided by. Inevitably, the lying caught up with him and he was investigated by his school and could easily have faced prison. Patrick’s first taste of gambling came at university – as did mine when I first went to a casino, lured in by the irresistible free breakfasts between 2am and 4am. Very swiftly, it became an obligatory final stop after every night out. Months into living in Bristol, we’d already stumbled upon its best-kept secret, regularly spotting just one or two other groups of students who had the same stroke of genius. The temptation to try my luck at roulette proved too strong and, despite already being relatively penniless, I’d casually fritter away £10 I didn’t have on Black. Often I’d return to halls with more cash than I left with, but usually I’d have spent more in the casino than I did in any club. And then I began frequenting the casino alone, in the afternoon when the free breakfast wasn’t even on offer. Looking back, it’s horrifying how easily I gambled away money I didn’t have and how often. What is your opinion on The Million Pound Shot hoax? It was an effective way to raise awareness about gambling addiction.Check It was unethical and exploited the audience's emotions.Check It was a clever social experiment.Check Want to get bespoke updates on the TV shows you love? Sign up to Metro's TV newsletters and tell us which ones you can't get enough of Thankfully, it didn’t last long. I found a new group of friends that weren’t as excited by the free – actually quite dreadful – breakfasts at the casino and would prefer to dance in kitchens after a night out instead of throwing cash at a croupier. I didn’t rack up any serious amount of debt but others aren’t so lucky, and watching The Million Pound Shot, it’s so easy to see why. Bradley transforms from game show host to investigator, speaking to experts in gambling addiction about what makes it so appealing. Reece is given a bonus ball for one last chance to crawl back some of his losses. More than half of gambling addicts have said they’ve been lured back in with the promise of a free bet. Throughout the game, Bradley uses specifically targeted language: ‘I tell you what Reece, I’ve got a good feeling about this one’; ‘the studio audience has got a good feeling about this one’. Half of the sector’s profits come from just 5% of customers losing unthinkable amounts of money. Like a lot of people, I never bet more than £10 and, once that money is gone, I check out (Picture: Adam Miller) It’s been a long time since I’ve set foot in a casino, but I don’t need to when there’s one in my pocket at all times. I still regularly have the odd flutter on an online roulette machine; if I had to hazard a guess, I probably try my luck weekly. Like a lot of people, I never bet more than £10 and, once that money is gone, I check out, walk away and punish myself with beans and toast for dinner instead of the Deliveroo I’d been longing for. But do I actually hold all the cards? Bradley Walsh’s Million Pound Shot would suggest not; I have seen how easy it is to get sucked in. I’ll admit it’s a wake-up call. But for now, I can enjoy the rush of putting £5 on Black, £1 on 11 and the rest of a tenner at random without falling into the same trap as Patrick and so many others like him. Deals of the Day This Hoover vacuum is a game-changer for pet owners and muddy homes The wellbeing brand behind everyone's favourite candles has launched its biggest sale yet See London's Christmas lights from an open-top double-decker bus this winter My skin always suffers when the heating goes on but this serum changed that The skincare formula that finally took the guesswork out of my routine I might not be ready to stop playing roulette entirely, but thanks to an unlikely guardian angel in Bradley Walsh, I may now be able to recognise the signs of addiction, and to be honest with myself about when I’m no longer the one in control, before it’s too late. 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