Bradley Walsh’s Million Pound Shot is required viewing

COMMENT

I do not typically watch TV game shows. Many of them are essentially the same programme with only marginal tweaks to the format to differentiate between them.

Bradley Walsh’s Million Pound Shot, however, was in a different mould. While yes, the nuts and bolts of the programme are the same – answer a question and win some money – contestants could only win money if they first staked their own. The studio audience would be witnessing someone gambling with big, potentially life-changing money, from their own pocket, with presenter Walsh of The Chase running the show. It turned out to be absolutely gripping. One I’d recommend everyone watch.

The first contestant to play is Reece, a history teacher from Yorkshire, who hopes to take home the million pound cash prize. He and his girlfriend have some credit card debt, so any win that would clear that is the minimum amount he is hoping for.

Things begin reasonably well. Despite one or two incorrect answers, Reece appears to be up. He’s won £4,800 and he feels delighted. Then Walsh reveals the contestant has staked £6,000 to get there, leaving him £1,200 in the red.

But not to worry, he can win it all back. He has three ‘bet balls’ on the table. He can cut his losses and leave, or use the balls on what is ostensibly a roulette wheel to hit various multipliers from x2 up to x50, as well as the million pound jackpot. But there’s a 50/50 chance he lands on black and loses the money too. We’re assured the machine is checked by independent adjudicators.

Reece bets big and is rewarded instantly, turning his £1,000 ball into £5,000. He tells himself he’s lucky and bets that £5,000 immediately, but this time, it rolls agonisingly close but lands on a black space. The money is gone and he’s now deeper in debt than before. Just as he’s about to walk away and cut his losses, Walsh offers him a lifeline. If he chooses to bet his final ball – worth £3,000 – the programme will give him a free bonus ball. No extra outlay, but double the chance of winning.

The audience grows restless and some of them say he should leave, but desperate to claw back some of his cash, Reece bets the lot. The two balls circle the board but both miss their mark. Reece looks broken, and a member of the audience is shouts: “this is disgusting”, and that it should not be a game show at all, while another argues that Reece knew what he was getting himself in for.

Psychological tactics

It is only after the break that Walsh lifts the lid on the game’s ‘secret twist’: the programme was a stunt.

The show was designed to mimic all of the tricks that gambling companies use to try and get gamblers to continue betting beyond their means: the free bet; the ‘bet balls’, which distance the gambler from their money by transforming cash into an abstract concept; the slogans and catchphrases and bright colours and sounds; and the presentation of losses as though they are wins.

I had already heard the programme was a stunt, and I knew the twist that was coming, but it was still gripping to watch. I found myself rooting for ‘Reece’ to make better decisions, to get out while he could.

After the reveal, expert guests were brought on to speak about the psychology behind gambling products, and why the industry spends billions on advertising. And there was the story of the real ‘Reece’, a man called Patrick who started betting at 17 and developed an addiction that spiralled out of control and led him to the brink of taking his own life.

Some reviewers have branded the programme a ‘heavy-handed anti-gambling public service announcement’. Be that as it may, it is an announcement that needs to be made.

The Christian Institute’s gambling documentary is coming soon.

Having spent much of the last two years working on a documentary exploring the ways in which gambling harms society and individuals, I know that many people are completely oblivious to how destructive it can be, and see no issue with it.

This does include Christians, too, some of whom might take the view that gambling is someone else’s problem, and so long as we do not partake in it ourselves, other adults are free to make their own decisions. But this programme highlights very plainly that the industry has ways and means of getting people hooked in the first place, and then preventing them from getting out. It is predatory, it causes tremendous harm to individuals, to the people around them, and to society as a whole. And as Christian citizens, we have a duty to oppose it.

Bradley Walsh’s Million Pound Shot can be viewed on Channel 4’s website.