It’s Not What You Know was a game show

Game show

A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...

, hosted by Chris Tarrant

Chris Tarrant

Christopher John "Chris" Tarrant, OBE is an English radio and television broadcaster, now best known for hosting the first version of the television game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in the United Kingdom and later Ireland, as the two national versions of the show merged in 2002.Chris...

, which aired on the British digital TV channel Challenge in 2008. The show was unusual as Challenge tends to air repeats of classic game shows that were originally commissioned by other broadcasters, very rarely producing original content.

Phase one

The game is played by a team of two (friends, relatives, etc). First of all, they are given three games to play: A, B or C. To help them, one celebrity "expert" and their specialist subject from each game is shown. The players must choose one of the games and, once they have, the other four celebrities and their specialist subjects in the chosen game are revealed. Each game contains 15 questions with each question being specific to one of the celebrity's specialist subject.

Questions and answers

The first question comes up with four possible answers. The specialist celebrity did not receive the four options, the other celebrities did. We then see the correct answer (it does not matter if the players got it right or wrong). The players then have to decide on which celebrity they think got the question incorrect (in other words, which celebrity was "stumped"). There were at least four occasions of the specialist celebrity being stumped. Once the players have chosen, their chosen celebrity gets "locked in". We now find out which celebrities got the question correct and which celebrities were stumped. Finally, we have a look at the players' chosen celebrity to see if they were stumped. If they were one of the non-specialist celebrities and were stumped, the players’ jackpot increases to £1,000. If they were the specialist celebrity and were stumped, the players progress up a level with a potential for winning higher amounts of money and the studio changes colour (level 1 is purple, level 2 is yellow, level 3 is blue, level 4 is green and level 5 is unknown [but persumably red]). They will now be playing for £5,000. Subsequent correct guesses by the players will increase to £10,000, then £15,000, then to the maximum £25,000.

Back to zero

If the players make an incorrect guess (meaning that their chosen celebrity, specialist or non-specialist, got the question right), they lose what they have accumulated so far. They will still be allowed to continue playing at their current prize level, re-starting their jackpot from zero. However, if they make an incorrect guess twice in a row, they go down a level (unless they are still on the first level).

Passing

If, at any point, the players are uncertain of correctly guessing a stumped celebrity, they can pass on the question they are on and keep their winnings safe (they are only allowed to pass on a question once, though), but they cannot pass on Question 15 (the last question) because "that would be too easy", stated by Chris Tarrant.

Final phase

At the end, we have a look at how the players had done up to this point. The players then get offered between 20% and 50% of how much they had amassed after Question 14. If the players accept the offer, they take home with them the amount of money offered and still go on to Question 15, just to see what would have happened. If the players reject the offer, they go on to Question 15 and try to make a correct guess. If they select a stumped celebrity, their jackpot goes up by £1,000, £5,000, £10,000, £15,000 or £25,000 (depending on which ever level they were on) and they take home with them whatever they have banked. If they select a celebrity who answered the question correctly, they leave empty-handed.

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