Sale of the Century (Australian game show)
Encyclopedia
$ale of the Century was an Australia
n game show that aired on the Nine Network
from 14 July 1980 – 29 November 2001. Tony Barber
hosted an early version of Sale of the Century
under the title of Temptation from 1970–1976, and was also the initial host of Sale, replaced by Glenn Ridge
in 1991. Hostesses over the years have included Victoria Nicholls
, Delvene Delaney
, Alyce Platt
, Jo Bailey
, Nicky Buckley
and Karina Brown. Pete Smith
was Sale's announcer for the majority of its run. Ron Neate was announcer for only the first ten episodes in 1980 before Smith took over.
From 30 May 2005 – 23 January 2009, the series was revived under its original Australian title, Temptation.
was conducted for the prize.
Some gift shops also included a bonus prize called a "Sale Surprise", revealed only after the conclusion of the gift shop (whether the contestant bought the prize or not).
Four playing cards (the Aces of each suit) were presented; the player selected one, and it was turned over to reveal one of four elements:
For the first three years of this format, if the leading player opted not to go for the Cashcard, the second-place player was then offered that chance, but the jackpot card was removed from the lineup. In the event of a tie-breaker between the second- and third-place contestants, a general knowledge question was asked, and the first person with the correct answer played. This option was discontinued after 1992.
In 1993, two significant changes were made to the Cash Card: The Cash Card itself froze at $5,000, but occasionally was worth $10,000; and the "Joker" was replaced with the "Take $5" card, which allowed the player to remove $5 from one of their opponent's score.
A year later, keeping with the "casino" theme, the playing cards were replaced with four single-reeled slot machines (referred to in Australia as "poker machines" or "pokies"). Each one was rigged to land on one element, and when the player selected a suit, the co-host pulled the handle to reveal the outcome. In addition, the "Take $5" was relegated to celebrity specials, and replaced on the regular shows with a machine displaying the logo of the car on offer that week. If the player selects this machine, then goes on to win the game, the car is placed on the Winner's Board (see below).
Later series added additional $10, $15, & $20 money cards to the gameboard, with the $10 available at the outset, the $15 added at the second "Who am I" and the $25 at the third. Also added in the final "Who am I" was a "wild card," which offered the choice of $1,000 in cash or a chance to pick again. The $20 was removed in 1993.
On 12 November 1986, part-time taxi driver David Poltorak
achieved the highest front game score ever, $200, and consequently won the total endgame prize pool on offer (totalling a then-record $376,200). As far as a front game score, a close second may belong to a man named Ian, who in 1985 won a game with a score of $170. Virginia Noel, who won a game in 1983 with a score of $155 while not letting her opponents answer any questions during Fast Money may hold third.
The winner of the game was the person with the most money at the end. If there was a final tie, the tied players answered a tiebreaker "Who am I" question, where a correct answer from either contestant won the game, while an incorrect answer defeated the contestant in favor of his or her opponent.
In addition, a lengthy question, called a 'brain drain', is introduced. Contestants can score $5, $10, $15 or $20, depending on how early they give the correct answer.
The Cash Card changed to a large touch-screen monitor, in which the co-host touched a suit, then hit a button to spin the "reels". In addition, the "Prize" was replaced with "Take $5".
Also, contestants who win 'all the way' then compete in a 'best of three' play-off entitled Super Sale. The first two contestants to win since the format change played against each other to win the same amount of cash as the latter contestant's cash jackpot. After this, the 'reigning champ' plays against the next Grand Champion to win 'all the way' for a cash amount equal to their jackpot prize.
The "New" was dropped from the title in 2001, and the show returned to a three contestant format, but continued to eliminate the low scorer before the final fast money.
Starting in 1982, once the player had won all the major prizes on offer, they had the opportunity to play for one more night to keep those prizes (totaling over $100,000) and win a large cash jackpot (the combination of those prizes was referred to as "the lot"). The jackpot started at $50,000 and increased by $2,000 per night until somebody won it. The largest jackpot ever won was $508,000.
After the player makes a match, he/she faced a decision: either leave with all the prizes earned off the board, or risk them and play another show. A loss cost the player all his or her prizes from the board, while clearing the board and winning one more game (usually taking seven days to do it) earns them the cash jackpot.
Each celebrity plays for a home viewer, who wins all cash and prizes earned during the show. The ultimate winner's home viewer also wins an extra prize, usually a car.
Other notable wins include:
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n game show that aired on the Nine Network
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...
from 14 July 1980 – 29 November 2001. Tony Barber
Tony Barber
Anthony "Tony" Ferraro Barber is an Australian game show host and television personality.-Early life:...
hosted an early version of Sale of the Century
Sale of the Century
Sale of the Century is a television game show format that has been screened in several countries in various incarnations since 1969. The show found its biggest success in Australia, where it aired weeknights from 1980 to 2001...
under the title of Temptation from 1970–1976, and was also the initial host of Sale, replaced by Glenn Ridge
Glenn Ridge
Glenn Daryl Ridge is an Australian television presenter and owner and managing director of the Q Media Group, a production company which produces television specials and documentaries....
in 1991. Hostesses over the years have included Victoria Nicholls
Victoria Nicholls
Victoria Nicholls is an Australian actress and television personality. Nicholls is well remembered by viewers for appearing in the Australian version of the game show Sale of the Century as a hostess from 1980 to 1982...
, Delvene Delaney
Delvene Delaney
Delvene Delaney is an Australian actress and television presenter.The beauty pageant winner found fame on Australian television in the 1970s, initially as a weather presenter on Brisbane television...
, Alyce Platt
Alyce Platt
Alyce Platt is an Australian actress known for her roles in television soap operas, and as a television presenter.Her acting roles include Amanda Morrell in Sons and Daughters from 1983–1985, a guest role in the short-lived serial Family and Friends in 1990, and the on-going part of Jen Handley in...
, Jo Bailey
Jo Bailey
Joanne Louise Silvagni is an Australian model and television personality.She was educated at Tintern Girls Grammar School, outside of Melbourne, and Methodist Ladies' College, Melbourne...
, Nicky Buckley
Nicky Buckley
Nicole Maree Louise Buckley-Bingham is an Australian television presenter and model.-Sale of the Century:Buckley broke into television in her role as co-host of Sale of the Century in the mid-late 1990s...
and Karina Brown. Pete Smith
Pete Smith (announcer)
Peter Philip Smith OAM is an Australian radio and television voice-over artist. He is primarily known for his work with GTV-9 Melbourne as their announcer, including being the announcer on the nationally screened Sale of the Century for twenty-one years.-Radio:Upon leaving school, Smith joined...
was Sale's announcer for the majority of its run. Ron Neate was announcer for only the first ten episodes in 1980 before Smith took over.
From 30 May 2005 – 23 January 2009, the series was revived under its original Australian title, Temptation.
Main Game
All contestants are spotted with $20 to start. The host reads a trivia question to the three contestants (one of which was usually the winner of the previous show). The first to press a buzzer gets an opportunity to answer the question (even if the host is still in the middle of reading the question). Players' scores increase by $5 for each correct answer and decrease by $5 for each incorrect answer. If a player answers incorrectly, the correct answer is revealed and the game goes on to the next question - that is, only one person can try to answer each question.Gift Shop
Once per round, the highest-scoring player gets to go to a "gift shop" and was offered the chance to sacrifice some part of his/her score to "purchase" a prize. The prizes, and the cost, increased in each round. Contestants were allowed to haggle with the host, who, depending on the game situation, could reduce the cost and offer inducements including actual cash in order to entice the contestant to purchase. If two or more players had the same score at this point, a Dutch auctionDutch auction
A Dutch auction is a type of auction where the auctioneer begins with a high asking price which is lowered until some participant is willing to accept the auctioneer's price, or a predetermined reserve price is reached. The winning participant pays the last announced price...
was conducted for the prize.
Some gift shops also included a bonus prize called a "Sale Surprise", revealed only after the conclusion of the gift shop (whether the contestant bought the prize or not).
Cash Box/CashCard
In 1986, the third Gift Shop prize was replaced by these two mini-games, giving players an opportunity to win some cash, an extra prize, or earn extra score money:Cash Box
The player in the lead (auction if there was a tie) would be given the opportunity to play for a cash jackpot, which started at $2,000 and increased by $1,000 every day until it was won. To play, he/she would have to give up his/her lead over the second-place competitor. If the contestant opted to play, he/she selected one of three boxes. One box contained the jackpot while each of the other boxes contained $100.Cashcard
In 1989, the Cash Box was replaced with "Cashcard," an opportunity for the leading contestant to either win a cash prize equivalent to perhaps a month's average wages for a middle-class Australian at the time, earn the opportunity to win a car later in the game (see section on major prizes), receive the score he/she sacrificed back, or reduce the score of a competitor slightly. This cost a player $15 to play.Four playing cards (the Aces of each suit) were presented; the player selected one, and it was turned over to reveal one of four elements:
- "$15": Gave the player the money back.
- "Joker": worth a "booby prize"; essentially a worthless card.
- "Prize": A bonus prize, usually worth between $2,000-$3,000 or more.
- "Cash Card": A growing jackpot that began at $5,000 and increased by $1,000 each night it wasn't won.
For the first three years of this format, if the leading player opted not to go for the Cashcard, the second-place player was then offered that chance, but the jackpot card was removed from the lineup. In the event of a tie-breaker between the second- and third-place contestants, a general knowledge question was asked, and the first person with the correct answer played. This option was discontinued after 1992.
In 1993, two significant changes were made to the Cash Card: The Cash Card itself froze at $5,000, but occasionally was worth $10,000; and the "Joker" was replaced with the "Take $5" card, which allowed the player to remove $5 from one of their opponent's score.
A year later, keeping with the "casino" theme, the playing cards were replaced with four single-reeled slot machines (referred to in Australia as "poker machines" or "pokies"). Each one was rigged to land on one element, and when the player selected a suit, the co-host pulled the handle to reveal the outcome. In addition, the "Take $5" was relegated to celebrity specials, and replaced on the regular shows with a machine displaying the logo of the car on offer that week. If the player selects this machine, then goes on to win the game, the car is placed on the Winner's Board (see below).
Who am I?/Fame Game
A longer-format question generally known as the "Who am I?" question was asked once in each of the three rounds. Here, a succession of increasingly larger clues were given to the identity of a famous person, place, or event. In this round, players could buzz in and answer at any time, without penalty for an incorrect answer. However, each player only had one chance to answer. If one of the players buzzed-in and answered correctly, he/she had an opportunity to play the "famous faces" sub-game, where he/she got to choose randomly from a game board with nine squares featuring the faces of celebrities, mostly performers on the network's shows. Once chosen, the face selected would be spun around to reveal either a relatively small prize (typically appliances or furniture valued at around a weekly wage) or a $25 money card, which awarded $25 to the player's score.Later series added additional $10, $15, & $20 money cards to the gameboard, with the $10 available at the outset, the $15 added at the second "Who am I" and the $25 at the third. Also added in the final "Who am I" was a "wild card," which offered the choice of $1,000 in cash or a chance to pick again. The $20 was removed in 1993.
Fast Money/Mad Minute
Originally, after the third Fame Game, three more general knowledge questions were asked, and the contestant with the highest score is the winner. This gave way to "fast money", where the host would ask the questions in a particularly rapid-fire manner, attempting to fit in as many questions as possible in a 60 second time limit. Starting in 1989, there was a shorter 30-second fast money section in round two with the original reduced to 30-seconds, later restored to a minute, and renamed "Mad Minute". Most of the more successful players proved themselves particularly adept at this section.On 12 November 1986, part-time taxi driver David Poltorak
David Poltorak
David Poltorak was a Sale of the Century grand champion in Australia in 1986. In his eight episodes, he won a grand total of A$376,200, including $244,000 in cash and $132,200 in prizes...
achieved the highest front game score ever, $200, and consequently won the total endgame prize pool on offer (totalling a then-record $376,200). As far as a front game score, a close second may belong to a man named Ian, who in 1985 won a game with a score of $170. Virginia Noel, who won a game in 1983 with a score of $155 while not letting her opponents answer any questions during Fast Money may hold third.
The winner of the game was the person with the most money at the end. If there was a final tie, the tied players answered a tiebreaker "Who am I" question, where a correct answer from either contestant won the game, while an incorrect answer defeated the contestant in favor of his or her opponent.
Sale of the New Century
In a bid to combat declining ratings, the show was renamed Sale of the New Century in 2000. The format was also altered slightly to include four contestants per night in an elimination format; the lowest-scoring player would leave after the first fast money round, and another just before the final fast money round.In addition, a lengthy question, called a 'brain drain', is introduced. Contestants can score $5, $10, $15 or $20, depending on how early they give the correct answer.
The Cash Card changed to a large touch-screen monitor, in which the co-host touched a suit, then hit a button to spin the "reels". In addition, the "Prize" was replaced with "Take $5".
Also, contestants who win 'all the way' then compete in a 'best of three' play-off entitled Super Sale. The first two contestants to win since the format change played against each other to win the same amount of cash as the latter contestant's cash jackpot. After this, the 'reigning champ' plays against the next Grand Champion to win 'all the way' for a cash amount equal to their jackpot prize.
The "New" was dropped from the title in 2001, and the show returned to a three contestant format, but continued to eliminate the low scorer before the final fast money.
The Shopping Format
A series of six prizes was offered, culminating in one or sometimes two luxury cars. A contestant could take his or her cumulative winnings, buy a prize, and retire, or elect to return the next day and try to win enough to buy the next most expensive prize.Starting in 1982, once the player had won all the major prizes on offer, they had the opportunity to play for one more night to keep those prizes (totaling over $100,000) and win a large cash jackpot (the combination of those prizes was referred to as "the lot"). The jackpot started at $50,000 and increased by $2,000 per night until somebody won it. The largest jackpot ever won was $508,000.
Winner's Board
In 1989 the producers did away with the shopping format. Instead, the contestant would face a 12-space board. The Winner's Board contained six prizes; five of them had two matching cards, one Win card (if picked, the next number selected resulted in an automatic match) and one Car card. The contestant called off numbers and the first prize matched is the first prize won, but in order to win the car, the player must select the Win card first before selecting a number that has the Car card. In 1993, the Car & Win cards were replaced by another prize; as mentioned above, picking the "car space" in the Cashcard (or have a winning score of over $100) allowed the Car & Win cards to be placed. If a champion clears the board, but didn't do either the aforementioned tasks, their next game is for the car.After the player makes a match, he/she faced a decision: either leave with all the prizes earned off the board, or risk them and play another show. A loss cost the player all his or her prizes from the board, while clearing the board and winning one more game (usually taking seven days to do it) earns them the cash jackpot.
Celebrity Weeks
Starting in 1989, occasional weeks were set aside for celebrities to play the game. Each week consists of sixteen celebrities playing over four days. The four winners from those shows meet in a two-day final, in which the celebrity with the highest score over those two days wins the competition.Each celebrity plays for a home viewer, who wins all cash and prizes earned during the show. The ultimate winner's home viewer also wins an extra prize, usually a car.
Top 10 Grand Champions
| Rank | Name | Amount Won | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robert Kusmierski | $676,789 | 1992 |
| 2 | Kate Buckingham | $471,640 | 1990 |
| 3 | Simon Fallon | $434,065 | 2001 |
| 4 | Sandra Oxley | $421,080 | |
| 5 | Tom Beck | $420,573 | 2000 |
| 6 | Richard Hitesman | $382,341 | |
| 7 | David Poltorak | $376,204 | 1986 |
| 8 | Peter McMillan | $372,538 | |
| 9 | Cameron Burge | $360,844 | 01-08-1995 |
| 10 | Louise Williams | $354,117 | 2001 |
Other notable wins include:
- Vincent Smith of Sale, VictoriaSale, VictoriaSale is a city in the Gippsland region of the Australian state of Victoria. It is the seat of the Shire of Wellington as well as the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sale and the Anglican Diocese of Gippsland. It has a population of around 13,336, and is expected to reach a population of 14,000 soon...
, the first champion to win the lot (before the cash jackpot) with $73,099. In 1985, he would author The Great Australian Trivia Quiz Book. - Cary Young, who won $78,606 in 1982 and went on to win the 1987 World Championship.
- Hayward Mayberley, who won $343,536 in cash and prizes (including a $206,000 cash jackpot, possibly a then-record) in 1983.