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The Mint (game show)
Encyclopedia
The Mint was a live, late night, interactive quiz show with celebrity guests and live studio contestants filmed in a large extravagant set designed to look like the inside of a mansion. The programme, which was dogged by criticism that its questions were ambiguous and arbitrary, aired on ITV
and ITV2
, Sunday to Wednesday. On 26 February 2007, ITV announced that The Mint would return to screens later in 2007, however an announcement on 12 September 2007 confirmed that the show, along with similar late night phone ins, would not be returning.
(http://www.etv.tv) and is one of the main programmes showing nightly on ITV
and ITV2
. It is written, produced and directed by Ken Korda, inspiration for the show coming to him back in 2004 when he was drunk on raspberry hooch. Viewers are encouraged to phone a premium-rate number in order to provide answers to various quiz questions in an attempt to win money. One of the criticisms levelled against the show's makers ITV, is that the presenters create an illusion that the lines are "open" for calls when in fact the show continues to take vast numbers of calls from so-called contestants.
Cash prizes on offer are usually bigger than other current British phone-in quiz shows and the show gives away large sums of money (usually £10,000-£30,000 for top answers depending on the bonuses they are doing at the time e.g. Top money - £10,000 but on quadruple money it would be £40,000).
The programme was first shown early in the morning on Saturday 1 April 2006 (Late Friday night). The show typically lasts anything from 2 hours to 4 hours, depending on ITV scheduling. In order to win money, viewers must either call in at a cost of 75p (previously 60p) from a BT landline, text the word 'MINT' to a special number or enter through the ITV website, and if selected, will be issued a freephone number and PIN valid for one entry. If they are successful they will be placed on hold, then if the computer selects them (at random), they will be transferred live to The Mint mansion, where they go on to give their answer to the current question.
On 12 May 2006, the last two numbers were guessed and over £108,000 was won. The Mint's first jackpot winning player was Diane and she guessed the correct code of '8648'.
On 20 October 2006 at about 2.15am, The Mint's second jackpot was given away totalling just over £130,721. The winning code was '7012' and was given via a general knowledge question to caller Keith. The question was given by special guest Nicholas Owen.
When the presenters need to refer to the producer/director (and other people who normally reside in the gallery of such TV shows) they call them "people in the Utility Room" or the "Butlers". The camera men are referred to as 'the window cleaner' (due to them looking in on the proceedings).
When celebrity guests are about to appear, a doorbell sound effect is played and when their time on the show is up, a distant car horn sound effect is played (this is supposed to be the guest's cab home).
Segments are linked by canned footage of (supposedly) the mansion and its grounds with Securicor
style security guards standing outside the front door.
Prizes so far have included a brand-new Mini and a holiday to Canada.
viewers.
On 23 April 2007 the long running BBC
programme Panorama
showed a brief clip of The Mint where viewers are shown a Word search
style 4x4 grid and ask to find a name of an animal. The grid had many animal names in it but only one would win the viewer the prize money. The letters included in the grid were; (Top Row) C
, A
, T
, Y
, (Second Row) D
, O
, G
, A
, (Third Row) L
, V
, S
, K
(Fourth Row) H
, E
, N
, R
. After no-one was able to find the prize winning answer, the grid was removed from the screen and the answer was revealed to be tuna
. When Panorama, who had recorded "The Mint" show, looked back at the grid, they discovered that "Tuna" was in fact not present within the wordsearch grid as there was not even a "U
" in it. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/programmes/panorama/default.stm
" by Kool & The Gang
used to be played whenever a contestant won money.
An excerpt from "Yeh Yeh
" by Georgie Fame
used to be played whenever a contestant won money.
. On Monday 27 November presenters Beverley French and Mark Rumble unveiled the top 3 females, the night after (28 November), Beverley French and Brian Dowling unveiled the top 3 males.
The 6 finalists were live in the studio on the night of the final (29 November), they were:
The winners were given £5,000 each and the runners up a bottle of champagne.
The Australian version of the series ended on 29 March 2008.
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
and ITV2
ITV2
ITV2 is a 24 hour, free-to-air entertainment television channel in the United Kingdom owned by ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998, and is available on digital television via satellite, cable, IPTV and terrestrial platforms. The channel has the...
, Sunday to Wednesday. On 26 February 2007, ITV announced that The Mint would return to screens later in 2007, however an announcement on 12 September 2007 confirmed that the show, along with similar late night phone ins, would not be returning.
Overview
The Mint is produced by leading participation TV specialists, Ludus:ETVETV
ETV may stand for:* e.tv, a South African terrestrial television channel* Educational television, the use of television in education* Educational Television , a television series* Ekushey Television, a Bangladeshi television channel...
(http://www.etv.tv) and is one of the main programmes showing nightly on ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
and ITV2
ITV2
ITV2 is a 24 hour, free-to-air entertainment television channel in the United Kingdom owned by ITV Digital Channels Ltd, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998, and is available on digital television via satellite, cable, IPTV and terrestrial platforms. The channel has the...
. It is written, produced and directed by Ken Korda, inspiration for the show coming to him back in 2004 when he was drunk on raspberry hooch. Viewers are encouraged to phone a premium-rate number in order to provide answers to various quiz questions in an attempt to win money. One of the criticisms levelled against the show's makers ITV, is that the presenters create an illusion that the lines are "open" for calls when in fact the show continues to take vast numbers of calls from so-called contestants.
Cash prizes on offer are usually bigger than other current British phone-in quiz shows and the show gives away large sums of money (usually £10,000-£30,000 for top answers depending on the bonuses they are doing at the time e.g. Top money - £10,000 but on quadruple money it would be £40,000).
The programme was first shown early in the morning on Saturday 1 April 2006 (Late Friday night). The show typically lasts anything from 2 hours to 4 hours, depending on ITV scheduling. In order to win money, viewers must either call in at a cost of 75p (previously 60p) from a BT landline, text the word 'MINT' to a special number or enter through the ITV website, and if selected, will be issued a freephone number and PIN valid for one entry. If they are successful they will be placed on hold, then if the computer selects them (at random), they will be transferred live to The Mint mansion, where they go on to give their answer to the current question.
The Mint
The titular 'Mint' is a large vault situated at the back of the themed set and inside is a £100,000 prize. £1 is added to the £100,000 jackpot for every minute the show is on air without finding a winner. The chance at the jackpot is given to winners of the regular games whenever a correct answer is given and the jackpot prize is rewarded if players can guess the 4-digit code that opens The Mint. This code is locked in the computer and only changes when someone has won the prize. No-one in the studio or on the production team knows what the code is. After a number of wrong guesses the producers will reveal the first number and later, the second, leaving viewers having to guess the remaining digits.On 12 May 2006, the last two numbers were guessed and over £108,000 was won. The Mint's first jackpot winning player was Diane and she guessed the correct code of '8648'.
On 20 October 2006 at about 2.15am, The Mint's second jackpot was given away totalling just over £130,721. The winning code was '7012' and was given via a general knowledge question to caller Keith. The question was given by special guest Nicholas Owen.
The Mint Mansion
The Mint Mansion isn't referred to as a 'set' and the presenters play along with the fact that they are all friends who live in The Mint mansion. The other presenters who aren't working on a particular night are said to be "upstairs sleeping". Some of the presenters occasionally slip up and call the mansion a set or mention that a certain other presenter isn't in that day; where this occurs they normally correct themselves and try to maintain the illusion.When the presenters need to refer to the producer/director (and other people who normally reside in the gallery of such TV shows) they call them "people in the Utility Room" or the "Butlers". The camera men are referred to as 'the window cleaner' (due to them looking in on the proceedings).
When celebrity guests are about to appear, a doorbell sound effect is played and when their time on the show is up, a distant car horn sound effect is played (this is supposed to be the guest's cab home).
Segments are linked by canned footage of (supposedly) the mansion and its grounds with Securicor
Securicor
Securicor plc was one of the United Kingdom's largest security businesses. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but merged with Group 4 Falck in 2004.-History:...
style security guards standing outside the front door.
Champagne bottle
In addition to the clock that all other phone-in game shows use to spur callers on (and get them waiting on the phone lines), The Mint also uses a large animated graphic of a champagne bottle in the lower portion of the screen. This will pop (accompanied by a sound effect and relevant animation) at a random moment signifying when a caller will be plucked from the lines and come through to the studio. Some of the presenters make gags about this bottle "popping its cork" and they often pretend to interact with it, in a variety of ways, this is especially true of Brian Dowling.Added incentives to play
- Bonus amount of cash for a limited time (e.g. extra £2000, sometimes the top answer increases to £15,000 and even £30,000)
- Turbo Round (Back-to-back calls taking only callers names and answers. The presenters occasionally play their own game of trying to take as many calls as possible in the five allotted minutes. The current record stands at 54 callers)
- Chance at The Mint (Chance to guess The Mint's 4 digit combination, potentially winning over £100,000)
- Added money each time a wrong answer is received (prize money on offer grows)
- Double money, Triple Money, Quadruple Money, Quintuple Money or Sextuple Money
- Caller gets 2 guesses at the current puzzle
- Occasionally special prizes are offered instead of cash prizes.
Prizes so far have included a brand-new Mini and a holiday to Canada.
Caller selection
When a caller has been successfully selected (which occurs at random through computer selection), a message is played out to them over the phone saying that the computer will try to connect the call through to the studio. However, not everyone goes immediately through to the studio. Calls are not vetted so when the contestants get through they can say anything (even swearing from time to time and even at one point presenter Brian was called a homophobic name). Some contestants have to wait around 5 minutes (still only charged one flat rate of 75p) waiting to be randomly selected. Due to this, some may hang up the phone believing they were unsuccessful. When the computer eventually selects them, viewers and the presenter(s) may hear a dead tone, to which the presenter either immediately tries for another caller, or counts down from 3 to enable anyone on another line to respond.2007 British television phone-in scandal
The 2007 British television phone-in scandal involved allegations of phone-in segments of television programmes and quiz channels conningConfidence trick
A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence. A confidence artist is an individual working alone or in concert with others who exploits characteristics of the human psyche such as dishonesty and honesty, vanity, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility,...
viewers.
On 23 April 2007 the long running BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
programme Panorama
Panorama (TV series)
Panorama is a BBC Television current affairs documentary programme, which was first broadcast in 1953, and is the longest-running public affairs television programme in the world. Panorama has been presented by many well known BBC presenters, including Richard Dimbleby, Robin Day, David Dimbleby...
showed a brief clip of The Mint where viewers are shown a Word search
Word search
A word search, word find, word seek, word sleuth or mystery word puzzle is a word game that is letters of a word in a grid, that usually has a rectangular or square shape. The objective of this puzzle is to find and mark all the words hidden inside the box. The words may be horizontally,...
style 4x4 grid and ask to find a name of an animal. The grid had many animal names in it but only one would win the viewer the prize money. The letters included in the grid were; (Top Row) C
C
Ĉ or ĉ is a consonant in Esperanto orthography, representing the sound .Esperanto orthography uses a diacritic for all four of its postalveolar consonants, as do the Latin-based Slavic alphabets...
, A
A
A is the first letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet. It is similar to the Ancient Greek letter Alpha, from which it derives.- Origins :...
, T
T
T is the 20th letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet. It is the most commonly used consonant and the second most common letter in the English language.- History :Taw was the last letter of the Western Semitic and Hebrew alphabets...
, Y
Y
Y is the twenty-fifth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet and represents either a vowel or a consonant in English.-Name:In Latin, Y was named Y Graeca "Greek Y". This was pronounced as I Graeca "Greek I", since Latin speakers had trouble pronouncing , which was not a native sound...
, (Second Row) D
D
D is the fourth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.- History :The Semitic letter Dâlet may have developed from the logogram for a fish or a door. There are various Egyptian hieroglyphs that might have inspired this. In Semitic, Ancient Greek, and Latin, the letter represented ; in the...
, O
O
O is the fifteenth letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet.The letter was derived from the Semitic `Ayin , which represented a consonant, probably , the sound represented by the Arabic letter ع called `Ayn. This Semitic letter in its original form seems to have been inspired by a...
, G
G
G is the seventh letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The letter 'G' was introduced in the Old Latin period as a variant of ⟨c⟩ to distinguish voiced, from voiceless, . The recorded originator of ⟨g⟩ is freedman Spurius Carvilius Ruga, the first Roman to open a fee-paying school,...
, A
A
A is the first letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet. It is similar to the Ancient Greek letter Alpha, from which it derives.- Origins :...
, (Third Row) L
L
Ł or ł, described in English as L with stroke, is a letter of the Polish, Kashubian, Sorbian, Łacinka , Łatynka , Wilamowicean, Navajo, Dene Suline, Inupiaq, Zuni, Hupa, and Dogrib alphabets, several proposed alphabets for the Venetian language, and the ISO 11940 romanization of the Thai alphabet...
, V
V
V is the twenty-second letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-Letter:The letter V comes from the Semitic letter Waw, as do the modern letters F, U, W, and Y. See F for details....
, S
S
S is the nineteenth letter in the ISO basic Latin alphabet.-History: Semitic Šîn represented a voiceless postalveolar fricative . Greek did not have this sound, so the Greek sigma came to represent...
, K
K
K is the eleventh letter of the English and basic modern Latin alphabet.-History and usage:In English, the letter K usually represents the voiceless velar plosive; this sound is also transcribed by in the International Phonetic Alphabet and X-SAMPA....
(Fourth Row) H
H
H .) is the eighth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The Semitic letter ⟨ח⟩ most likely represented the voiceless pharyngeal fricative . The form of the letter probably stood for a fence or posts....
, E
E
E is the fifth letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet. It is the most commonly used letter in the Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Hungarian, Latin, Norwegian, Spanish, and Swedish languages.-History:...
, N
N
N is the fourteenth letter in the basic modern Latin alphabet.- History of the forms :One of the most common hieroglyphs, snake, was used in Egyptian writing to stand for a sound like English ⟨J⟩, because the Egyptian word for "snake" was djet...
, R
R
R is the eighteenth letter of the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The original Semitic letter may have been inspired by an Egyptian hieroglyph for tp, "head". It was used for by Semites because in their language, the word for "head" was rêš . It developed into Greek Ρ and Latin R...
. After no-one was able to find the prize winning answer, the grid was removed from the screen and the answer was revealed to be tuna
Tuna
Tuna is a salt water fish from the family Scombridae, mostly in the genus Thunnus. Tuna are fast swimmers, and some species are capable of speeds of . Unlike most fish, which have white flesh, the muscle tissue of tuna ranges from pink to dark red. The red coloration derives from myoglobin, an...
. When Panorama, who had recorded "The Mint" show, looked back at the grid, they discovered that "Tuna" was in fact not present within the wordsearch grid as there was not even a "U
U
U is the twenty-first letter and a vowel in the basic modern Latin alphabet.-History:The letter U ultimately comes from the Semitic letter Waw by way of the letter Y. See the letter Y for details....
" in it. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/programmes/panorama/default.stm
Music
An excerpt from "CelebrationCelebration (song)
"Celebration" is a song released in 1980 by Kool & the Gang from their album Celebrate!. It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on February 7, 1981 and held that position until February 20, 1981. Late in 1980, the song had also reached number one on both the Billboard Dance and R&B...
" by Kool & The Gang
Kool & the Gang
Kool & the Gang are an American jazz, R&B, soul, and funk group, originally formed as the Jazziacs in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1964.They went through several musical phases during the course of their recording career, starting out with a purist jazz sound, then becoming practitioners of R&B and...
used to be played whenever a contestant won money.
An excerpt from "Yeh Yeh
Yeh Yeh
"Yeh Yeh" is a Latin soul tune that was written as an instrumental by Rodgers Grant and Pat Patrick and first recorded by Mongo Santamaría on his 1963 album Watermelon Man . Lyrics were written for it shortly thereafter by Jon Hendricks of the vocal group Lambert, Hendricks & Ross. This version of...
" by Georgie Fame
Georgie Fame
Georgie Fame is a British rhythm and blues and jazz singer and keyboard player. The one-time rock and roll tour musician, who had a string of 1960s hits, is still a popular performer, often working with contemporaries such as Van Morrison and Bill Wyman.-Early life:Fame took piano lessons from the...
used to be played whenever a contestant won money.
Associated catchphrases
- "Get Minted!"
- "Get yourself Minted!"
- "You've just been Minted!"
- "The Mint? My arse! Ha ha haaah!" (said by former guest Ricky TomlinsonRicky TomlinsonEric Tomlinson , known by his stage name Ricky Tomlinson, is an English actor and comedian, best known for his roles as Bobby Grant in Brookside, DCI Charlie Wise in Cracker and James "Jim" Royle in The Royle Family....
) - "The Mint? Where's the money?! Where's the money?! Ho ho hooooo!" (said by former guest Ricky TomlinsonRicky TomlinsonEric Tomlinson , known by his stage name Ricky Tomlinson, is an English actor and comedian, best known for his roles as Bobby Grant in Brookside, DCI Charlie Wise in Cracker and James "Jim" Royle in The Royle Family....
) - "A warning! You are seriously in danger of being Minted..." (said by upcoming guest Chris TarrantChris TarrantChristopher 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...
) - "Play The Mint for real money. Look at what ya coulda won.....Jim Bowen, News At Ten, piss off!" (Said by former guest Jim BowenJim BowenJim Bowen is an English stand-up comedian and TV personality. He is best known as the host of the ITV gameshow Bullseye, which he hosted between 1981 and 1995.-Early life:...
) - "You'll be minted in a matter of moments!"
Mr. and Mrs. Mint
Towards the end of November 2006, The Mint started a search for Mr. and Mrs. Mint, the presenters asked viewers to submit pictures of themselves via E-mailE-mail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
. On Monday 27 November presenters Beverley French and Mark Rumble unveiled the top 3 females, the night after (28 November), Beverley French and Brian Dowling unveiled the top 3 males.
The 6 finalists were live in the studio on the night of the final (29 November), they were:
Female finalists
- Ria, a former child model.
- Adele, self-proclaimed vegan warrior princess.
- Erin, a barmaid.
Male finalists
- Steve Garside, a railway engineer.
- Patrick Cooney, a part-time Latin American.
- Jay, just graduated college with a HNCHigher National CertificateA Higher National Certificate is a higher education qualification in the United Kingdom.In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the HNC is a BTEC qualification awarded by Edexcel, and in Scotland, an HNC is a Higher National awarded by the Scottish Qualifications Authority...
in constructionConstructionIn the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...
and is currently working in a call centreCall centreA call centre or call center is a centralised office used for the purpose of receiving and transmitting a large volume of requests by telephone. A call centre is operated by a company to administer incoming product support or information inquiries from consumers. Outgoing calls for telemarketing,...
.
Celebrity judges
On Wednesday 29 November 3 celebrity judges joined presenters Yiolanda Koppel, Craig Stevens and the 6 finalists in the Mint Mansion to ask the finalists questions and then cast the final vote on who should become Mr. or Mrs. Mint.- Beccy Jones a Fitness Instructor.
- Page 3 model Leilani DowdingLeilani DowdingLeilani Dowding is an English former Page Three girl, glamour model, television celebrity, and Miss Universe contestant.-Early life:...
. - Actor Simon ColeSimon ColeSimon Cole is Chief Executive of UBC Media Group. He co-founded the Unique Broadcasting Company in 1989, which floated on the London Stock Exchange in July 2000 as part of UBC Media Group. Simon started his radio career as a BBC trainee, moving to Manchester in the early 1980s where he became...
who played Jeremy Peterson in British soap opera, HollyoaksHollyoaksHollyoaks is a long-running British television soap opera, first broadcast on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was originally devised by Phil Redmond, who has also devised shows including Brookside and Grange Hill...
.
Result
After questioning all of the contestants the judges were sent away to make their decision. They were recalled towards the end of the show to give their scores, each judge having to mark the contestant on a scale of 1-10, then the 3 judges scores being added together to give the final result.| # | Rob | Leilani | Simon | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ria | 8 | 9 | 8 | 25 |
| Adele | 9 | 8 | 9 | 26 [Mrs. Mint] |
| Erin | 8 | 8 | 8 | 24 |
| Adam | 8 | 8 | 9 | 25 |
| Andrew | 8 | 9 | 9 | 26 [Mr. Mint] |
| Jay | 8 | 8 | 8 | 24 |
The winners were given £5,000 each and the runners up a bottle of champagne.
Final broadcast of the series
The final episode of the series of The Mint aired on 15 February 2007. The presenters insisted that the show was 'taking a break' and would return later in the year. An announcement by ITV on 12 September 2007 confirmed that the show, along with similar late night phone ins, would not be returning..The Australian version of the series ended on 29 March 2008.