UK Game Shows: A Perfect Ten-able or Pointless Viewing?

Jasmine Howard

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Welcome to an official, unofficial ranking of some of the top UK game shows that grace our television screens. Naturally, different formats of game shows work best for different people, but some of them are just objectively terrible. 

11. Pointless

Does anyone actually know how this game show works? I’ve been watching this since I was a child, yet I still have absolutely no idea what’s going on. I know that the contestant is supposed to give a “pointless answer” but how could they possibly begin to guess what’s pointless and what isn’t? Sounds pretty impossible to me. I can safely say that this is a game show that lives up to its name. Pointless by name, pointless by nature. The only thing remotely entertaining is when they call their special episodes ‘Pointless Celebrities’. Now that’s humour!

10. Tipping Point

This game show does nothing but give me flashbacks to visiting the arcades as a child and never winning anything no matter how many pennies you put in. A serious source of PTSD right there on our screens. On the whole, it’s really quite a boring game. The contestants seem to have controlled levels of excitement and any banter is just non-existent. Tipping Point is an uninteresting game show with a host that has no personality. 

9. Mastermind

This is only entertaining to watch if you happen to also have the same specialist subjects as the contestants. The silent audience and intense lighting makes me too terrified to even watch the show on TV so the contestants really must have nerves of steel! Let’s face it, we only stick around for the general knowledge rounds which move at such a pace, you feel proud to get any right at all.

8. Weakest Link 

Let’s be honest, Anne Robinson really made this show what it was and Romesh Ranganathan just really can’t fill those shoes. Now that Anne is no longer running the show, the only entertaining thing left to watch is the voting process. Seeing who’s going to stab who in the back provides us with all sorts of excitement and we just can’t get enough of people being called “the weakest link” and having to do the walk of shame off the show. Unfortunately, I bet there are a few of us who just associate this game show with the iconic Doctor Who episode set on satellite 5…

7. Ant and Dec’s Limitless Win

This show has too many numbers involved for my liking! The concept, however, is great and the contestants always seem to have a good time. It’s a good job it’s a difficult game, it could cost ITV a fortune!

6. University Challenge and Only Connect

These two shows are very similar, hence why they’re both number 6. By similar, I mean they’re both game shows for intellectuals. These shows have contestants with brains bigger than you could possibly imagine! University Challenge makes you realise why you didn’t even bother applying for Oxford or Cambridge, as you spend the 30-minute episode convincing yourself that you have other skills that they don’t have.

If you’re a university student yourself, this show makes you recoil in terror as you start to feel like you’re mentally years behind other people your age. As for Only Connect, why can’t the whole game show just be the missing vowels round? Let’s face it, you’re a pro at that round only because you’re used to deciphering your mum’s texts! Looking at it positively though, nothing beats the feeling of getting at least one of the questions on either of these shows right! 

5. Family Fortunes

Maybe I just haven’t watched this in a while, but when did Gino D’Acampo become the host? (After a quick fact check, it appears that he took over for the new series in 2021!)

I’ll be honest, they do spend way too long discussing the lives of the families, but the banter and humour between the families and the host certainly make for good television. The way the show works could almost be seen as a better, more advanced version of Pointless. Pointless, but make it fun and less, well, pointless, if you will. 

4. Gary Lineker’s Sitting on a Fortune

A game with interesting tactics. Sure, the questions are fun, but the real entertainment lies in whether the contestants will choose to help each other or play to their own strengths instead. And it all could change at the last minute. If an answer is wrong, the contestant must move to the back and let the next player win the money. Absolutely ruthless. Gary makes a great host, adding plenty of humour and discussion to the show.

3. Who Wants to be a Millionaire

An absolute classic, the reboot with Jeremy Clarkson is just as good, if not better than the original with Chris Tarrant. Even during Covid times when there isn’t a studio audience, the show doesn’t lack any personality. You’ve got to love the shout-at-the-telly moments caused by contestants wasting lifelines on questions you deem to be easy!

2. The Wheel

Do hosts really get any better than Michael McIntyre? Hosted by the king of comedy himself, this show has everything you could possibly want, from constantly changing question categories, a whole range of celebrity ‘experts’ and spinning contestants! A game show doesn’t get more fun than The Wheel.

1. The Chase and Beat the Chasers

We’ve finally reached it. Number one. Of course, you knew The Chase was going to be up here the minute you started reading this ranking. Bradley Walsh is the only host who can really top Michael McIntyre and his banter with the contestants and chasers is top quality British TV. The chasers are all capable of taking the crude comments delivered to them and often dish back out what they take. There’s a perfect amount of tension and the unpredictable outcomes can have us shouting at the telly! To quote Bradders in episode 1, season 4 of Beat the Chasers, “The stress is immense!”

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Featured image courtesy of dylan nolte on Unsplash. No changes were made to this image. Image license found here.