The public think they probably wouldn’t win on popular quiz shows, but are most likely to see Tipping Point and Catchphrase as their best hopes
Quiz shows are a staple of British television, being tentpoles of the daytime, primetime and Saturday evening schedules. We might be in an era of declining TV ratings, but millions still tune in at least occasionally to programmes like The Chase, Pointless or Tipping Point, frequently playing along at home.
But while many of us will have watched on, exasperated, by contestants getting seemingly obvious questions wrong, maybe even feeling we could better, how many of us actually fancy our chances of winning the jackpot?
Across eleven of the country’s most popular TV quiz shows, most viewers feel they would ‘probably not win’ or even be ‘very unlikely to win’.
But there is variation between shows, with some clearly seen as better hopes than others. Four in ten of those who have seen Tipping Point (40%) think they could win an episode, with 36% of Catchphrase viewers feeling they have a reasonable chance of a victory. In both cases, this includes a very confident 7% who feel they would be ‘very likely to win’, more than for any of the other programmes polled.
Sitting in a ‘medium difficulty’ category are The Chase, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Pointless and The 1% Club, which around 17-23% of viewers believe they have a decent likelihood of winning, against just over seven in ten (71-75%) who are more sceptical of their fortunes.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the quiz shows where Britons are least confident of their ability to win are those with a more ‘highbrow’ reputation. Only 8% of those who have seen Countdown feel they would be likely to win an episode, with 6% of viewers of Mastermind, Eggheads and Only Connect feeling similarly assured of their ability to triumph. In all cases, more than eight in ten of those who have seen the show (81-89%) feel they would be unlikely to win, including a majority (52-63%) who would rate their chances as very unlikely.
University Challenge is seemingly perceived as the most difficult quiz on TV, with 92% of those who have seen the programme feeling they would be unlikely to win an episode, including three-quarters of viewers (76%) believing they would be ‘very unlikely to win’. Just 4% of those have seen the BBC Two quiz feel they would be well placed to win an episode.
Men are generally more confident they could win a quiz show
Whether Britons feel they can win a quiz show also continues the established tradition of YouGov finding men to be generally more confident than women.
The largest gap can be seen with Tipping Point, which nearly half of men who have seen the programme (45%) believe they would be capable of winning, compared to only around a third of women who have watched it (35%).
Another sizeable gender gap exists with the teatime favourite The Chase, which 27% of men and 19% of women who have seen it expect they could win.
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Photo: ITV
