ITV's You Bet revival will aim to top Ant & Dec's failed US version
Holly Willoughby is returning to ITV with a new version of game show You Bet!, 16 years after Ant and Dec took their take on it to the US.
The star — who stepped down from ITV's This Morning after Gavin Plumb was accused of plotting to kidnap, rape and murder her — will host the revived series with her Dancing On Ice pal Stephen Mulhern. The news was confirmed just weeks after Plumb was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
You Bet! was big in the UK in the late 80s and 90s, when it was hosted by the likes of TV legends of Bruce Forsyth and Matthew Kelly. Then in 2008, Ant and Dec launched a version of it in the US, entitled Wanna Bet?, which flopped.
So what is the show all about? And what happened with Ant and Dec's take on it?
Game play
You Bet! — a UK version on the German series Wetten, dass..? — aired on ITV between 1988 and 1997. It was given a cosy slot on Saturday nights in the winter months where it performed so well that its first fairly modest run was extended the following year.
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Hosted first by Forsyth, then by Kelly and finally Darren Day, it saw a panel of celebs and the studio audience trying to predict whether contestants could complete various challenges within a time limit. Feats they attempted included anything from doing a wheelie in a truck to scoring 50 basketball hoops while riding a motorcycle or correctly naming a music star's song.
Wanna Bet?
In 2008, riding high on the success of shows like Pop Idol and Saturday Night Takeaway, Ant and Dec launched Wanna Bet? in the US.
The presenters were not well known across the pond but with the show already a hit at home, and the fact the American edition featured stars including George Takei and Ali Landry, it seemed to have all the ingredients for success. However, audiences didn't take the format to heart and ratings slipped.
It also picked up some poor reviews, with the Hollywood Reporter quoted as saying at the time: "Wanna bet that after watching one episode of this new ABC hourlong game show you're gonna feel just a little bit dumber than before? Or dumberer, even? Wanna Bet?, which has its heart in the right place (having celebs - well, sort of celebs - bet big bucks for their favorite charity), is mindless, 'if-you-must-see' television."
By the time the six episodes came to an end it was clear the series would not be renewed for a second run.
Dec has since been quoted as telling Q magazine that they later discovered audiences had been paid to laugh as the show was filmed.
“We were virtual unknowns but we walked out to thunderous applause on the first night," he explained. "The show went unbelievably well and afterwards we said to the producer, ‘What an incredible audience.’ And he said, ‘Yeah, it’s amazing what you can get for $15 an hour.’ They paid the audience to be there for three hours.”
ITV reboot
It has now been confirmed that Willoughby and Mulhern will bring back You Bet! in two 75-minute specials that are set to air later this year.
"You Bet! is part of a stellar entertainment line up for ITV and ITVX this Autumn, and we are thrilled to have Holly Willoughby and Stephen Mulhern at the helm,” said Katie Rawcliffe, head of entertainment commissioning ITV.
This article originally appeared on Yahoo TV UK at https://uk.news.yahoo.com/itv-you-bet-ant-dec-holly-willoughby-151217338.html
