40 Fun Facts About Minute to Win It

Which Food Network star hosted the original American Minute to Win It after his agent pitched him the idea?

Guy Fieri fronted the show's first two American seasons, and a pre-broadcast review praised his enthusiasm and his easy way with contestants.

In Minute to Win It's Face the Cookie, where on the body does each cookie start its journey to the mouth?

Forehead to mouth is the whole route, and players may use only their facial muscles to wiggle the cookie down, starting over if it drops.

In Minute to Win It's Card Ninja, players throw playing cards hard enough to stick one into what?

A watermelon, cut in half, is the target, and one card lodged in the fruit is enough to win: the challenge trades distance for accuracy.

In Minute to Win It's Elephant March, what do players wear over the head to swing a baseball like a trunk?

Pantyhose with a baseball in one leg becomes the trunk, which players swing back and forth to knock down eight bottles standing in two rows.

Which holiday did Minute to Win It mark with two extra levels that lifted the top prize to $3 million?

Christmas specials opened the second season with 12 games instead of ten, and a Holiday Bonus box could hand a player ten extra seconds.

Which fast-food chain's 2011 kids' meals came with toys based on five Minute to Win It challenges?

Wendy's signed the deal in May 2011, the same year a board game let families try the show's stunts at home.

In Minute to Win It's Junk in the Trunk, players shake eight ping-pong balls out of what strapped to the waist?

A tissue box sits at the small of the back, and players must jump, wiggle and bend until every ball has dropped out, with no hands allowed.

Which Olympic gold medalist hosted the 2013 GSN revival of Minute to Win It, a show he already followed as a fan?

Apolo Ohno, the short-track speed skater with eight Olympic medals, took over a version that played for a smaller top prize of $250,000.

What does a Minute to Win It contestant lose each time the clock runs out on a challenge?

A life goes with every failed attempt, and a contestant gets only three for the whole run: lose the last one and the winnings fall back to the previous milestone.

In Minute to Win It's Sticky Situation, a bounced ping-pong ball must land on bread spread with what?

Peanut butter turns a slice of bread into a trap for the ball, and a harder version of the game adds a slice of jelly as an extra target.

Which American network launched Minute to Win It in March 2010 by airing its first two episodes back to back?

NBC ran the show for two seasons and 68 episodes before deciding in May 2012 not to order a third.

What does Minute to Win It call the set of instructions a contestant is shown before attempting each challenge?

The blueprint is also the point of no return: a player may walk away with the money before seeing the next one, but not once that game is under way.

Which chocolate maker sponsored the British Minute to Win It, whose two teams echoed its Spots v Stripes campaign?

Cadbury funded the ITV2 version as part of its Spots v Stripes push for London 2012, and the show swapped the solo money ladder for two teams led by celebrity captains.

In Minute to Win It's Dizzy Mummy, what must players unwind a whole roll of by spinning in full circles?

Toilet paper tears under less than a pound of force, so the roll has to come off gently: one rip and the game is over.

In Minute to Win It's Defying Gravity, what must a player keep three of off the ground for the full minute?

Balloons sound easy until there are three: the stunt is a survival game, so the 60 seconds must run out without one touching the floor.

In Minute to Win It's Bite Me, what must players pick up off the floor using only their mouth?

Paper bags of five heights, the shortest just two inches tall, must be lifted onto podiums while only the player's feet touch the floor.

In Minute to Win It's Breakfast Scramble, players rebuild the cut-up front of what as a 16-piece puzzle?

A cereal box front is sliced into 16 identical squares, so shape gives no help and players have to go by the picture alone.

One Minute to Win It stunt asks players to balance a three-high tower made of which sporting goods?

Golf balls make the tower in Caddy Stack: lining up their dimples lets them stack, and the finished tower has to stay standing for three seconds to count.

Which country's version of Minute to Win It launched on Sat.1 in 2010 under the title Die perfekte Minute?

Germany's Sat.1 put the format on air in April 2010, weeks after the American debut, with Ulla Kock am Brink hosting for up to €250,000.

Celebrity episodes of Minute to Win It made every level a safe milestone because the stars were playing for what?

Charity was the winner on celebrity nights: each cleared level was banked for good, so a famous player kept everything up to the last success.

Which Minute to Win It million-dollar game asks players to bounce a quarter 15 feet into a water jug?

Supercoin leaves almost no margin: the jug's mouth is only 1.75 inches wide, and the quarter has to bounce in from across the stage.

Which Minute to Win It special format cut the worst performer from a field of ten after every challenge?

Last Man Standing paid its sole survivor $100,000 and then offered one shot at the show's million-dollar game.

Which toy giant turned Minute to Win It into a board game in 2011 and a card game a year later?

Mattel's board and card games joined a wider range of spin-offs that included a party pack of challenges and holiday activity guides.

Which country's Minute to Win It, the second version to air, ran as a segment of Programa Silvio Santos?

Brazil's SBT called it Nada Além de um Minuto and first aired it in April 2010, barely a month after the American premiere.

Which country's Minute to Win It, hosted by Luis Manzano on ABS-CBN, made two chefs its first millionaires in 2014?

The Philippines edition crowned chefs Tristan Encarnacion and Niño Logarta in February 2014 with a prize of more than a million pesos.

In Minute to Win It's Mad Dog, players shake a ruler clenched in the teeth to empty boxes of what?

Mints rattle out of a box fixed to each end of the ruler, and the stunt is a two-player relay: a partner then has to repeat the whole thing.

In Minute to Win It's Bobblehead, which gadget strapped to the head must log 125 nods inside the minute?

A pedometer normally counts footsteps from the hip, but here it is worn on the head and counts jerks of the neck instead.

In Minute to Win It's Ka-Broom, players use a kitchen broom to catapult what off paper plates and into a cup?

Marshmallows must be caught three times to win, a messy fate for a sweet the game's own intro traces back to the pharaohs of Egypt.

In Minute to Win It's Egg Roll, what do players flap like a fan to push raw eggs across the stage?

A pizza box, 14 inches square, is the only tool allowed, and the eggs' lopsided shape sends them rolling in unpredictable directions.

In Minute to Win It's Stack Attack, players build 36 plastic cups into which shape before collapsing them again?

A pyramid goes up cup by cup and then comes down by sliding the cups diagonally until all 36 sit in a single stack.

Minute to Win It was devised by Mattias Olsson and Jock Millgårdh of Friday TV, a company based in which country?

Sweden's Friday TV, founded in Stockholm in 2004, counts the show among its most successful formats, sold to broadcasters in dozens of countries.

Minute to Win It was named best studio-based game show format in 2010 at MIPCOM, a TV festival in which country?

France is where the C21/Frapa award was handed over at MIPCOM that October, less than seven months after the show's first episode aired.

Which Spanish-language American network opened in August 2012 with a nightly version of Minute to Win It?

MundoFox aired Minuto para Ganar from its very first day, with Mexican host Marco Antonio Regil and a top prize of $100,000.

Which Scottish-born presenter hosted both the Australian and the British versions of Minute to Win It?

Darren McMullen fronted the Seven Network run in 2010, then went back to the UK for ITV2's team version a year later.

Which future Love Island host captained a team on the British Minute to Win It on ITV2 in 2011?

Caroline Flack and Joe Swash each captained a team of five friends, four years before she began presenting Love Island.

The GSN revival of Minute to Win It hit its ratings peak as the lead-in to which game show's premiere?

The Chase opened behind an episode watched by 596,000 people on August 6, 2013, the best figure the revival ever reached.

Which Phillip Schofield game show, a British cousin of Minute to Win It, tests players on simple physical tasks?

The Cube shut players inside a four-metre Perspex box for catching, throwing and balancing tasks, with £250,000 the top prize of its original run.

In Minute to Win It's summer Million Dollar Mission, who got a single attempt at the million-dollar game?

An audience member was picked for the stunt near the end of six summer episodes in 2010, and not one of them won the million.

The first licensed Minute to Win It merchandise, released in November 2010, was what kind of product?

A video game from Zoo Entertainment came first, with versions for Wii, Nintendo DS, Kinect and iOS that put the stunts on screen.

In one Minute to Win It game, players blow a deck of cards off a bottle but must leave which card?

The joker sits face up at the bottom of the deck balanced on the bottle, so the last puffs have to be far gentler than the first.