# Duel (British game show)

Duel is an ITV game show based on a format by Francophone production company French TV, hosted by Nick Hancock, broadcast on Saturday evenings. It ran from 19 January to 5 April 2008.

## Format

Each 'Duel' consists of two contestants, who each begin the game with 10 poker chips. They are asked multiple-choice general knowledge questions with four possible answers. Contestants are given an unlimited amount of time to cover at least one answer using their chips, one per answer, providing if they have enough chips. The contestant confirms their choices by pressing their "lock" button, after which the answers are locked in place and no further changes can be made. A partition is raised at the start of each question and is lowered down after both contestants lock their answers. One of the four answers is correct; any chip placed on an incorrect answer is discarded from the table, and £1,000 per chip is added to the progressive jackpot starting at £100,000.
Each contestant is given two 'Accelerators' (similar to the 'press' in the American version of the show), imposing on their opponent a seven-second time limit; any answers covered after these seven seconds are automatically locked in. Unlike in the American or French versions, a contestant using an Accelerator without locking in their answer nullifies the effect. If they still had their second accelerator available, Hancock would inform the contestant that they could still lock their answers and play the other accelerator if they see fit.
The duel continues so long as both contestants cover any correct answers. If any contestant fails to cover the correct answer, the duel ends and the contestant is eliminated. If neither contestant covers the correct answer, both contestants are eliminated and the duel ends without a winner.
After a duel, the winning contestant selects one of any three opponents, with limited information as such provided by the contestant (name, job and the age), to initiate a new duel and the process is repeated. Any unselected opponents will remain on the list of opponents until selected.
For the first four shows of the series, a back-to-back 'Duel' victory offered the contestant a choice to leave with their winnings or to play Cash or Chips. They were asked to randomly select one of two chips to be flipped over. The chips are either marked with "£" (a fixed sum of £10,000 for two 'Duel' victories, £20,000 for three) or "%" - (10% of the jackpot for two 'Duel' victories, 20% of the jackpot for three; amounts are neither affected nor deducted from the jackpot in either case). The contestant then choose to either retire by accepting the offer or decline it for one more 'Duel' for more winnings or a shot at the jackpot.
As of show five, the rules are changed for winners with back-to-back 'Duel' wins, where they are offered a bonus question (called Max Question in the American version)- they are given three chips to cover those answers within seven seconds for a cash bonus depending on how many chips they placed. A correct answer awarded £10,000 if they played only one chip, and the value is halved thereafter for every subsequent chips played (£5,000 for two and £2,500 for three). A third win offered double of the cash bonus with similar rules.
In all shows, contestants with four consecutive 'Duel' victories would retire undefeated and claims the jackpot, after which it resets back to £100,000. If the Duel either produced no winners or if the champion retires, the two contestants who waited the most time in the waiting list become new challengers.

## Jackpot winners

The first ever Duel jackpot winner was Robert, a social worker from Blackpool in Lancashire, who correctly identified that the US Masters is the only major golf tournament to be held at the same venue each year. He won the £470,000 jackpot that had built up since the start of the series, and also took home his accumulated accelerator wins of £12,500, giving him a total of £482,500.
On 29 March 2008, the jackpot was won for the second time by banking lecturer Rob, scooping £215,000 (£190,000 jackpot plus £25,000 accumulated accelerator wins).
A week later, on the final show of the series, firefighter James won the third Duel jackpot of £166,000, plus his accelerator win of £20,000; a total of £186,000.

### List of winners

| Show | Date | Contestant | Duels won | Chip revealed after duel 2 | Prize won | Jackpot total |
| 1 | 19 January 2008 | Matt | 2 | £ | £10,000 | £155,000 |
| 2 | 26 January 2008 | Donna | 2 | % | £17,000 | £206,000 |
| 4 | 9 February 2008 | Maurice | 2 | £ | £10,000 | £303,000 |
From show 5 onwards, following Maurice Daniels' accident (according to the rule changes outlined above):
| Show | Date | Contestant | Duels won | Accelerators won | Prize won | Jackpot total |
| 5 | 16 February 2008 | Wanda | 2 | 1 | £10,000 | £332,000 |
| 8 | 8 March 2008 | Robert | 4 | 2 | £482,500 | £470,000 |
| 11 | 29 March 2008 | Rob | 4 | 2 | £215,000 | £190,000 |
| 12 | 5 April 2008 | James | 4 | 1 | £186,000 | £166,000 |

## Reception

Readers of ukgameshows.com named it the best new game show of 2008 in their "Hall of fame" poll.