Sale of the Century

*This article contains information that is fictitious and imaginary as PTV Network New Zealand (Patrick Te Pou Enterprises Ltd) is a fictional broadcaster. "Sale of the Century" is a game show format owned and licensed by Fremantle.*

## *Sale of the Century*

### Presented by

**Host:**Mike Puru

**Co-host:**

Evana Corric

## Production

### In-house or independent

**In-house:**PTV Entertainment (produced under licence from Fremantle)

## Release

### Original channel

PTV1

***Sale of the Century*** is a New Zealand game show that airs on PTV1. It is produced in-house by the PTV Entertainment department and licensed by Fremantle.

*Sale of the Century* is a game show format mixed in with shopping and bargaining, where contestants can answer questions and buy prizes at a low cost.

The history of the New Zealand version of *Sale of the Century* dates back to 1989. The first version aired from 1989 to 1993 (initially on TV2, then TV One), while the second version aired on TV3 in 1994 and 1995. Both versions were hosted by Steve Parr.

In 2021, PTV Network New Zealand announced that it would bring back a brand new version of *Sale of the Century* with TV and radio personality Mike Puru as host and newcomer Evana Corric as hostess. John Sweetman, from the second version, was confirmed as *Sale*'s announcer.

The series screens weeknights at 7:00pm on PTV1.

## Gameplay

The game usually involves three contestants competing to amass the highest score by answering questions correctly and playing several games. The champion from the previous episode will usually be invited to return as a carry-over champion.

All contestants are spotted with $20 to start. The host reads a trivia question to the three contestants (one of which is usually the winner of the previous show). The first to press a buzzer has the opportunity to answer the question (even if the host is still in the middle of reading the question). Players' scores increase by $5 for each correct answer and decrease by $5 for each incorrect answer. If a player answers incorrectly, the correct answer is revealed and the game goes on to the next question - that is, only one person can try to answer each question.

### Gift Shop

Once per round, the highest-scoring player has the opportunity to go to a "gift shop" and is offered the chance to sacrifice some part of their score to "purchase" a prize. The prizes, and the cost, increase in each round. Contestants are allowed to haggle with the host, who, depending on the game situation, can reduce the cost and offer inducements including actual cash in order to entice the contestant to purchase. If two or more players have the same score at this point, a Dutch auction is conducted for the prize.

Some gift shops also include a bonus prize called a "Sale Surprise", revealed only after the conclusion of the gift shop (regardless of whether the contestant buys the prize or not).

### Who am I?/Fame Game

A longer-format question generally known as the "Who am I?" question is asked once in each of the three rounds. Here, a succession of increasingly larger clues is given to the identity of a famous person, place, or event. In this round, players can buzz in and answer at any time, without penalty for an incorrect answer. However, each player only has one chance to answer. If one of the players buzzes in and answers correctly, they have an opportunity to play the "famous faces" sub-game, where they can choose randomly from a game board with nine squares featuring the faces of celebrities, mostly performers on the network's shows. Once chosen, the face selected will be spun around to reveal either a relatively small prize (typically appliances or furniture valued at around a weekly wage) or a money card (added during each round):

* $10 in the first round
* $15 in the second round
* $25 in the third round
* Also in the third round, an additional "Wild Card" was added, where the player who picks it can choose to either pick from the board again, or take a cash prize of $500.

### Fast Money/Mad Minute

The final round features a "Fast Money" segment, where the host asks the questions in a particularly rapid-fire manner, attempting to fit in as many questions as possible in a 60-second time limit. Most of the more successful players proves themselves particularly adept at this section.

An additional 30-second "Fast Money" is played prior to the second "Gift Shop" segment.

The winner of the game is the person with the most money at the end. If there is a final tie, the tied players answer a tiebreaker "Fame Game"-style question, where a correct answer from either contestant wins the game, while an incorrect answer defeats the contestant in favour of their opponent.

## Shopping

A series of six prizes is offered, culminating in a car. A contestant can take their cumulative winnings, buy a prize and retire, or elect to return the next day and try to win enough to buy the next most expensive prize. They also have the option of purchasing one of the lower-level prizes on offer.

The cumulative scores required for each prize level are as follows:

* Prize 1 - $75
* Prize 2 - $150
* Prize 3 - $245
* Prize 4 - $345
* Prize 5 - $445
* The Car - $550
* The Lot - $650

## *Celebrity Sale of the Century*

On occasions throughout the year, *Sale of the Century* will break from its normal running style for a week and run a celebrity edition. In most cases these celebrities are playing for home viewers, where the normal prizes and money cards are present.