Don’t Blow The Inheritance (ITV1, 2012)
If you’re a regular viewer to this blog you will know that I am a big fan of the comedian Tim Vine, so when he hosted the daytime game show Don’t Blow The Inheritance there was no doubt that I’d be watching. The idea was that two contestants from different generations had to work together, with the older family member earning the money, and then the younger one is challenged to hold on to it. 
Four teams of two took part, representing different generations, so the younger contestant was supported by their father, or their uncle, and so on. Unfortunately Tim didn’t reprimand of any of the contestants for a wearing an acrylic shirt by saying “that’s cruel, think of all the acrylics you’re killing.” In the first round Tim asks 15 general knowledge questions, the younger contestant has to buzz in, but the older contestant is the one who answers, so they have to gamble on whether their elders know their stuff. If they do, they score £1,000. If they don’t, the three other teams score £1,000 each. The lowest-scoring team at the end of the round are eliminated. 
In the second round a category is chosen and then the question is revealed which is about a top ten list. The older contestant has 30 seconds to give as many answers as they can, scoring £1,000 for each one that is in the top ten list. I couldn’t help but think that this round came across as a combination of the game shows Talkabout and Topranko! Once again, the lowest-scoring team go out.
In the third round, the two remaining teams are given clues to a famous person or thing, with up to a maximum of three clues being revealed. Again the younger contestant has to buzz in hoping the senior one will get it right for £1,000. If they don’t the other team earns £1,000. This is done ten times, and the highest-scoring team go into the final. 
In the final, the younger contestant must hold on to as much of the money that the senior player has earned as they can. You can blow a candle, you can blow a trumpet, but whatever you do… don’t blow the inheritance! All the younger contestant has to do is answer five general knowledge questions correctly, but if they get one wrong, the money begins to tick down by £250 a second, and it doesn’t stop until they do get five right, and then whatever money is remaining is the inheritance that they have won. 
Don’t Blow The Inheritance was a short summer tryout series from when ITV had finally run out of editions of The Chase to show. Unfortunately it wasn’t a big success, with only ten editions being made, and Tipping Point, another game show that was tried out in that slot, was much more of a success, whereas unfortunately for Tim his show was never seen or heard of again, but it’s always a pleasure seeing him on TV.
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