Game Show Memories – Win, Lose Or Draw Late.

Win, Lose Or Draw Late (ITV1, 2004)

Win, Lose Or Draw is the game show that was based on an American format. This ran for several years, and was a cut above the usual daytime shows. There was also a spin-off for teenagers that ran on GMTV for a short time. But curiously, six years after the original run ended, the format was revived, but this time with a difference. It’s now… late.

Win, Lose Or Draw Late was hosted by Liza Tarbuck. Two teams of three took part, and this was still male versus female. But no non-celebrities took part. Instead, there were all-celebrity teams, along with a regular captain. They were Mel’s mate Sue Perkins for the women, and Ed Hall for the men (he was on TV a lot around this time, but you don’t see him that much now).

The rules were essentially the same, with various phrases having to be guessed by what was drawn on the board against the clock. But this was the late-night version, so there were words that might result in some rather naughty things appearing, which almost came close to being amusing. Liza could only look on embarrassed by the end result and say “I’m sorry, dad”.

And they all might have had a glass or two of wine by this point, meaning that there was a chance that they would begin slurring about if they’re wearing any panties or not, and that was just Paul Ross. And by the way, when Ross appeared, he did the old gag about “I’ve got an answering machine that just says I’ll do it”. Well at least he’s honest.

There were some points awarded instead of money, and a winning team was declared, but they didn’t get anything, apart from der-wunk! Win, Lose Or Draw Late lasted for only one series in a weekly late-night slot and flopped rather badly. Although this was mostly because this was shown on ITV1 in 2004, where everything flopped rather badly.

One critic went as far to say that “the Late in the title referred to the show having already died”. But about a decade on, this was surprisingly recovered from the archive to be shown as part of Challenge’s short-lived “Late Zone” strand. Probably wisely, the Win, Lose Or Draw format has been left alone since, and this idea wasn’t tried with any other game shows. Lewd Lucky Ladders could’ve been good.