I went on Tipping Point and was not prepared for what actually happens on ITV quiz show

A CONTESTANT on ITV’s Tipping Point has revealed that they were not prepared for what actually happened on the quiz show.

The fan-favourite quiz show is presented by Ben Shephard and has been on air since its launch in 2012.

The ITV show sees contestants answering questions in order to win counters, which they use on a large coin pusher arcade-style machine in order to win cash and prizes.

Blogger and content creator Emma Bradley, 48, from Gloucester appeared on the programme in 2021.

Just before the country went into lockdown for the pandemic, Emma was called up for an episode with a week’s notice in March 2020.

She arrived on set at around 7am, and was taken to a green room and prepared for filming, but she experienced a couple of surprising things during her time on the show reports MailOnline.

Emma explained: “We were told how to introduce ourselves before we went in and I was the fourth player, so the one standing closest to Ben when you look at it on the TV, and they tell you how to introduce yourself.

“So everybody says their name, and then I had to say the final line, which was something like, ‘and I’m Emma from Gloucester, pleased to meet you’, or something like, I can’t remember the exact phrase, but they practised that with you a few times, but that’s the only thing that you practice.”

After being taken through to the set and put into position, they began filming and Emma said: “What surprises me is you get no practice or anything.

“I don’t know what I expected, but I thought, Oh, I get to practice pressing the button and seeing how it all works and seeing the machine or but, you know, maybe have a practice question each just to get us all warmed up. 

“And I thought maybe they stop and give you a little bit of coaching, but they don’t, from the minute you walk out, the game just plays exactly like it is on the TV.”

Emma was also surprised that there were no breaks during filming and that the show was recorded in one take with no stops.

“There’s no breaks and there’s no like, we’ll re-film that bit, there’s nothing, the editing all happens from them on their side,’ she revealed. 

“Obviously, they’ve got different camera angles going on. But everything that is said is said live as we’re being filmed.”

Emma added: “And there’s no, ‘Oh, can we do that bit again?’ Which really surprised me, because I thought it would be stopping and starting, the actual filming takes the exact time the TV program does, because there is nothing.”

She explained: “Because it is a competition, and it has to be seen as fair, and they have adjudicators watching to make sure it is all done and nobody gets any advantages, or, no, let’s do that again if you get a wrong answer, you know nothing, but you just don’t really think of it beforehand.”

Emma also revealed that the players were told to speak as they played during the game.

“So you’ve got to be quite ahead, because you’re thinking about the questions and answering and playing the game.

“But also you’ve got to maintain that chit chat, and make sure you don’t swear or say anything inappropriate as well.

“You are having to think of those things as you’re playing the game, which did surprise me” she said.

After the episode was recorded, the contestants had to keep quiet about it until the instalment aired.

And the lucky winner of the show didn’t receive the money until the episode went live either.

Emma explained: “The winner doesn’t get their money until after that’s aired as well, if they do tell people that’s the threat that they can hold over them, that they won’t give them the winnings, so people have to keep it quiet, especially if they’ve won.”

Ben has hosted the show since 2012 and Emma described him as ‘really friendly and really encouraging,’ though she felt interactions were limited because of the impending pandemic.

Emma explained: “You don’t see a lot of him. He just comes to introduce himself before you film, and then he comes and just says at the end, ‘hope you had a nice time and enjoyed it.

“It’s such a swift production, you don’t spend a lot of time with him. Certainly, we didn’t in that scenario, whether that’s a little bit different outside of COVID times? I’m not sure.”

Unfortunately, Emma didn’t win the show and was the second contestant to go out.

She said: “I was just unlucky, when I look back as well, it’s really funny, because you can see I’m banging the button, and I was either getting pipped, not quickest at getting through setting the button off, or just the coins just didn’t fall for me at all.”

Tipping Point airs on ITV and is available to stream on ITVX.