Secret Fortune is a BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 National Lottery

National Lottery (United Kingdom)

The National Lottery is the state-franchised national lottery in the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man.It is operated by Camelot Group, to whom the licence was granted in 1994, 2001 and again in 2007. The lottery is regulated by the National Lottery Commission, and was established by the then...

 game show that is broadcast on BBC One

BBC One

BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...

. It began on the 12 February 2011 and is hosted by Nick Knowles

Nick Knowles

Nicholas Simon Augustine Knowles is an English television presenter. He is best known for presenting DIY SOS on the BBC. He has also presented Mission Africa, UK's Worst, City Hospital, Coast to Coast, Five's Company, Departure Lounge and Real Rescues.-Early years:Knowles was born in Southall,...

.

Format

A pair of contestants must find the highest sum of money contained in one of 24 numbered envelopes, each containing a randomly assigned sum of money between £

Pound sterling

The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...

100 and £100,000. This is done by correctly answering a series of multiple choice questions.

In the first stage of the game, the contestants select four of the envelopes and these are each assigned to one of the four possible answers. In this stage of the game the computer assigns the envelope containing the highest sum of money to the correct answer. The contestants then eliminate the three answers they believe are wrong. With each elimination, the associated envelope is opened to reveal the sum of money being discarded. The remaining envelope is handed unopened to the contestants to be used in the second stage of the game. This continues over six questions until 18 of the original 24 envelopes have been discarded and the contestants are left with 6.

In the second stage of the game the remaining envelopes are assigned to answers, but now the lowest sum of money is assigned to the correct answer and the contestants must identify and eliminate it. One envelope is discarded with each question until the final question becomes a 50/50 choice between two answers. The contestants win the sum of money inside the envelope they do not eliminate.

Transmissions

Series	Start date	End date	Episodes
1	12 February 2011	16 April 2011	9
2	20 August 2011	8 October 2011	8

Series 1

Episode No.	Airdate	Total Viewers	BBC One Weekly Ranking
1	12 February 2011	6,090,000	11
2	19 February 2011	6,190,000	10
3	26 February 2011	6,070,000	14
4	5 March 2011	5,980,000	11
5	12 March 2011	5,990,000	10
6	26 March 2011	4,980,000	19
7	2 April 2011	4,410,000	23
8	9 April 2011	4,400,000	23
9	16 April 2011	Under 3,900,000	Outside Top 30

Series 2

Episode No.	Airdate	Total Viewers	BBC One Weekly Ranking
1	20 August 2011	Under 3,910,000	Outside Top 30
2	27 August 2011	Under 4,040,000	Outside Top 30
3	3 September 2011	Under 3,890,000	Outside Top 30
4	10 September 2011	Under 4,040,000	Outside Top 30
5	17 September 2011	Under 3,890,000	Outside Top 30
6	24 September 2011	Under 3,790,000	Outside Top 30
7	1 October 2011	Under 3,910,000	Outside Top 30
8	8 October 2011	Under 4,100,000	Outside Top 30