“I’d love to have Dame Judi on the show!”
TIPPING POINT HOST BEN SHEPHARD IS IN A CELEBRATORY MOOD AS THE POPULAR QUIZ TURNS TEN…
I’m not sure you can ever predict if something’s going to last 10 years – I’m always surprised when I make it through to the end of the day!” jokes Tipping Point host Ben Shephard, as Inside TV joins him for a chat about the beloved quiz show – in which contestants take on that infamous coin drop machine in a bid to scoop the jackpot. And as it returns to our screens for its 10th anniversary series this week, the show kicks off with a special celebrity Lucky Stars edition on Sunday, before a brand-new daytime run across the week – and Ben can’t wait to celebrate…
Congratulations on the anniversary, Ben – you must be very proud…
I can still remember doing the first run-through of the show, with this crazy contraption – a very primitive early version of our Tipping Point machine. It was all very pared back, but it was great fun. The contestants really enjoyed it, and I did too. And 10 years later, we’re still having as much fun making it!
It’s the second most lasting thing in my life, other than my wife, and it still thrills me.
Is the machine the show’s biggest star? Absolutely! Everybody who enjoys the show wants to know about the machine. It’s a very complicated system of mechanics and engineering, and the slightest thing can send it into a bit of a spin. But with that coin-drop shelf having gone back and forward over half a million times so far, I think we can allow it to break down every
now and again…
After 10 years, are you quite good at sussing out how the contestants might get on? I’m rubbish at picking out who might be good! But the machine is a complete leveller. You can have somebody with amazing general knowledge – but if they don’t get the luck when they put their counter into the machine, they can end up going home.
Do you have a dream line-up for the celebrity shows, then?
As a West Ham fan I could have a West Ham-themed one – though I wouldn’t be able to let any of them lose! And a few years ago, Dame Judi Dench used my Good Morning Britain
dressing room while she was on The Graham Norton Show,
and she left a signed photo card on my desk saying, “Dear Ben – love Tipping Point, keep up the good work!” I’d love to get her on, she’d be amazing!