The Vault - Do you have the knowledge to unlock the Vault?

The Vault - Gameshow History

  
On this page you can read all about the gameshow  during its broadcasts on prime-time television.  
What was 'The Vault'?    
'The Vault' was a big money quiz shown on prime-time ITV1 on Saturday nights, mostly during the summer months. It was based on a format from Israel, of a similar gameshow known as 'Hakasefet'.
There were three series, each of which had a different presenter; Davina McCall presented series one, Melanie Sykes presented series two and the first half of series three, and finally Gabby Logan stepped in and presented the rest of series three, when Mel left to have her baby in 2004. The show was famous for giving away huge amounts of money; the jackpot started at £100,000 and increased by a further £100,000 every week that the vault remained unopened.		  
  What was the general format?                
  Vault Combination Round
This was the first round of the show, where seven contestants (eight in series two and nine in series three) had to choose a four digit 'vault combination' from 0000 to 9999, in an attempt to match the actual combination that the producer had selected before the show. The closest three, (four in series two, five in series three) became the players, and the other contestants became 'brokers' who could sell answers to the players in exchange for money that they won in the question rounds.

First Round
The players each had three minutes to answer 10 questions; each question answered correctly won the player £200, and getting all 10 questions correct incurred a £5000 bonus, which often guaranteed a place in the final round. If they didn't know an answer to any of the questions, they could 'buy' answers from the brokers, who sat opposite the contestants, however, the money only changed hands if the answer was correct. Each player was isolated from the others when they were playing their round.

Second Round
The two highest scoring players went through to the second round, where they would have four minutes between then to answer questions alternately, with a time limit of fifteen seconds per question. If they didn't know the answer, they could buy an answer from the brokers as in the previous round, but if their fifteen seconds ran out without them finding the correct answer, the question would be handed over to the other player for a bonus point. The player with the most points at the end of the round went through to the final.

 Final Round
The highest scoring player of the evening, ie. the winner of the second round, went through to the final, where they could win the jackpot contained within the vault. That all depended on whether they managed to answer 10 questions of increasing difficulty and value within the time limit of two minutes. If they didn't know an answer, they could, as before, buy it off any of the studio brokers, for quite often larger sums of money than before. In this round there were also 10 'home brokers', who were randomly selected to play in the final round, selling answers over the telephone, rather than actually being in the studio. If the player answered Q9 correctly, then the clock stopped. They were then given three categories from which to choose from for their last question. When they had selected their category, the question from that category would be read, and the clock would start again. The player would then have the remaining time from their two minutes to correctly answer the question, only this time, no help was allowed from any of the brokers. If they answered correctly, they would win the jackpot from the vault. If they failed, the same jackpot was offered to someone watching at home.

Phone-In Final
 The computer would randomly select a viewer from all those who had registered over the past week. This lucky viewer would then be challenged to answer six questions in sixty seconds, two of which had already been asked somewhere in the show. If they succeeded, they would win the jackpot for themselves. If they failed also, the jackpot would increase for next week by an additional £100,000.
 		              
   

The Vault - Mel Sykes with a contestant
     

The contestants closest to the Vault combination became players

  
   

The Vault - the brokers desk
     

Those who weren't as close became the brokers

  
   

The Vault - a contestant on the show in her question round
     

Players tried to earn as much cash as possible in their question round

  
   

The Vault - the studio from the first series
       

The final round offered the strongest player a crack at that huge jackpot

  
   

The Vault - Mel Sykes in the vault
   

If the studio player didn't win the jackpot, someone at home got a chance
  Who were the big winners in each series?
  The Vault - Series One (2002)                    
 

The Vault - Davina McCall presented the first series
Presented by
Davina McCall

   In the first series, the quiz became immensely popular, and the show received thousands of entries for the viewers game at the end of the show. Interestingly, it was predominately the viewer end game that created the most jackpot winners, notably Leah Nicholls, from Newport on the Isle of Wight, who correctly answered Davina's six questions in sixty seconds and won £300,000, and was heard across the nation to scream "I'm gonna spend it baby!" after realising she'd won the cash.
Another jackpot winner from this series was Kwan Loo, who won £100,000 on the show and was the first ever studio jackpot winner.

The Vault - Davina in the studio

  
  The Vault - Series Two (2003)
 

The Vault - Melanie Sykes presented the second series
 Presented by
Melanie Sykes

   The second series only had one big winner - and the lucky recipient was Mary Swain, (pictured right), who successfully answered ten questions correctly, her last of which centred on the definition of an 'arctophile', which, she correctly identified as a person who collects teddy bears. This sent her winnings from £4,900 to a massive £704,900, as her correct answer netted the vault jackpot of £700,000, which had built up because the vault had remained unopened since the start of the series. This series was also known for its home viewer games, many of which failed miserably because the viewer had not actually watched the show, and instead were in a restaurant or somewhere and had therefore not actually seen the questions answered previously in the game.

The Vault - Mary Swain won £700,000 in series two

  
  The Vault - Series Three (2004)  
 

The Vault - Gabby Logan stepped in for Mel to present the second half of the third series, when Mel left to have her baby
 Presented by
Melanie Sykes &
Gabby Logan

   This series set a record for giving away the largest sum of money to a contestant on live television. 8 weeks past, with no jackpot winners in either the studio or at home. Mel left to have her baby, halfway through the series, and so Gabby Logan stepped in to present the second half of the series, and a few weeks later, still after no jackpot wins, revealed that the contestants would be playing for a cool £1 Million. This tax-free prize was still untouched for four weeks, until a home viewer, Karen Shand, took home the million pound prize after she correctly answered all six of Gabby's questions correctly. The lucky viewer is the biggest winner out of all three series.

The Vault - Gabby gave away £1 Million to lucky home viewer, Karen Shand

  
  Will the show ever return?  
  Shortly after the third series ITV announced that they were cancelling plans for a fourth series, due to declining ratings. The first and second series were shown on Saturday evenings, and were very popular, however series three was strangely broadcast on Tuesday evenings, and suffered fierce competition with BBC One drama 'Holby City'. There are no plans to make a new series, however, one day, 'The Vault' may return...  
 

The Vault - Mel in the vault with £700,000 winner, Mary Swain from series two

  
       

Mel with series two £700,000 winner Mary Swain

      

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