ITV orders Stellify Media Millionaire spin-off format Fastest Finger First

ITV’s rebooted Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

ITV has ordered a spin-off to quiz show Who Wants to be a Millionaire? from Sony Pictures Television-owned Stellify Media.

Fastest Finger First will be presented by Anita Rani, a lead presenter on BBC One’s Countryfile, and will offer contestants a guaranteed place on Who Wants to be a Millionaire?.

Set to air in the slot before Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, it will expand on the first round of Millionaire, where contestants have to put their answers to a multiple-choice question in a specific order.

The spin-off was devised by Stellify’s joint MDs Matthew Worthy and Kieran Doherty, and developed in association with Sony Pictures Television.

Five contestants play against each other to take it in turns to work their way up the question ladder. The two players with the biggest score at the end of the round go head-to-head in a Fastest Finger First dual.

At the end of each episode, whoever is in the seat when the klaxon sounds wins a place to be fast-tracked to sit in the Millionaire hot seat in front of Jeremy Clarkson, bypassing the usual Fastest Fingers First round that opens the show.

Stellify Media’s Doherty said: “The premise of Fastest Finger First might be simple, but in no way is it easy to do. As with Millionaire, Fastest Finger First holds the same excitement and tension – knowing when to use your question’s safety net and when to risk it all to push on creates really compelling viewing.”

Who Wants to be a Millionaire? is a Sony Pictures Television format and has been adapted in over 120 territories around the world since launching in 1998. Having been relaunched in the UK in 2018 after a hiatus, the format was rebooted in nine more territories in 2021.