The Wall: How Danny Dyer’s BBC One game show works

Danny Dyer is fronting Saturday night game show The Wall on BBC One – how does it work?

Called The Wall, the show is described as “the ultimate combination of strategy, knowledge and luck”.

Alongside host Danny Dyer, the six-part series will see the questions voiced by TV legend, Angela Rippon.

In each show one pair take on The Wall in four rounds that are the ultimate combination of strategy, knowledge and luck.

The BBC tease: “Wildly unpredictable with heart stopping jeopardy, The Wall gives and The Wall takes away. Expect colossal wins and heart-breaking losses, this new game show really can change people’s lives in an instant.

“In this game, pairs need the right answers, the right bounces and cast-iron trust in one another to win a life-changing cash prize.”

How The Wall works

Freefall (Round one)
A pair of contestants start out playing together for fast cash in freefall. Five multiple-choice questions with two possible answers are asked as three balls fly down The Wall. The balls fall randomly towards slots of varying cash amounts.

The players have until one ball has reached the money to lock in their answer. If they’re correct, the balls turn green and money is added to their prize pot. However, answer a question incorrectly and the ball turns red, deducting the amounts of the slots they land in.

Round two
In the second round, with larger cash prizes on offer, the pair of contestants separate with one going into isolation. The player gets two free green balls to try and accumulate cash. But whichever slots they drop from at the end of the round, two red balls will also have to drop the same slots.

The players then face three questions each with three possible answers. The player in isolation, under intense pressure, will answer the questions whilst their partner takes risks on The Wall. If a question is answered correctly, the players will bank the amount of cash in the slot the balls land. If the answer is wrong, that amount will be deducted from their total.

The player in isolation is not told if they’ve answered correctly.

Round Three
Round three works much the same as round two but with even larger cash prizes while each question has four possible answers. Contestants will also have three free green balls to drop, in order to try and maximise their cash winnings. But whichever slots they drop the balls from they will have to drop three red balls from the same slots at the end of the round.

The Final
In the final round before the final three red balls are dropped, the isolation player is sent ‘the contract’. If the isolation player signs it, the pair take home the sum that was banked in the freefall round, plus a cash amount for every correct answer they gave over the course of the game – this is the guarantee.

However, they’re in isolation so they don’t know how well (or badly) they’ve played and what the final value of the guarantee is. If the isolation player tears it up, they take the risk that their partner has been more successful and they will take home whatever is left on The Wall.

If there’s any money left in play on The Wall, the player must drop the three red balls from the same number as the free green balls at the top of the round. These will subtract the amount of whatever they land in.

The players are reunited at the end of the game and the isolation player explains how and why they came to their decision. Their partner then tells them what was on The Wall and they either celebrate or commiserate – depending on whether the isolation player made the right decision to take the most out of the game.

Danny Dyer said: “I’d never had a desire to host a gameshow before I saw this game. I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to help win the public some serious life-changing readies. I love it.”

The Wall continues on BBC One from Saturday, 17 July at 7:35PM. In tonight’s episode, Olivia and Matt, a married couple from Worcester, face questions and big decisions as they bid to win money to help get a bigger house, now they have a baby daughter.

You’ll be able to watch episodes online via BBC iPlayer.