The Mint (Australian game show)
| Company type | Television program |
|---|---|
| Industry | Television broadcasting |
| Founded | July 31, 2007 |
| Defunct | March 29, 2008 |
| Headquarters | Melbourne , Australia |
Area served | Australia |
| Products | Call-in quiz show |
The Mint was an Australian call-in quiz program adapted from the British original, broadcast late at night on the Nine Network in selected regions. The show was transmitted live from Nine's GTV studios located in Melbourne and served as a successor to Quizmania. Unlike Quizmania, which FremantleMedia Australia produced, The Mint was fully produced in-house by the Nine Network. Its revenue model relied primarily on premium phone call charges rather than traditional advertising.
Participation was restricted to individuals aged 18 and over, with each call to the premium 1902 number incurring a fixed cost of 55 cents from landline phones.
On 18 March 2008, the Nine Network announced the discontinuation of The Mint, with its final broadcast scheduled for 29 March 2008.
Program history
Debuting on 31 July 2007 shortly after the conclusion of Network Ten’s 2007 Big Brother season, The Mint was aired live across several Nine Network stations including GTV, TCN, QTQ, as well as affiliates TVT and NBN. In contrast, the Northern Territory’s NTD station aired a delayed version featuring Sydney advertisements and a disclaimer that live participation was not possible, differing from Quizmania, which was broadcast live nationwide.
WIN Television, a regional affiliate, began carrying the show on 1 October 2007 but ceased airing it by February 2008, citing a strategic shift toward delivering entertainment content more aligned with viewer preferences.
The program featured an elaborate mansion-themed studio set; however, it attracted criticism for questions that were perceived as vague and inconsistently structured.
Hosting
The hosting team of The Mint included Rob Mills, known from Australian Idol 2003, along with Natalie Garonzi, Angela Johnson, Lyall Brooks, Lucy Holmes, and former Quizmania presenter Katrina Conder. Previous hosts also featured Cherie Hausler and Nathaniel Buzolic.
Although six hosts were credited, only two appeared on air during any given episode while the remainder were described as "sleeping in the Mansion"—the name of the studio set also utilized for Commercial Breakdown. Typically, hosting pairs consisted of one male and one female working together as a duo; occasionally, two female hosts co-presented. While two hosts appeared per show, they generally conducted their segments separately from different rooms except during the opening sequence, prize announcements, and closing moments.
Games
The program's title derived from a prominent vault prop on set containing a jackpot prize. Viewers who correctly guessed the three-digit code—offering a 1 in 1000 probability—could claim a portion of the cash prize. This jackpot increased every Monday but was limited to a maximum of $10,000. Only winners from certain on-screen games earned the opportunity to make a single guess at this combination.
Compared to its UK counterpart and predecessor Quizmania, The Mint featured higher-value cash prizes but awarded fewer winners overall; by contrast, Quizmania distributed smaller prizes more frequently, sometimes as low as $50.
Examples of call-in games included:
Criss Cross
Contestants completed one letter in each of four words arranged crossword-style to form new words. Although multiple solutions were possible, only one predetermined answer qualified for a cash reward.
Quizzle
Players calculated sums based on numbers embedded within three sentences beginning with "The number of...". Prize amounts varied according to the level of difficulty.
Word Search
Participants searched for one of six designated "hot words" within a letter grid. Each identified word won approximately $500—a significantly higher reward compared to Quizmania’s typical $50 per word—but these words were more challenging to locate.
Tower Game
Participants attempt to identify words displayed on a tower, each carrying a value ranging from $50 up to $500.
Code Red
In this challenge, viewers were tasked with determining the total number of times the word "red" appeared within a given text. The prize money initially started at $1,000 and increased to $2,500 before returning to the original amount. Despite numerous phone calls over the course of the three-hour broadcast, no correct answers were submitted; the solution—80—was disclosed at the program's conclusion. This count included occurrences of "red" spelled forwards, backwards, and across spaces, as well as characters colored red.
How many Fives?
This puzzle presented a square grid populated with letters E, V, I, F, and the numeral 5 arranged randomly. Participants were asked to determine "how many fives" appeared, with minimal guidance provided. Contestants generally counted instances of the word F-I-V-E formed by adjacent squares or identified the digit 5. However, whether the letter V was intended to be counted as a Roman numeral was left ambiguous.
Beer Monster
A later segment named Beer Monster required viewers to sum up litres displayed in an on-screen illustration of beer containers. The containers showed various types and quantities of beer, some partially hidden. For instance, on the 24 October 2007 episode, a prize of $4,000 was offered for correctly calculating the total litres across barrels, jugs, and cans—some fully visible and others only partially so. No correct entries were received; the answer was 292 litres.
Other variations of this puzzle involved counting cents on price tags and tallying numbers written out in words and letters.
Technical difficulties
On 16 August 2007, The Mint was cut short due to failures in the phone lines, resulting in hosts Mills and Garonzi having to fill time for approximately 30 minutes. With phone service not restored, the final half-hour segment was replaced by a repeat airing of Keynotes. The phone system was provided by Be.interactive (previously known as Legion Interactive), which supports the majority of Australian call-in and SMS competitions such as Quizmania and Big Brother.
Again on 24 October 2007, technical issues with phone lines caused the show to begin without an active game segment.
Caller Selection
Callers were chosen at random by a computer system at unpredictable intervals throughout each episode, including during commercial breaks. If selected during a break, callers were connected immediately after it ended.
Terms and Conditions
As a competition-based program, The Mint operates under defined terms and conditions. Particularly, section 38 specifies that neither the promoter nor producer is obligated to provide answers beyond what is communicated by the presenter; any further information is released entirely at their discretion.