UPDATE: |’I was on 99 To Beat – this is what really happens on ITV’s new game show’ News

The programme is presented by soap stars and brothers Adam and Ryan Thomas

99 To Beat is entertaining viewers across the country, but what is it like to actually compete on ITV’s new gameshow?

Presented by brothers and soap stars Adam and Ryan Thomas, the series follows 100 contestants taking on a string of demanding games.

All competing for a substantial jackpot of £25,000, participants are whittled down one by one after each round, until a sole victor emerges.

Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, 21-year-old Lewis Greenough provided an insight into how he found being on three episodes of the series.

Why and how he went on the show

“I am working as an office runner at the minute which is really fun. I’m working on TV dramas and I’m sort of just going to see where it takes me.

“Hopefully I get some other runner jobs in other places and maybe work on a soap, that would be one of my main things. It’s really fun and I enjoy it. I got an email asking me to apply because I actually applied to Big Brother.

“I think some of us applied to Big Brother and then got an email to potentially come and do this because they wanted bigger personalities on the show and people from all different backgrounds similar to Big Brother.

“So then I had a couple of Zoom calls with a few different people and I ended up getting accepted to go on the show.”

Initial reaction to meeting fellow contestants

“It was really nerve-wracking… there were loads of people from all different backgrounds. I can be quite shy when I first meet people before I come out of my shell. Everyone was really lovely.

“We talked to each other and made each other feel welcome. When we started filming, that’s when everyone gelled and became friends. Even though we were competing against each other, everyone was very supportive of each other.

“We all stayed in the Hilton, we didn’t really get to know each other because we went straight into filming. Everyone was lovely and we all had fun.

“I had no idea when I went on the show that they [the Thomas brothers] would be the presenters. With me being a soap fan, I was absolutely buzzing.

“They’ve been on Corrie and Emmerdale, it was a whirlwind and so weird to have them in front of me. I was absolutely loving it, I was proper in my element.

“For some of the challenges, especially when you’re in the bottom, you can hear them encouraging you. I could hear them shouting down in the candle challenge, I heard them saying ‘come on Lewis, you can do it’. I couldn’t have asked for two better presenters, they’re so lovely and have such warm personalities.”

Taking on the challenges

“I got quite lucky, I was in the bottom and survived three times before I was there a fourth time and got eliminated. In the second episode I was in the bottom for the pasta challenge. We had six pieces of penne pasta and one piece of spaghetti. We had to link them without touching them and get it in our mouth.

“It got to the point where me and Paul, the other guy in the bottom two against me, couldn’t do it. They had to simplify it, it got so close between us but I got through to the third episode.

“You can’t prepare for any of them. We were all thinking of party games in the green room that might pop up. Some of them will be really bizarre while others would be things you’d do as a kid. You could never predict what was coming next.”

Being eliminated

“We had to light three different candles and put them in different sized containers. I managed to do the small one, but I couldn’t light the other candles and every time you’d put it in the containers it would flip upside down and you’d have to start again.

“It was one of the most stressful things I’ve done. I could see people going through quickly, I was panicking because the guy beside me got them all done when I hadn’t done one. When I finished my first one, most people were through. The guy in the bottom two with me, he finished and I was nowhere near.”

Watching at home and being on TV

“It’s been amazing, I had a watch party for my final episode. All my family and friends watched it. I took the name tags we wore on the show home and gave everyone one of them to wear.

“We all played the pasta challenge, I wanted to see how they’d cope. They were all really good at it, while I found it terrible.

“I never heard of the show before and found out I was going to be on it two days before I was on. I didn’t have much time to prepare. The night before I went I watched some of the International versions on YouTube and hoped their challenges would be on.

“We filmed over the space of two weeks, I filmed my three episodes in a week. You could never predict how long the challenges are going to take.”

Tips for anyone thinking about going on the show

“I would tell anyone to do it. Try to keep your calm and try not to let your nerves get the better of you. That’s what I was doing in some of my challenges. Honestly, do it, have the best time and meet good people. I know I did.”