London 4/8/2011 2:00:00 PM
News / Entertainment

Simon Cowell planning 1m roulette show

Simon Cowell is planning Britain's "biggest, noisiest and most expensive" TV show.

The music mogul is set to launch 'Red And Black', which would see a TV audience of 17,000 pack into an arena such as London's The O2 or Wembley Arena, where they would all have the chance of winning £1 million on a roulette wheel.

Presenting duo Ant and Dec are expected to front the show, which is planned to air live on ITV1 each evening over the course of a week in September, until all the hopefuls are cut down to one.

A source told the Daily Star newspaper: "Simon is very excited about this programme. It will be easily the biggest show ever seen on British television.

"He has been working on the concept for some time and at last everything has fallen into place and the show is good to go. It is massive in the number of contests and also the huge prize on offer on the spin of a roulette wheel - a £1m fortune resting on whether someone chooses either red or black.

"We've never seen anything like 'Red And Black' in the UK before. It is going to be big, noisy and expensive, a real telly event. It is not only a massive gamble for the contestant, but also for Simon and ITV, but they are confident it will be a big hit." Show bosses are considering how to select the 17,000 people who will be admitted to the show's recordings and are said to be thinking about charging £1 a ticket and choosing them at random.

The insider said: "Details are still being worked out on how people will be chosen for the arena section, but it is likely to involve some form of competition."