The Million Pound Cube Celebrity

ITV’s award-winning hit show The Cube is back and promising higher stakes than ever before with a life-changing one-million-pound jackpot.

Host Phillip Schofield will return to preside over the high-octane gameshow, which sees contestants attempt seemingly simple tasks within the high-pressure confines of the iconic Perspex box.

Pairs of contestants, from the same household, take on The Million Pound Cube. As well as facing solo games, they will also face brand new two player challenges.

Each pair will have nine lives to complete seven games, each worth an increasing amount of money, as they move closer to the huge jackpot. Players will have to overcome extreme nerves and frustration as they take on deceivingly simple tasks such as throwing a ball into a container, balancing on a beam or stopping a clock at precisely 10 seconds. But will they have what it takes to beat the mighty Cube?

The Million Pound Cube will be stripped across the week, kick starting with a celebrity special featuring comedian and TV presenter Jason Manford who is joined by his brother Stephen and comedian Mo Gilligan and his friend, actor David Ajao. The series will continue throughout the week with members of the public, who are all hoping that they have what it takes to beat the mighty Cube.

The series culminates with a celebrity special featuring presenter Stacey Dooley MBE and professional dancer Kevin Clifton.

The Million Pound Cube will be made by Wildcard Television, part of Objective Media Group, an All3Media Company, for ITV. It was commissioned for ITV by Katie Rawcliffe, Head of Entertainment Commissioning, ITV and Anna Meadows, Commissioning Editor, Entertainment.

PRESS PACK INTERVIEWS: PHILLIP SCHOFIELD The Cube is back, how was it being back in the studio and reunited with the giant perspective Cube? Phillip Schofield: “It’s been six years since we were last in the studio and once everybody started talking through the new series and began working on it, it turned into something really quite extraordinary. We got into the studio and it looked amazing. We filmed it in studio one of Television Centre which is a very personal studio for me, I loved being in there. It was the first time I’ve ever done my own series in there so that was really quite incredible.

“In the years (since we’ve been off screen) the tech has evolved and everything has improved enormously. I knew technically it was going to look amazing, which it does, but what I didn’t realise was how different a dynamic it was going to be with the changes that we’d made.

“You make changes to a show, as well as the huge new Million Pound prize it’s now two players, and you wonder ‘why didn’t we always do it like this?’. Playing The Million Pound Cube could be mother, daughter, brothers, sisters, father son, father, daughter, it can be any combination because we were looking for people who were in their own bubbles.”

Was The Cube bigger this series to accommodate the two players? Phillip Schofield: “No, it was the exact same Cube that we had before. It had been all stored up, put in bubble wrap and brought back out for the new series.”

Do you think it’s harder being in a pair than as a single player? They have to work together and decide who should play certain games, do we see any disagreements? Phillip Schofield: “You do see people struggle and it's always the same. Standing in the studio on the first day when we started recording it all came flooding back and I heard myself once again saying to the contestants, ‘don’t let it get into your head.’

“Players who are totally confident and utterly sure that they are going to get close to beating it, it’s then amazing how fast the wheels come off. You have people saying ‘I’m really enjoying this, this is great fun. I feel good, I feel confident, this is terrific.’ Yet one game down, they’re sweating and their arms are shaking. It does do that to people.

“Having teams of two made it much more tense, you have people who argue, people who are supporting and helping each other. Previously it was just me and they had to make the decision themselves as to whether or not they play, now they’ve got somebody with them. They’ve also got their family up in the seating area who can also offer encouragement and advice.”

It's The Million Pound Cube this time but is the format still the same? Phillip Schofield: “The beauty of The Cube is that you could have someone bouncing a ball into a bucket for £20,000 or you’re bouncing a ball into a bucket for £100,000. It was built from people sitting in an office rolling up a piece of paper and then quietly in your head thinking “I’m going to get this into the waste paper basket and if I do I win £10,000.’ We’ve all done that. It's built on those sorts of games. But when it's real money and the drop, because you have to be very brave to go for the million-pound jackpot, because it's £250,000 then the million pounds, so it’s a massive drop if you don’t get it right. It’ll be interesting to see if anyone has the guts to go for it.”

How was it filming during the Covid-19 restrictions and without an audience? Phillip Schofield: “I’d previously said in our planning meetings just ahead of filming, that it’s an intense game and I really didn’t think that we’re going to miss an audience.

“We got through the first few games and when there was a bit of a break I jumped off the stage and went and said to the team, this is absolutely built for not having an audience, it didn’t need it.

“An audience is great but you’ve always got people coughing, you’ve always people rustling crisps packets, you’ve always got someone who sneezes at an inopportune moment. You’ve also got members of the audience who can’t help themselves from helping, or an audience will take a sharp intake of breath when someone’s nearly completed a game, and you think ‘oh no that’s helping them.’ This time during filming it was silent. However, when the show goes out it won’t be silent because the team will include the most incredible tension music.

“About an hour into the first record I thought this is absolutely fine you don’t miss an audience at all. It’s possible that the contestants felt less under pressure because it was only family members looking at them, certainly when you’ve got a lot of strangers watching you I think there might be more pressure.

“I also think it helped (this time around) when the contestants first walked out because they weren’t walking out to a studio full of people. The crew are all hidden on The Cube you can’t see anybody, they’re all tucked away. For me it’s almost like I’m on my own out there as you can’t see anybody. I think when they walked out and there was no audience, no great applause it was just me saying ‘here you are, you’re going to love it, we’re going to look after you, everything will be fine’, I think that did put their mind at rest.”

Only one person has so far beaten The Cube, do you think this will change and we will see more winners? Phillip Schofield: “I think the beauty of The Million Pound Cube is that it’s very, very hard to beat. If you are a celebrity playing for charity, it’s a big risk. You suddenly think ‘oh my god I’ve got £250,000 for my charity, the risk is big. When Stacey Dooley and Kevin Clifton were on, I will say this Stacey is the most extraordinary risk taker, she is fearless, absolutely fearless. People could possibly go for the million, the great thing is it's tough. Only Mo Farrah ever beat it and now it’s a million pounds so it’s even tougher.”

Do you have a favourite game? Phillip Schofield: The production team gave me one of the games called Stack from the last series six years ago. It’s the Perspex tubes that you put on top of each other. You’ve got to build them up, then you stand back and say ‘clear’ and they have to stand up for three seconds. I can’t tell on how many drunken nights that game has been brought out and everyone’s trying to play Stack and you’ve got people jumping back and shouting ‘clear’. That’s one of my favourite games so to own my own one is brilliant.”

How do you think you would fare if you had to go up against The Million Pound Cube? Phillip Schofield: “There are some games that I think I’d be very good at, the throwing games would be fine, some of the memory games wouldn’t be so bad but the games that would be the complete undoing of me are the ones where you’ve got the metal hoops and the long pole and you are threading through the hoops. I don’t have steady hands. There's no way I’d be able to do that.”

We see some famous faces also take on The Million Pound Cube, how did they do? Phillip Schofield: “They provided us with some extraordinary moments. Kevin Clifton was astonishing at one of the games he was playing. I have never known anyone be so determined and so focused for such a long time. There was something he struggled with but he absolutely wouldn’t give up.”

Are there any stand out moments from filming? Phillip Schofield: “What’s nice about this series, in all of the series we did I firmly believe that we have the best episodes of the series we ever had. They’re the best shows I think we’ve ever done.” Will the iconic games be making a welcomed return or are they all new? Phillip Schofield: “You’ve got new games that have been invented because there are now teams of two. We’ve also adapted one of the iconic games and turned it into a two- player game and you’ve got the games you would expect, that everyone loves to play and loves to watch and loves to think they could do.”

INTERVIEW WITH CELEBRITY CONTESTANTS: JASON AND STEPHEN MANFORD Why did you decide to take part in the Million Pound Cube? Jason Manford: “I decided to take part in The Million Pound Cube as it was one of my favourite shows, I absolutely love it. My brother (Stephen) also absolutely loves it. It felt like something I could do, without requiring general knowledge, and it was for such a huge amount of money that could help a charity at this very difficult time.

Stephen Manford: “Because Jay asked me!”

Are you a competitive person? Jason Manford: “No I’m not massively competitive, my brothers are all competitive so I decided not to be competitive because I felt like that was the best way to annoy them.”

Stephen Manford: “I'm a very competitive person, I hate losing. I reckon that's probably why Jason asked me to come on the show with him.”

Were you a fan when it aired previously? Jason Manford: “Yes I was, it was one of my favourite shows.”

Stephen Manford: “I've always watched the show. I'd be that person at home saying how easy the games were and that I'd be able to do it. When I heard I was going on, I built some games in the garden and had my wife and kids throw things at me and time me at doing different things.”

Do you have a favourite game? Jason Manford: “I sort of like them all really, I like the simplicity of them. I’ve always been the guy in the office who could throw a paper ball into the waste paper basket from a decent distance. It felt like this was a gameshow for me.”

Stephen Manford: “The games that I wanted to try from previous shows were, where you have to throw a ball through four or five glass sheets and whilst blindfolded, head from one side of The Cube to other, whilst stepping over bars. Did you enjoy working as part of a team? Jason Manford: “Yes I did enjoy working as part of a team. He’s my brother and we get on really well, we’re really close. We’ve played football together so we’ve been in a team before and it was just nice to spend a day with him after so many months of lockdown.”

Stephen Manford: “Yes, it felt better having my bro in there with me.”

What do you think each of your strengths were? Jason Manford: “Well my brother is very competitive so his strength is literally strength because he’s a strong guy and maybe a bit of ingenuity a bit of thinking outside of the box, (or) outside of The Cube if you will, was what I was good at.”

Stephen Manford: “Once we'd done it, I felt we were both better at strategies while out of the game. When inside The Cube, it's easy to get a bit lost inside your own head.”

How was it filming during the Covid-19 restrictions and how did you find filming without an audience? Jason Manford: “It was fine actually, I don’t think the show misses a live audience. It felt more intense not having an audience there. It’s actually harder because obviously an audience would be behind you, (saying) ‘you can do it’, not having them there made it more difficult.

Stephen: “I quite liked not having the audience in there as I felt much more relaxed while playing.”

Did you feel the pressure when you entered The Cube? Jason Manford: “Yes it's weird, as soon as you enter The Cube something happens. I did feel intense pressure going into The Cube. (There was) something about that moment (it)was pretty scary.” Stephen Manford: “Both yes and no. The game I did on my own was surprisingly hard and the pressure built really quickly, especially when you know the money is for charity. But when myself and Jay went in together, I felt the pressure less having him in there with me.”

Would you change anything about your performance if you could play the games again? Jason Manford: “We did it to the best we could do it. I guess if I could do it again there was one of the games that maybe I could have done instead of my brother but he probably feels the same. It’s like when you watch it on telly you always think you can do better than the people who are doing it.”

Stephen Manford: “I hate saying this, but in my solo game I should have listened to Jason sooner. His strategy for the game was better than mine.”

KEVIN CLIFTON Why did you decide to take part in the Million Pound Cube? Kevin Clifton: “Stacey and I often get asked to do things together and this just seemed like a fun one to do. Not only did it have different challenges and games, but with two people now being able to go into The Cube we thought it could be really fun. We also got to raise money for our charities.”

Are you a competitive person? Kevin Clifton: “I didn’t think I was. I used to be as a kid, but as an adult I’ve mellowed a lot. However, when I filmed The Cube I was fiercely competitive. I think playing for charity also gives an added pressure to not lose money as you want to get as much as you can for them. However, Stacey was far braver than me in her gameplay, I was happy to play it slightly safer.”

Were you a fan when it aired previously? Kevin Clifton: “I did watch it as it was one of those fun game shows where you sit at home thinking that you can do that. The games may look easy on the TV but they are so much harder. There was one challenge where I had to balance a ball on a plate and I thought ‘I can do that, it looks pretty easy’ but I spent ages in The Cube trying to complete it.”

Do you have a favourite game? Kevin Clifton: “As frustrating as the game was, I’d say the one I’ve just described where I had to balance a ball on a plate. It was difficult to keep my concentration for that length of time as I was in the Cube for quite a while trying to complete it. It sounds simple but it was really tough. Balanced on top of a pole was a plate with a small ball on it. I had to hold the bottom of the pole and manoeuvre from one side of The Cube to the other and not drop the ball. Once I reached the other side I had to connect the ball to the magnet. Honestly it was a nightmare to try and complete. It was such a difficult task.”

Did you enjoy working as part of a team? Kevin Clifton: “I did and I think we worked well as a team as we know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. There was one challenge where I was offering some constructive criticism however Stacey jokingly tells me that I was being bossy! She was brilliant at the challenge and was much calmer under pressure than me.”

What do you think each of your strengths were? Kevin Clifton: “I would say my patience and concentration. I wasn’t sure if my dance training would prove useful but on one challenge I had to balance myself and I went straight into a dance pose which helped with that. I never knew I did it until afterwards.”

How was it filming during the Covid-19 restrictions? Kevin Clifton: “It was fine, everyone was all socially distanced and all the procedures were in place. It would have been nice to have had an audience but maybe I was able to concentrate better because I didn’t have any distractions.”

How did you find filming without an audience? Kevin Clifton: “I like performing in front of an audience. When I would practice dance routines I would not only think about the choreography but also how to best entertain the audience. It may have been better for my concentration that we didn’t have an audience!”

Did you feel the pressure when you entered The Cube? Kevin Clifton: “Yes. It was funny because I was nervous from the beginning which Stacey picked up on straight away. Even as we walked up to meet Phillip on set, I could feel my nerves so Stacey suggested I do the first challenge, even though she was also confident that she could potentially do it as she said it would help calm my nerves and she was right.

“On Strictly Come Dancing you never want to be the one to leave on the first week, and on this I didn’t want to leave without winning any money for charity. Also, The Cube was so much bigger than I thought it was going to be.”

Would you change anything about your performance if you could play the games again? Kevin Clifton: “In one challenge which me and Stacey both took part in we almost completed it on the first attempt. We were so close I started celebrating prematurely as I was convinced we’d done it. The challenge saw us stacking boxes and I thought we had stacked them all in the allotted time but I didn’t see the last smaller one and we ended up being out of time. It was so frustrating.”