Five Minutes to a Fortune heads to Italy

UK entertainment format Five Minutes to a Fortune is being piloted in Italy.

A local version, Cinque Minuti per una Fortuna, is being made for Mediaset’s Canale 5, marking the first time the show has moved beyond the UK where it was originated.

TBI was the first to reveal that Sony Pictures Television-backed producer Victory had won a commission for the original version of Five Minutes to a Fortune, which airs on Channel 4 in the UK (above) and is fronted by ex-Big Brother host Davina McCall.

SPT distributes the format and is understood to have inked a deal with Canale 5 to pilot of a local version of the gameshow in which teams of two must work together to win a cash prize.

Gerry Scotti, the politician turned presenter and host of the local version of SPT-distributed Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, will front the pilot.

News of the Italian version of the show first came out in Italy last week.

TBI understands that Sony-owned Italian producer Toro will make the pilot.

SPT denied local reports that a French version of the show had also been greenlit and declined to comment on the Italian launch.