The contestant then goes to the Champion's Chair, and a new contestant is brought on with a goal to beat their score. Whoever is the current champion at the end of the show advances to a Bonus Round to win more money. However, there are a few special scrolls in the mix as well, including "Lo Iettatore" (the Jinx)—where the contestant loses all their money, and must answer a question from the character Lo Iettatore to stay in the game; "La Pariglia" (duel)—where the contestant must answer a question against the current champion for a chance to eliminate them and steal their bank; and "Avanti un Altro!"—which simply eliminates the contestant instantly.
The seemingly simple premise is also taken to Jay Wolpert-levels of complexity and craziness by having a cast of recurring characters that host special categories, making the show feel more like a Variety Show mixed with a normal game show: one round may be normal, but the next might involve identifying a movie scene performed in Chinese, having to play "Will it Float?" with the Mad German Scientist, or so on. These characters also serve as a Bonus Space: one character gives a free message and doubles whatever is won in that round, and the other characters allow the contestant to switch out their chosen scroll for another (hopefully of higher value) if they get their bonus question right.
An article on Bother's Bar
also has a good summary of the format based on various early episodes; the original Italian version has aired since 2011, with its first series airing as Avanti il Primo for Loophole Abuse surrounding viewership calculations (according to the aforementioned article, this is often done in Italy so the first series can be insisted as being a separate show if its ratings aren't as high as those of later episodes). The format has been sold under the name Next One to a handful of other countries, with other notably long-running versions including the French-Canadian version Au suivant!
Game Show Tropes in use:
- Bonus Round: Continuing with the theme of simple premises made complicated, the contestant gets two-and-a-half minutes to answer 21 more A/B questions in a row "correctly". Except here, the correct response is to give the incorrect answer. If you answer correctly or, until 2015, you take more than two seconds to answer, you have to go right back to the beginning and start over (thankfully, you don't have to wait for the question to be completed before answering). Succeed and you win €100,000 plus the money you banked in the main game; if time expires, the contestant gets another 100 seconds to keep going for just €100,000 (the prize goes down by €1,000 every second). Once the cash countdown hits €50,000 (50 seconds, later reduced to €30,000/30 seconds), the contestant can stop the clock by breaking a beam of light. When they do that, they get one last chance to finish the chain from the beginning, and if they fail (this includes by timing out on a question—the same two seconds until 2015, 10 seconds since then), they go home with nothing. It is possible to win, but in the tradition of quite a few other Italian game shows (namely L'eredità), it is quite difficult to do so.
- Bonus Space: The aforementioned Random Encounter mechanic above. In fact, the aforementioned massage girl is actually named Ms. Bonus. There's a Mr. Bonus, too.
- The 2015 season added a male character known as the "Good Fairy" ("Il Fato Benevolo" in Italian; later changed to a female character and renamed to "La Bona Sorte," or "Good Luck."). Similar to Lo Iettatore, he/she only appears when the associated scroll is chosen from the table, and correctly answering the (extremely difficult) attached question boosts the contestant's score to €300,000. Unlike his/her curse-bearing counterpart, however, there is no penalty associated with selecting him/her or missing the question.
- The 2018 season changed the way most of the bonus characters work: while Mr./Ms. Bonus keep appearing randomly and Lo Iettatore and La Bona Sorte are still summoned via their scrolls, a set of 6 characters (one of them, Miss Claudia, is always there, while the other 5 are random in each episode) stay in a Living Room spot on the side of the main stage, allowing the contestants to choose which character they want when it's time for one of them.
This series provides examples of:
- All or Nothing: The chance of getting less than three questions correct/missing a Random Encounter character's bonus question or picking a Whammy scroll add risk to the ordeal on every single round. Not only that, but even the night's winner can go home empty-handed if they lose the Bonus Round (
and nine times out of ten, they do). - The Announcer (in a way): Luca Laurenti, Bonolis's trusty sidekick and piano player.
- Amusing Alien: The Alien, who exhibits mannerisms that are very reminiscent of GIR and ALF in equal measure.
- Apocalypse Not: The December 22, 2012 episode celebrated their apparent "survival" of the Mayan Apocalypse.
- The Artifact: Manga Girl has the Italian theme song for Sailor Moon as her introduction theme. This made sense in her first appearances as she always dressed as Sailor Venus, but later she started to wear costumes of other characters (including non-Japanese ones such as Catwoman, Red Sonja and Spider-Girl), so the music choice is not as fitting as it was early on.
- Big Red Button: The way the contestants buzz in if there's a duel in play. Also, rather than giving it to the contestant in the Bonus Round, it's controlled by the host to start and stop the clock.
- Carried by the Host: More like carried by the cast: the contributions of the host, co-host, and every character/guest are what makes this show so unique.
- Catchphrase: Of sorts. "Non può più sbagliare!" ("You can't make another mistake"), often said by the host after a contestant's first incorrect answer during a regular round.
- Double the Dollars: If Mr. or Ms. Bonus shows up (and they each will usually show up Once an Episode), you play a normal round. Win that round and get money on that scroll pick, and it's doubled.
- Fat Comic Relief: XXXL, who is equal parts morbidly obese and effeminate.
- Funny Foreigner: A good number of the characters certainly play up their ethnicity for comical effect.
- Game Show Host: Paolo Bonolis on the original (who is also a co-creator); he was the original host of Affari tuoi, the first European version of Deal or No Deal.
- Golden Snitch: Success with a question from Il Fato Benevolo/La Bona Sorte rockets your score straight to €300,000, which is almost unassailable - pretty much the only things that can help your opponents, especially late in the game, are La Pariglia and €150,000 with Mr. or Ms. Bonus. The catch is that Il Fato Benevolo/La Bona Sorte's questions are by far the hardest in the show, right on par with Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'s late-game questions.
- Gratuitous English: One of the categories on the Italian version is "English Lesson", which is a normal round played in English. (On an Italian-language show, obviously.)
- Hair-Trigger Temper: L'Indignato (The Outraged One), who rants about the subject of the question he's about to give. He normally has a Simpleton Voice which immediately turns into a harsh baritone when he gets angry, usually played for a more jarring effect.
- Hospital Hottie: The Doctor; until the 2017 edition she was often presented alongside a patient who suffered an illness related to the question she was giving.
- Informed Ability: Played for Laughs and exaggerated with the Athlete. He is often quoted by Bonolis as the greatest athlete in the history of sports, yet he is physically extremely weak, speaks just with mumbles and has a hunched back.
- Lovely Assistant: One is selected from the audience each episode to become a "valet". Also, a few of the Random Encounter characters would count.
- Mad Scientist: As explained above, one of the Random Encounter characters is one, complete with thick German accent, long greyed-out hair and bulging eyes.
- Motor Mouth: Bonolis when the questions of the Bonus Round have to be repeated. In 2010 he had the Guinness World Record for the greatest number of words pronounced in one minute: sometimes he can manage to repeat the entire question before the contestant can say a single word.
- Mystery Box: The scrolls, or as Bonolis likes to call them, "pidigozzi".
- Pungeon Master: Stefano Jurgens, one of the judges. In a case of Soundtrack Dissonance, his puns are dropped to Ryuichi Sakamoto's theme for The Sheltering Sky.
- Rule of Cool: Most shows would use a Big Red Button to allow the contestant to bail out in their bonus round. Not here. This show uses a big ol' laser beam shooting into the sky that you just stick your hand in.
- Sell-Out: Starting from the 2020 season, a running gag for some questions is that Laurenti haves a desperate need for money and so he has to do some questions while shilling things like a local online store that sells almost everything and a line of dolls for girls bearing his face. All while wearing embarrassing costumes related to the thing he's shilling today.
- Swapped Roles: The last episode of the 2012-13 edition has this for the Random Encounter characters. Including The Mad Scientist as the Hot Teacher.
- Title Drop: The way the host calls the next contestant forward. Incidentally, "Avanti un Altro!" means, roughly, "another one forward!"
- Translated Cover Version: A staple since the early days of the show is a question where the contestant must recognize a song after hearing it sung in Chinese or Japanese (initially there were two Chinese men doing the cover, later one of them was replaced with a Japanese woman. Nowadays only the woman is present).
- Whammy:
- Both the Lo Iettatore and Avanti un Altro scrolls; only the former offers a chance to stay in the game, however. In addition, having a second selection as a result of a successful Random Encounter won't help you here. As a small consolation, successfully answering a Lo Iettatore question is treated as success with one of these aforementioned Random Encounters, with a selection of a scroll, and the option to reject the first scroll and choose another one.
- The 2019 edition adds the Cambio! scroll: when it comes out the host chooses a person from the audience to answer in lieu of the contestant for the next bunch of questions.
