Worst 7 game shows on telly – and ITV classic is number one.

OPINION: As a TV journalist, I've sat through plenty of trash telly in my time - but these game shows are the worst of the worst.

I’ve been a TV journalist for four years now, and in that time I’ve seen some brilliant – and some terrible – game shows rise and fall. There have been some brilliant concepts floated by ITV and BBC, including my personal favourite, The 1% Club. Hosted by funnyman Lee Mack, the show takes a different approach to questioning – testing players’ logic rather than general knowledge. (Image: BBC)

I also can’t fault The Chase and its spin-off Beat the Chasers. It’s hard to believe the original format has been going since 2009 – Bradley Walsh still brings his A-game and the chasers themselves are able to riff off each other in a way that never feels tired.

Of course, there have been some stinkers. Here’s my seven worst of the worst – and don’t hate me if one of your favourites is on there.

7. Deal or No Deal The original with Noel Edmonds was bad enough – bring in Stephen Mulhern and you’ve got a recipe for me switching off. Deal or No Deal has actually been branded a “social experiment” by some discerning fans on Reddit, with one writing: “They manage to find a bunch of try-hards who’ll play along with the pantomime while pretending they’re doing something skilful, and no matter what the UK general public will root against them.” Given that the entire game is down to chance and revolves around people literally opening boxes, interrupted by the occasional phone call, I don’t know how this show got commissioned in the first place. Try pitching that concept in an elevator.

6. QI Now this one might just be me being not-so-clever – or at least not Stephen Fry levels of genius. But I’ve just never fully understood QI. I don’t understand the different buzzer references, I don’t know why some answers make a siren go off, and I don’t know how people are entertained by such obscure trivia. I’m someone who enjoys giving University Challenge and Mastermind a punt, but QI goes over my head. To me, it has a jumbled format, and now Fry is gone I don’t see any reason to tune in.

5. Blankety Blank Blankety Blank should have been consigned to the 80s where it belongs. First launched in 1979 and axed in 1990, the show has made various comebacks – including a revival in 1997 with Lily Savage and one-off specials featuring David Walliams. Now not even Bradley Walsh can save it. The banter is just missing – and sometimes the celebrities seem like they’re on such a different level to the contestants that it’s painful to watch. If anything deserves a revival, it's Golden Balls.

4. Only Connect Oh, Only Connect, how I wish I could love you. I’ve got friends who play this game at home along with the TV and keep their scores written down, so my first time watching I had high hopes for the Victoria Coren Mitchell programme. But, like with QI, I find it impossible to get any of the answers right. The connections are sometimes so arbitrary that it feels like the odds of getting the correct answer are one in a million. Sure, it’s tense. Victoria is witty. And I’m in awe of the contestants who somehow know how to link animal noises written out phonetically – and predict the end of a baffling sequence. They’re braver than I am.