The format was originally devised by Paul Brassey and Daniel Moody in 2006, and developed by Jim Cannon, Andy Culpin, Samuel Pollard and David Young.

However, if the machine reaches its limit and continues to run without being stopped, it shuts itself off and the contestant banks no money for that turn.

In addition, if it becomes mathematically impossible to reach the target with the remaining machines, the game ends immediately and the contestant leaves with nothing.

The Times said that it was "tedious", while The News of the World branded it "exactly the kind of cynical crowd-pleasing guff we’ve come to despise ITV for".

One of the few positive reviews came from Charlie Brooker, writing in The Guardian, who called the show "so compelling, tense and yet ultimately random, it's likely to be a huge worldwide hit.".

[3][4][5] The TV format was sold in Italy with the title Il colore dei soldi aired on Italia 1, hosted by Enrico Papi in September 2009.

It was also sold in Lithuania, with the title Švarūs pinigai (Clean money), which aired on LNK in 2009–2010, first hosted by Ridas Žirgulis using the original format, later replaced by Vitalijus Cololo, with the format changing to remove cash cards, and reducing the number of cash machine selections per game from 10 to 5.