Channel 4 had hailed Million Pound Shot as its next major game show after successfully luring Bradley Walsh away from ITV and the BBC.

For a week, the broadcaster had built anticipation around the programme, while speculation spread on social media and within the television industry over whether the format was genuine.

But on Tuesday night, Walsh, 66, revealed that Million Pound Shot was actually an elaborate publicity stunt designed to highlight the UK’s gambling problem — an issue he said he “feels strongly about”.

In the opening section, broadcast at 9pm, viewers and the studio audience were led to believe they were watching an authentic new game show in which contestants gambled with their own money.

Players wagered cash based on their confidence in answers to general knowledge questions. Each correct answer offered the chance to win Bet Balls carrying a monetary value.

The premise was straightforward: contestants could either cash out or take a risk in an attempt to increase the value of their winnings and move closer to a £1 million prize.

Although three “contestants” were introduced at the beginning, only one — a player named Reece — ultimately took part in the game. He said money was tight but claimed to have £1,700 available to gamble.

As the rounds continued, Reece became increasingly absorbed in the game and began taking larger risks. The mood in the studio turned to despair when viewers learned he had supposedly lost an astonishing £6,000 of his own money.

The fake game reached its most dramatic point when Walsh offered Reece the chance to go further into debt and “purchase” another Bet Ball. An audience member began heckling the presenter as Reece considered using his overdraft to pay for it.

“Is no one else here seeing what I’m seeing? Is there no one else who thinks this is wrong?” the woman shouted. She added: “The whole concept of this is disgusting. I’m worried about him — he shouldn’t be put under this kind of pressure.”

The unsettling scenes ended with Reece and his distressed girlfriend Leslie, who had been watching from the audience, being escorted from the stage.

Once the studio lights came up, Walsh told the audience that the “whole thing was a performance”.

He said: “Our contestant Reece has been played by an actor. So has his girlfriend Leslie, the other contestants, the floor manager and even our heckler in the audience.”

“Everything you have seen tonight draws on the techniques used by the gambling industry to manipulate its customers.”

He continued: “I can’t thank you enough for coming along, and I hope you take a lot of it on board.”

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“I feel strongly about this, which is why I’ve taken part in the show. I wanted to share with you how dangerous this industry can be.”

The 60-minute programme also revealed that Walsh’s language had been modelled on the familiar messaging used by major betting companies.

The Chase presenter went on to explain that the character of Reece was based on the real-life story of Patrick, a teacher who developed a gambling addiction while at university.

While hungover with his mates, Patrick placed £2 into a roulette machine in the local bookies. It was his £72 win that he attributes to kickstarting his problem.

Over the 13-year addiction, Patrick said his crippling addiction led to him asking the parents of the pupils he taught for cash, using excuses such as emergency dental treatment and issues with his car.

After accumulating £300,000 worth of debt, his final bet happened in 2018 during the Cheltenham Festival final.

‘If I win all the money back, life can continue. If that horse didn’t win, I was going to go and do the unthinkable and kill myself,’ he heartbreakingly told viewers.

After losing, he said he ‘felt nothing, I was just broken’.

The Daily Mail can now reveal the lengths producers went to prevent the stunt being uncovered before the broadcast – including gagging the audience.

An insider said: ‘The show was only recorded just over two weeks ago in a studio in Maidstone, which is an incredibly fast turnaround for a game show.

‘Members of the audience were under the impression they would be watching an episode of the new show with Bradley being recorded, but they were kept completely in the dark.

‘Once they arrived, they were handed a nondisclosure agreement and told if they didn’t sign it, they would not be allowed in.

‘To comply with broadcasting standards, they were only told the recording would contain themes of gambling.’

The Gambling Commission say they have implemented a wide range of consumer protections in recent years, including tightening rules on free bets. 

They say all operators are required to look out for and act on the warning signs of harm. 

A NAB employee fears they may have spent three years training their own replacement in India, highlighting growing anxiety over the impact of low-cost overseas labour and artificial intelligence on Australian office jobs, while skilled trades are increasingly seen as a more secure career path.

Offshoring was once associated mainly with factory closures and the loss of blue-collar work. Now it is moving up the corporate ladder, with skilled positions in finance, technology and cybersecurity increasingly being transferred overseas.

The pandemic demonstrated that many office-based roles could be performed from anywhere, giving employers the opportunity to replace Australian staff with lower-paid workers overseas.

One NAB employee now fears that three years spent training a colleague in India could ultimately lead to their own role being eliminated.

‘I’ve spent three years training a NAB India colleague to do my role and now my job is at risk,’ they said.

‘We’re still expected to train NAB India staff and pass on everything we know, even though we’re worried about losing our own jobs.

‘We’re handing over years of experience while trying to save our own careers.’

NAB has announced plans to eliminate up to 2,500 positions by the end of the current financial year, including as many as 1,500 roles before the end of 2026.

Meanwhile, the bank continues to recruit employees in India and Vietnam.

Job advertisements reviewed by the Daily Mail indicate that NAB, ANZ and Commonwealth Bank are recruiting for positions in cities across India.

NAB employs more than 5,000 people in India and a further 2,000 in Vietnam. ANZ has about 9,000 employees in India, while Commonwealth Bank reported almost 7,000 full-time-equivalent workers there as of June 30.

The cost difference can be substantial. A junior software engineer in Vietnam may cost NAB about $20,000 a year, compared with $80,000 or more for an equivalent employee in Australia.

The trend is not limited to banking. Officeworks and Woolworths have also announced plans to transfer some Australian work overseas.

Finance Sector Union national president Wendy Streets told the Daily Mail that, from the perspective of Australian employees, offshoring was effectively another term for redundancy.

‘When an Australian job goes overseas we all lose,’ Ms Streets said.

‘The remaining “onshore” workforce is left to deal with job insecurity stress, extra workloads and bear the brunt of customer frustrations.’

She also criticised the employment conditions facing some overseas workers.

‘Unfortunately, offshore workers are often employed on contracts that allow arbitrary dismissal or pay cuts – so it’s not difficult to see why employers, including our richest banks, are seduced by such practices that have long been outlawed in Australia.

‘Meanwhile, Australia’s economy is also left to deal with the fallout of another livelihood thrown on the scrapheap.’

University of Sydney international business professor Vikas Kumar said the damage to Australian workers was clear, but the danger to Australia’s economy could be just as profound.

‘The concern is not simply that jobs are moving overseas. It is what Australia might miss out on if this trend continues,’ Prof. Kumar said.

‘If more of this work moves offshore, Australia risks retaining the brands and customers, but gradually losing expertise needed to underpin long-term competitiveness.

‘There is also a talent pipeline issue. Many of these positions are entry points for graduates and early-career professionals. They are where people acquire skills and prepare for more senior leadership roles.’

Offshoring is only part of the uncertainty facing Australia’s office workers, with advances in artificial intelligence allowing the technology to take on more analytical and administrative tasks that few could have foreseen just a few years ago.

Deloitte Access Economics has identified 82 occupations facing a heightened risk of weaker employment demand as AI takes on more work.

These include bank workers, accountants, law clerks, secretaries, systems analysts, payroll clerks and graphic designers.

Deloitte Access Economics partner David Rumbens said: ‘To date, AI has not yet had a significant structural effect on Australian employment. However, the impact of AI on the labour market is likely to occur where automation and augmentation affect specific tasks within jobs.

‘Overall, white-collar workers are expected to experience the greatest disruption from AI implementation, with most clerical and administrative occupations involving tasks that are readily automatable with current AI solutions.

‘However, these effects are unlikely to be uniform. Administrative and clerical roles are expected to face weaker employment demand, while occupations in which AI primarily augments cognitive work may benefit from improvements in productivity, output quality and service delivery and see stronger employment growth.’

His comments come as a recent Victoria Government report revealed the occupations less exposed to the impacts of AI, and which appear better bets for those seeking secure employment.

‘Manual occupations are less exposed to AI due to their physical and service-oriented nature,’ the report said.

‘These include non-routine manual occupations such as ageing and disability carers and education aides, and skilled trades such as electricians and plumbers.’

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Toronto police are defending their decision to let a suspected home invader leave a hospital after officers learned he could be connected to a violent attack on millionaire executive David Morton and his family.

Daijohn Richards, 23, is accused of taking part in the terrifying break-in at the $2.1 million home of property executive Morton, 75. The businessman, his wife and their two daughters were reportedly confronted by the intruders before Richards was accidentally wounded by one of his alleged accomplices.

Richards later appeared at a Toronto hospital suffering from a gunshot injury to his shoulder. Police questioned him there but did not place him under arrest.

Detectives eventually collected enough information to connect him to the alleged home invasion, but Richards had already been released. Officers were then left searching for the same man they had previously interviewed.

Toronto Police addressed the controversy on X on Saturday, acknowledging the public concern over how the investigation had been handled.

‘We want to address some confusion surrounding the investigation into the home invasion in the Bridle Path neighborhood,’ the department stated.

‘Investigators immediately recognized the potential connection between the home invasion and the individual who showed up at hospital with a gunshot wound.’

However, police said recognizing Richards as a possible suspect did not, by itself, provide sufficient legal grounds to detain him.

‘But recognizing a potential suspect and having enough evidence to arrest them are two different things. Suspicion alone isn’t enough. Police need reasonable grounds, supported by evidence, to make an arrest.’

The department stood by the detectives involved, commending their ‘professionalism, tenacity and commitment’ and emphasizing that the case remains active.

‘Let’s keep the focus where it belongs: finding the outstanding suspects and holding those responsible for this violent home invasion accountable,’ the statement concluded.

The police statement followed questions directed at Inspector Kristy Smith during a Saturday press conference about why Richards was not arrested before leaving the hospital.

‘We arrived at the hospital, we made an investigation, and I know the question is going to come about, “Why did we not arrest him at the time?”‘ Smith said.

Ontario law requires hospitals to contact police when treating someone for a gunshot wound.

Officers went to the hospital and spoke with Richards on ‘numerous’ occasions, according to Smith. At that stage, investigators said they had not yet developed the reasonable grounds required to arrest him.

Detectives eventually made the connection through forensic work and inquiries in the neighborhood, with assistance from the Centre of Forensic Sciences.

Unfortunately for police, Richards was no longer at the hospital when that evidence came together.

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A Canada-wide warrant has since been issued for his arrest following Thursday’s horrifying attack on Morton, CEO of Toronto-based real estate company MAC Group, and his family.

Three masked men carrying firearms and a hammer forced their way through the rear entrance of the family’s luxury home in the exclusive Bridle Path neighborhood at around 3:40am.

Morton, his 64-year-old wife Doriana Zohil-Morton, and their daughters Maggie and Cristina, aged 28 and 26, were asleep when the intruders entered their bedrooms and demanded valuables.

A violent struggle followed, with Morton and both daughters suffering gunshot wounds while two family members were also struck in the head with a hammer.

All four were rushed to hospital. Two have since been discharged, while the other two remain under medical care with injuries described as life-altering.

Investigators believe Richards was shot in the right shoulder by one of his alleged accomplices during the confrontation.

‘We believe that he was accidentally shot by one of the other suspects in this home invasion,’ Smith said.

The attackers fled in a dark-colored SUV, although police have only grainy surveillance images and have been unable to establish its make or model.

The Mortons’ sprawling property, valued at approximately $2.1 million, features a swimming pool, tennis court and private gardens.

Police believe the intruders may have chosen the wealthy neighborhood because of the valuables likely to be found inside its homes rather than specifically targeting the family.

Morton previously told the Daily Mail that his family had endured a ‘terrifying and life-threatening experience’ in the place where they should have felt safest.

‘It is difficult to put into words the trauma of experiencing something so horrific in the one place where everyone should feel safest: their own home,’ he said.

‘No family should ever have to experience this. People should be able to sleep peacefully in their homes without fear of armed individuals breaking in and threatening their lives.’

Richards is wanted on multiple charges, including four counts each of discharging a firearm with intent to wound and robbery with a firearm, along with three counts of aggravated assault.

He also faces charges of breaking and entering, possessing a prohibited device and wearing a disguise with intent.

Police have released his photograph and warned that he may be experiencing discomfort in his injured shoulder, potentially making him recognizable.

Smith delivered a direct warning to the fugitive during Saturday’s news conference.

‘We know who you are. And we’re actively looking for you. Your world just got smaller,’ she declared.

The other two masked suspects have not been publicly identified.

‘I want to emphasize that all three suspects are considered armed and dangerous,’ Smith warned, urging members of the public not to approach them.