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Quiz show and TV regular Tony Fillingham, 51, from Cheshire, has become a familiar face on the small screen over the years. He’s racked up an impressive list of appearances, taking part in popular daytime favourites such as Tipping Point – where he bagged £2,700 – and Tenable, where he and his team walked away with a huge £45,000 jackpot. Outside the quiz show circuit, Tony has also been seen on Emmerdale, Extreme Diet Hotel, and Steph and Dom’s One Star to Five Star.
He even teamed up with Kate Garraway for Channel 5’s never-aired gameshow 5 Second Stars, where he secured an incredible £23,000 prize. Unfortunately, because the show was pulled before broadcast, Tony never saw a penny of those winnings – something he describes as a huge disappointment.
Q: For Tipping Point, did you do any prep beforehand – like bingeing old episodes, using quiz apps, or brushing up on trivia?
Honestly, when it comes to Tipping Point, there's no real point in prepping. It's not like other shows. For example, I was team captain on Tenable, and from getting accepted to actually filming, there was a good four or five weeks — maybe more.
So what I did for Tenable was get the lads together every Tuesday. I told them, “Go find 10 top 10s” — like the 10 biggest US states, or the 10 longest rivers — whatever. We’d meet up at someone’s house and test each other, trying to recreate the game as best we could.
And it paid off. One of the rounds we practised — the biggest US states — came up on the actual show, and one of the lads nailed it. He got 8 out of 10, so that was £10,000 in the bank. That prep made a difference.
🎯 Tenable prep paid off – real results!
Q: Did the producers of Tipping Point coach you at all before filming?
Not at all. What you see on the telly is pretty much exactly how it goes. With Tipping Point, they record your intro, then you go straight into the game. When someone’s eliminated after Round One, they leave, the crew comes in, rejigs the set — moves a podium, shifts things about — and a few minutes later, you're back on. It’s all super quick, very real-time.
📺 Behind-the-scenes at Tipping Point!
Q: What’s one thing viewers would never guess happens behind the scenes of Tipping Point?
The biggest shock for me was the actual machine you drop the coins into. They took us over to meet the independent adjudicator — this older woman with white gloves. Turns out, when you press the drop button on the show, it’s not connected to anything. Nothing at all. That button is a decoy.
There’s a woman standing behind the machine, wearing those gloves, watching you. When you press the button, she’s the one who actually drops the coin. It blew my mind! I always thought it was an automated machine, but nope. Total surprise.
😱 The Tipping Point machine reveal!
Q: Is there a trick to timing the drop just right on Tipping Point, or is it genuinely all down to luck?
That’s the thing — you don’t control the timing. It’s all down to her. Sometimes I’d hit the button and think, “Why hasn’t she dropped it yet?” You’re basically at her mercy.
When I got to the end, the jackpot counter was bang in the middle of Drop Zone 4. If it had been a machine, I’d have taken the trade for three extra counters. But I didn’t trust the manual drop; it’s out of your hands.
I get rinsed on X/Twitter every time my episode airs for not taking the trade. But my wife warned me not to gamble. And the whole reason I went on the show was to get my daughter a car. I had enough to do that and pay the insurance. The thought of coming home empty-handed after losing it - I couldn’t stomach it.
They make you play on anyway, and funnily enough, I did knock the jackpot counter over after that. So I could’ve walked away with £10,000 instead of £2,700.
🎰 The gamble I didn’t take on Tipping Point
Q: You won £2,700 on Tipping Point - was it worth it, or was it more about the experience?
For me, the £2,700 was 100% worth it. That was the whole point: to buy my daughter a car and sort her insurance. She just started uni, and to me, that money means a lot. I’m a taxi driver, it’s not life-changing, but it’s significant.
It was also an incredible experience. I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who thinks they can give it a go.
Oh, and by the way - you keep everything you win. Completely tax-free.
Also, if you knock over a prize counter, you win random extras. Ben Shephard even said to us, “The prizes aren’t great, but can you pretend to be excited?” I won “Picnic at the Proms,” which turned out to be a concert on damp grass at Warwick Castle, no actual picnic included!
💷 Tipping Point win with a damp bonus!
Q: You won £45,000 on Tenable - what was that moment like?
Unreal. Genuinely one of the best moments of my life. A total rollercoaster. We'd prepped every Tuesday, testing each other. But on the day of filming, one of the lads' cars broke down and we nearly missed the train to London. By the time we got to the studio, they were behind schedule, so some of the runners played a practice game with us using old categories and we were absolutely hopeless. None of us got through in the practice.
We thought, “Well, that was embarrassing.” But honestly, it took the pressure off. I said to the lads, “Let’s just enjoy it. We’ve got nothing to lose now.” And I think that attitude comes across in the show. We were just having a laugh.
💥 From disaster to dream win on Tenable!
Q: How did you split your Tenable winnings? Any drama?
No drama at all. From day one, we agreed to split the money five ways, no matter what happened. Whether someone did loads or nothing, we were a team. Everyone bought in.
When it came to my round, I got 10 out of 10, which meant I could either stick with £25,000 or drop to £15,000 to bring Ali back, who hadn’t made it through. Some of the lads were like, “Leave him,” but I didn’t see it that way.
I said, “We came here as a team, we win together or lose together.” Yeah, £10,000 is a lot to give up, but split five ways, it was just £2,000 each and it gave us an extra life for the final.
In the end, everyone got knocked out except Mick and Ali. One final question stood between us and the jackpot. It was: “Name the last 10 countries to host the Summer Olympics.”
We’d prepped that topic, but we learned the cities, not the countries. Atlanta and LA counted as one because it’s the same country - USA. We guessed back to 1980: Moscow. Then 1976, I guessed Germany. Wrong. Someone guessed Mexico, also wrong. But then Ali guessed Canada. Pure instinct. He said he just figured it had to be a big enough country to host it. The answer was Montreal and he nailed it.
We were backstage in what they call “the vortex,” and the moment that 10th light lit up, we lost it. Ran onto the stage, pulled down a curtain by accident - full chaos. We actually got told we were supposed to wait for a cue, but there was no chance. We were buzzing. £9,000 each. Incredible.
🤝 Team spirit and a jackpot ending!
Q: What’s one thing viewers would never guess about how Tenable is filmed?
The only quirky bit is the “vortex” — basically a backstage waiting area just off set. You’ve got a camera on your face while you’re in there. But aside from that, what you see is what you get. These shows have money involved, so it’s all very tightly run.
🎬 Tenable's off-camera surprise
Q: What was Warwick Davis like off-camera as the Tenable host?
He’s great, but we didn’t really get a chance to speak to him properly. We were already on set when he came out, and by the time we’d won, we were just losing our minds. Hugging, shouting - totally ignoring him.
If you watch the episode, you’ll see him pop his head around and go, “I guess you’re happy then!” and we’re just in our own world. He signs off like, “Join us again tomorrow…” while we’re still bouncing around.
We didn’t even get a photo with him, which we all regret. But we were just so wrapped up in the moment. We’d won £45,000 - £9,000 each. Unforgettable.
