Treasure Hunt was a popular UK game show, based on a French format called La Chasse Au Trésor, and appeared on Channel 4 between 1983 and 1989 and was revived by BBC 2 in 2002 and 2003. The title was also used for a United States game show that ran in the 1950s, 1970s and 1980s.

UK Treasure Hunt
A team of two studio contestants had to use maps and reference materials in a studio to solve up to five clues, and communicating instructions via a radio link to a skyrunner who had the use of a helicopter. The contestants were given the first clue for free, the solving of which would lead to the location of the second clue and so on until a trinket or other significant object was found at the end of the route. The contestants won a higher cash prize each time they solved a clue correctly.

In the original version, the presenter was newsreader Kenneth Kendall and the skyrunners were broadcaster Anneka Rice (1983-8) and tennis player Annabel Croft (1989). Wincey Willis acted as adjudicator and provided additional information about the locations visited. In the 2002-3 edition, newsreader Dermot Murnaghan presented and the skyrunner was Suzi Perry. There was no adjudicator. Keith Thompson of Castle Air Charters was the usual helicopter pilot in both versions, though for overseas editions a local pilot was often used. The 1983 - 9 series were later rerun on Challenge.

For all the UK series, the programme was a Chatsworth Television independent production.

An eponymous board game based on the show was published in the UK. It involved moving about a map of England and Wales.

There was also a game show produced by Westward Television called Treasure Hunt, which ran for most of the 1960s and 1970s. It was originally hosted by Kenneth Horne and later by Keith Fordyce. It was only ever shown in Westward's franchise area of south-west England.


US Treasure Hunt: 1950s version
The earliest version of the show first appeared in the US from 1956 to 1959, first on ABC, later on NBC The original, different from the UK game of the same name, was hosted and produced by Jan Murray. It involved contestants playing a quiz, with the winner going on a "treasure hunt" with a select number of treasure chests with prizes including a grand prize.


US Treasure Hunt: 1970s and 1980s version
Producer Chuck Barris, the man behind The Dating Game and The Newlywed Game, bought the US Treasure Hunt format in the 1970s and revived the game in weekly syndication in 1973. This version, called The New Treasure Hunt, involved women (there were no male contestants) competing to select one of 30 boxes (or 66 boxes in the 1980s version) for a cash jackpot.

To begin, female members of the studio audience are given balloons. As host Geoff Edwards instructs them to pop the balloon, three of them had stars (only one in the 1980s version, facing a champion), in which the three women then picks three jack in the boxes (with only two women and two surprise boxes in the 1980s version). The one who had the surprise pop up went on to select one of the 30 (or 66) boxes on display.

Once the box was chosen, the contestant had the option of taking a cash payoff (anywhere from $500 to $1,000) or keeping the box instead and winning whatever was in the box (which could be a prize package, vacation, automobile, or a worthless prize called a "klunk"...or a check for the top prize).

The top prize in the 1970s version was a flat $25,000. When the series returned as a daily syndicated show in 1981, there was a jackpot for the grand prize, which began at $20,000 and increased $1,000 each day until won or when the jackpot reached the maximum of $50,000. Four women in the 1980s version won the jackpot ($23,000; $20,000; $50,000 and $21,000). One day, when the jackpot was $46,000, a woman took the cash payoff instead and the check of $46,000 was later revealed, causing her husband, who encouraged his wife to take the sure thing, to walk out of the studio.

Edwards, who created the phrase klunk (similar to that of zonks on Let's Make A Deal), hosted the 1970s and 1980s versions. Johnny Jacobs was the announcer for most of the 1970s/1980s version until his death in 1982. Security was extremely tight, and no cue cards were used as a result. Edwards, who has acting experience, had to memorize up to 30 skits per episode (66 in the 1980s version) due to the lack of cue cards. No skit was involved when the top prize was won, other than confetti and balloons dropping from the ceiling.

On one episode in 1982, a woman won $50,000 and proceeded to bear-hug Edwards and pick him up and down a few times in the excitement of winning the jackpot. At the other extreme was the contestant on the 1970s version who, told she had won a Rolls-Royce convertible, fainted. (That incident was replayed on the CBS newsmagazine 60 Minutes.)

Each show, if the jackpot was not won, the box that had the check was revealed. But before doing so, Edwards would go on a monologue with bonded security agent (in actuality, a studio security guard) named Emile Auturi in an attempt to strike a conversation with him, but to no avail. Eventually, Auturi did speak, only using the words "Yes I did" when Edwards asked Auturi if he knows where the box with the check is.

One of the more famous models of the 1980s version was Jan Speck.

Producer Barris wanted to make Treasure Hunt more sadistic during the 1976-77 season, including a skit in which he would instruct Geoff Edwards to tell a contestant that she won "a brand new... car windshield!". Edwards wanted no part of Barris' deeds and was initially fired, but was brought back soon thereafter.

Barris had no direct involvement in the 1981-82 version other than packaging it (he shared executive-producer credit with Budd Granoff this time around), and Edwards stated in recent years he enjoyed this version more than he did with initial 1973-77 version.