Tom and Paul from Liverpool won big on The Hit List
Michelle and Marvin Humes welcomed Tom and Paul on the BBC show(Image: BBC)
Two contestants from Liverpool made show history as they took home the £10,000 jackpot on The Hit List. In seven years, the full jackpot has never been won, and many thought the goal was impossible. The eighth series of the BBC show, which sees contestants name as many hit songs as possible within a time limit, kicked off this weekend.
Hosted by celebrity couple Marvin and Rochelle Humes, the contestants hear a short audio clip, and from this they must determine the correct answer. The player with the quickest reaction time wins the prize.
Since the series began in 2019, over 250 pairs of contestants have attempted to win the full £10,000 prize money and many thought it couldn’t be done.
But dad and son, Paul and Tom, from Liverpool got every song correct in less than five seconds and went home with the whopping cash prize.
Tom, 26 is an events and marketing coordinator, and Paul, 61 is a catering business owner. The dad and son share a love of music and attend Glastonbury Festival together every year.
They said the secret to their win was their complementary music knowledge due to Paul’s love of 60s, 70s and 80s and Tom’s knowledge of 90’s and 00’s.
Tom and Paul from Liverpool won the full jackpot on The Hit List(Image: BBC)
They stayed calm under pressure and triumphed against two teams through three high-energy rounds where they demonstrated their endless music knowledge.
The final round is the hardest due to the immense time pressure of guessing the correct answer in five seconds. The final song that won them the money was Queen, A Kind of Magic. The pair have said this will forever be their lucky song.
Tom said: “We’ve been watching The Hit List for years, this was our third time applying to be on the show, and it was third time lucky. We always knew that we’d go on together, as you need knowledge of music spanning all decades.
“The two teams we were competing with were incredible, I couldn’t believe when we got through to the final round, the adrenaline was immense and obviously over the moon with the result.”
Paul said: “Tom inherited his love of music from me, we are big quizzers, and music is always our speciality subject. To get through to the final round was a big achievement as it was competitive game play throughout.
“I would have been happy with £1,000 and a day out with my son. We weren’t aware that no-one had won the jackpot before and as we got to song 7 in the final round the tension in the studio was palpable. I was very proud of Tom for getting the song names in about 3 seconds.”
The family are celebrating two achievements on Saturday, July 19 as they will be toasting the win, while attending the wedding of Paul’s oldest son. The pair have said they would like to spend the money on a family holiday.
Hosts Marvin and Michelle also congratulated the dad and son pairing, describing the moment as one of the highlights in the show’s seven year history.
Marvin said: “HIT LIST HISTORY MAKERS! I was starting to believe that it couldn’t be done, but they came and proved us wrong, after seven years I’ve seen so many attempts. Tom and Paul were so in sync from the start I knew we were on to something special.”
Rochelle said: “‘I’ve never been more delighted for our contestants, I felt as if I was holding my breath all the way through the final round.
“This was one of the highlights in our seven-year history and I hope viewers at home are just as excited to see it completed as we were in the studio.”