Winning Shot

Winning Streak is an Irish television game show that was produced for the National Lottery, and broadcast from 21 September 1990 to 21 March 2020 on RTÉ One. Produced in RTE's Studio 1 at their Television Centre in Dublin, the series featured contestants qualified via National Lottery scratchcards, who received the chance to win cash and other prizes. The climax of each episode featured one of the contestants receiving a chance to spin a wheel for a chance to win the programme's grand prize, which had escalated to one million Euro by the end of the series. Winning Streak was RTÉ's flagship Saturday night show between early September and late May (however from 1990 until 1993 it was aired on Friday nights). The show brought consistently high ratings for the channel, often ranking among the top five in the ratings and at one point held the feat of being Europe's second longest-running game show (behind only Channel 4's Countdown). However, there was a significant drop in viewership during the 2008/2009 series. The show first aired on 21 September 1990 with host Mike Murphy. In 2001, he was succeeded by Derek Mooney. Mooney stepped down as the show's host at the end of the 2007–08 season. The 2008–09 series was retooled as Winning Streak: Dream Ticket, with new co-hosts Kathryn Thomas and Aidan Power. They were the first duo to host the programme and Thomas was the show's first permanent female presenter. Aidan Power stood down after the 2008–09 series due to his commitments to The Cafe and The All Ireland Talent Show. Marty Whelan succeeded Aidan, co-hosting the 2009/10 series with Kathryn, which aired from 12 September 2009 until 29 May 2010. Kathryn was later replaced with Geri Maye, who presented alongside Whelan until 2013, when Sinéad Kennedy assumed the role of co-host. Winning Streak was placed on hiatus in March 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland. In February 2023, it was confirmed that the show had been cancelled, although RTÉ remained open to a potential reboot in the future.