Bradley Walsh calls gambling a 'vital subject' after Channel 4 viewers discover his game show's sobbing contestant was an ACTOR

Channel 4's 'Million Pound Shot' opened on Sunday night as an apparently genuine high-stakes quiz, with host Bradley Walsh welcoming real-seeming contestants who risked their own savings for a £1 million jackpot. The entire production — including the sobbing contestant Reece, his distraught girlfriend Leslie, the floor manager, and even an angry audience heckler — was performed by actors hired to replicate gambling industry manipulation tactics.

Walsh told the deceived studio audience: 'Everything you've seen tonight draws on the techniques used by the gambling industry to manipulate its customers.'

Critics branded the stunt 'ironic' because Walsh's other show, 'The Chase', is sponsored by a bingo site, and Channel 4 itself holds a 14-month sponsorship deal with Paddy Power for 'First Dates'.

Actor 'Reece' was shown feeding his card into a machine repeatedly as the audience cheered him on, losing over three times the £1,700 limit he had supposedly agreed with his girlfriend.