Stephen Mulhern knows a thing or two about gameshows. Over the course of his TV career, he’s hosted a lot of them, including Magic Numbers, Catchphrase, Big Star’s Little Star and Pick Me.

His In for a Penny segment on Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway proved so popular it became a series in its own right and saw Stephen roaming the streets of Britain, challenging members of the public to take part in a series of silly (but sometimes unexpectedly tricky) tasks.

So, it’s easy to see why he’s been entrusted with ITV’s new gameshow Rolling In It, as he’s definitely a safe pair of hands. But even this genre veteran has been surprised by the series.

That’s because Rolling In It finds members of the public teaming up with celebrities, and while you might expect the virtual strangers to be almost painfully polite with each other, apparently that hasn’t always been the case.

He says: “It’s really weird when you see a relationship of a celebrity with a contestant – they don’t know each other, have only met that morning and they argue like they are family.”

Perhaps it’s the pressure that’s causing the bickering as there’s a big cash prize at stake.

Rolling In It is a game of chance, in which three teams – each made up of a player and their celebrity partner – roll coins down a moving conveyor belt towards slots which are labelled with large cash sums to win. But there are also ‘Bankrupt’ slots which mean the player loses everything.

As the game progresses, the prizes get bigger, but so do the potential losses. And by the end, the roll of one final coin could decide whether a member of the public goes home ‘rolling in it’ or not.

That element of chance – as well as the dynamic between the unlikely teammates – was enough to convince ITV that this was a winner.

Head of ITV Entertainment Commissioning Siobhan Greene said: “The combination of Stephen, giant coins being rolled down the conveyor belt by celebrities and contestants hoping to win big, made for a pilot that was packed to the rafters with tension and laughs. The decision to go for a series was easy.”

And the show’s bosses also managed to convince celebs to sign up, despite the risk that they could be seen on national TV losing a member of the public money.

Future editions will find comedian Jimmy Carr, presenter Mark Wright, reality TV star Gemma Collins, football commentator Chris Kamara, Cold Feet star John Thomson, comedian Joel Dommett and singer and DJ Fleur East trying their luck. However, we’re beginning with a Coronation Street special as Antony Cotton, Jennie McAlpine and Sair Khan (better known to soap fans as Sean, Fiz and Alya) take up the challenge.

Rolling In It airs on ITV at 6.25pm Saturday.