With the huge number of competitions ITV run every year, and with thousands of entries for each one, it’s reasonable to ask when the lucky winner gets contacted.
ITV select a winner soon after the final route to enter a competition closes – in most cases that’s the postal entries on a Thursday after the competition is last shown on TV. They then try to contact the winner up to three times a day for 28 days after the draw is made.
Andi Peters Talks Contacting Winners
As the promotions for the million pound prize draw came to a close in October 2023, Andi Peters was live from what he calls ITV Winners HQ in West London. While talking to Afie on GMB, it was explained that they won’t move on to another winner just because the lucky entrant doesn’t pick up the phone on the first attempt:
“No, we have 28 days to ring somebody, so hopefully we get through to them. And we do three calls in a day sometimes, so you’ve got every chance of winning”
Afie Ali, ITV Win Lead, speaking to Andi Peters. 19th October 2023.
How Do ITV Know My Number If I’m A Winner?
If you win a competition, don’t worry – ITV know how to get hold of you. Here’s how:
| If you entered… | Your number comes from.. |
|---|---|
| Online | The number associated with your online account – they sent you a PIN to log in so they know the phone is yours. |
| Phone | The details you left as a message on your entry call. Failing that, the number you phoned from will likely have been logged. |
| Text | When the entry is received by text, it will have been sent from your mobile phone number. |
| Post | You enter by sending your name and phone number to a specific postal address with a unique code as the first line to identify the competition you’re participating in. |
How Do I Know Who Won The Competition I Entered?
If you entered a competition and are wondering if the winner has been chosen and contacted, check out the ITV Win Winners page on their portal, which lists winners for each competition, along with where in the country they live.
It’s sometimes a bit behind, probably because they need to successfully contact the winner before a name can be published.
In addition, not every winner will be keen to have their face on the winners page, so you won’t find them all beaming at you holding a cheque or showing off their prize.
At the bottom of the page there’s a link to a much more comprehensive list of winners, which can be filtered by TV show or competition type to find what you’re looking for more quickly.
Does It Always Take 28 Days To Contact A Winner?
The four week window is a maximum referred to in the terms and conditions of the competitions on ITV, not an expectation.
If postal entries close on a Thursday, it’s likely that the draw will happen on the next day, Friday. From there, the 28 days of trying to contact the winner can begin – so if they pick up the phone straight away, you can have a situation where the winner knows how lucky they are within 24 hours of the draw closing for postal entries.
There are a few exceptions from time to time – for example some TV shows have live broadcasts with an audience, so it’s common for Saturday night shows like The Voice UK to offer a big cash prize and tickets to the live final show in the first competition of the series.
In these draws, you’ll often hear the voiceover of the competition promo say something like ‘winners must be contactable on these dates’, as the winner may need time to arrange travel, accommodation and time off work to visit the event on the day of the show.
The one even more extreme case would be someone winning a place on the plane to the final of Ant And Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, as they’d be away for a few days, and also need to arrange their visa waivers to enter the USA as it normally comes from Orlando in Florida.
A final point is that we’re primarily talking about competitions with paid entries – those that can be entered via phone, text and online for a fee.
Where draws are completely free to enter, all these rules go out the window as they don’t apply – that’s why on Free Cash Friday and Spin To Win the presenters can just move on if the phone isn’t answered quickly.
What If The Winner Can’t Be Contacted?
The terms and conditions are clear on the legal pages of ITV’s website that the team will try to contact winners for a period of 28 days after a winner is chosen. After that point, the winner can be disqualified, but you would hope most people would eventually answer their phone by then!
We all ignore withheld or unrecognised numbers calling us from time to time, especially when we’re busy. The lesson here is if you enter competitions and the phone starts ringing from an unknown number, or better still one starting with 0207 – answer it!
We’re regularly reminded that every ITV competition has a guaranteed winner, so it’s safe to assume that in the worst case scenario, a winner forfeits their prize and a new winner would have to be chosen and the process begins again.
More From Competitions.TV About ITV Win Prize Draws
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- How Is One Winner Chosen From All Postal, Online, Phone & Text Entries?If you’re a long time ITV viewer like me, you’ll know that from time to time, the competition presenters like Andi Peters feel that it’s necessary to reinforce the fact that all entries count when… Read more: How Is One Winner Chosen From All Postal, Online, Phone & Text Entries?
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