In each round, the contestant chooses a subject, the seat of whose expert lights up gold, and also an expert to 'shut down' – the one they believe is least likely to know about it, whose seat lights up red. This wheel is spun to choose a contestant at random, who is lifted up in their chair to the main stage. They face in toward the centre, below which is a secondary stage where three contestants sit in chairs on a smaller wheel. Seven celebrities, each designated as an expert in a different subject, sit in chairs mounted on the outer edge of a 13-metre (43 ft) wide wheel on the main stage. Seeking formats that could be easily produced under COVID-19 safety protocols such as social distancing (eased by design due to its large studio set at Bovingdon Airfield in Hertfordshire), the BBC picked up The Wheel as a de facto substitute for McIntyre's variety show series Michael McIntyre's Big Show (which was not feasible to produce due to its heavy reliance on live audience participation). He pondered that there had been 'so many talent shows' on British television, but not many 'brand new' game shows. McIntyre explained that he first thought of ideas for The Wheel while taking a bath, envisioning the idea of a 'human roulette wheel'. The Wheel is a British television game show hosted by Michael McIntyre, mainly broadcast on Saturday evenings on BBC One.
