VULNERABLE, cash-strapped people are at risk of falling further into debt because of television quiz shows, according to a leading East Lancashire MP.

Nigel Evans, the Conservative MP for Ribble Valley, has been involved in a Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee inquiry that looked at the role played by late night quiz shows such as ITV's The Mint.

Its inquiry was prompted by fears that these shows, with their mix of easy questions and a supposed lack of callers, could be luring unsuspecting viewers into a financial nightmare via their 75p-a-minute phone lines.

It is due to publish a series of recommendations after Christmas but Mr Evans said the reality was that callers only had a "5,000 to one" chance of getting through and winning the cash prize - a fact viewers were never made aware of.

He was also concerned that in the run up to Christmas people struggling for money could see the shows as a quick fix to their financial troubles when in fact they were quite the opposite.

Speaking after the meeting, he said: "When they claim it can pay for people's Christmas if they ring up it could actually being doing the opposite and putting them in to debt. What I am saying is they need to be transparent."

The Mint, which runs from midnight to 4am, is the most high profile of this type of quiz show and is the one Mr Evans has focused much of his attention on. He said: "I want the Gambling Commission to take charge of regulating these shows as they can be bad for people's financial health due to the hard sell tactics they employ."

Yesterday, the Gambling Commission and Icsis, who regulate premium rate service providers, confirmed they were both in process of looking at programmes like The Mint.