That's not a flaw though. That's just an inferior, unpleasant set of rules altogether, and someone had to know this scenario was possible going in. The single $1,000 milestone combined with the single Pass lifeline screamed "cheap bastards" from the get-go, but Nine apparently thought they could dodge it and kept their fingers crossed that no one would make it to the big bucks, with no option of stopping, and blow it. Whoopsie daisy. Quick, someone cobble together a token gesture to make it all better at the end of the show!
I guess what I'm saying is, there's a difference between "flawed" and "altogether sucks," and I tend to think Hot Seat leans toward the latter.