Games - The Weakest Link

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	Games - The Weakest Link

The Weakest Link (now officially titled Weakest Link) is a television game show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two in 2000. It was devised by doctor and situation comedy writer Fintan Coyle and the comedian Cathy Dunning, and developed for television by the BBC Entertainment department. It has since been replicated around the world. It may also be called a "reality game show" because of competition similar to present-day reality shows.

Format

Overview

The original format featured a team of nine contestants who take turns answering general knowledge questions. The object of each round is to answer a chain of consecutive correct answers to earn an increasing amount for a single communal pot of up to a thousand pounds ($125,000 in the US show). However, just one incorrect answer wipes out any money earned in that chain. Before their question is asked, a contestant may say "bank" and the money earned thus far is safely stored and a new chain is initiated from scratch.

Banking money is the safe option, however not banking, in anticipation that one will be able to correctly answer the upcoming question, allows the money to grow as each successive correct answer earns proportionally more money.

When the allotted time for each round ends, any money not banked is lost, and if the host is in the middle of asking a question, or has asked a question but the contestant has yet to answer, the question is abandoned.

Detail

Voting

At the end of each round, contestants must vote off one player whom they consider to be "The Weakest Link": the one they believe wasted the most time, failed to bank judiciously or gave too many wrong answers. Until the beginning of the next round, only the television audience knows (via an announcer's narration) exactly who the "strongest link" and "weakest link" are statistically. While the contestants work as a team, they are encouraged at this point to be ruthless to each other. Voting presents somewhat of a tactical challenge for canny players seeking to maximise their chances of winning, and maximising the payoffs if they do. Voting off weaker players is likely to increase the payoff for the winner, but stronger players may be more difficult to beat in a playoff.

Strategies

Some players may consider incorrectly answering some questions so as not to appear so much of a threat — however, such a strategy is risky. One study suggested that the optimal percentage of questions to answer correctly is 60%. If you do worse, you risk being voted off for being too weak; if you do better, you are perceived as a threat in the final showdown. Mathematical analysis of the expected payoffs provided by various banking strategies suggest that the optimum strategies are to either attempt to go for the highest payoff, or bank after every question. Few teams adopt either — most choose to bank after three or four questions.

Final

At the end of the show, only two contestants remain for a final showdown. Only the winner leaves with the accumulated prize money — everyone else leaves with nothing. In special "celebrity editions," however, the losers leave with only a minimal sum of money donated in his/her name to his/her charity.

Success

Part of the show's success was due to the presenter, Anne Robinson. Already well-known in the UK for her sarcastic tone while presenting the BBC's consumer programme Watchdog, she found here a new outlet in her taunts to the contestants. Her sardonic summary to the "team", usually berating them for their lack of intelligence for not achieving the target, became a trademark of the show, and her call of "You are the weakest link — goodbye!" quickly became a catchphrase. (Originally, the devisors suggested the equally acerbic Jeremy Paxman, host of University Challenge.) The voice-over in the UK version is by Jon Briggs.

With elements inspired by Big Brother and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, the show differed from virtually all games shows before it by inviting open conflict between players, and using a host who is openly hostile to the competitors rather than a positive figure (though this feature of the show tends to be played for laughs, especially in the prime time version, where there is a studio audience for Robinson — and the contestants — to play to). Heavily criticised by the television press in some countries for its Hobbesian overtones, the show has nevertheless been a ratings success in most countries.

International versions

Internationally, the show has taken off airing in at least over 80 countries world-wide, some with red haired, female presenters, some without, and some even with male presenters such as the US syndicated edition as mentioned below. Others include the Irish version hosted by Eamon Dunphy, the Italian version presented by Enrico Papi, the Chilean version (broadcast on Canal 13) hosted by local actress Catalina Pulido, the South African (broadcast on SABC3) with Fiona Coyne, the Polish version with Kazimiera Szczuka on TVN, the Filipino version with Edu Manzano, the Hong Kong version hosted by Dodo Cheng,the Japan version with Shiro Ito and the Australian version hosted by Cornelia Frances broadcast on Seven Network. The version in Mexico, El Rival Mas Débil, has been a success for two years and still running with her host Montserrat Ontiveros.

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