The Weakest Link

The Weakest Link (or, in the U.S., simply 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. The BBC officially dropped the definite article (the "the") from the title (and the logo) in 2001, though it is still generally referred to by its original title, and host Anne Robinson still says "Welcome to The Weakest Link" and "let's play The Weakest Link" regardless.

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 ten thousand pounds (in U.K. money). 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, however a new chain is initiated from scratch. It is advantageous but risky to not say bank, as each successive correct answer earns proportionally more money.

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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" was 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.

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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.

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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.

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