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.

International versions

Internationally, the show has taken off airing in at least over 50 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, 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.

Related Topics:
Eamon Dunphy - Enrico Papi - Canal 13 - Catalina Pulido - SABC3 - Fiona Coyne - Polish - Kazimiera Szczuka - TVN - Edu Manzano - Hong Kong - Dodo Cheng - Australian - Cornelia Frances - Seven Network - Mexico

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American version

The American version of Weakest Link (without the "the" in the title) premiered in April 2001 on NBC, with Anne Robinson hosting. In this version, there was a team of eight contestants vying for a cash pot of up to one million dollars. Earning respectable ratings, even topping Who Wants To Be A Millionaire a few times, the show had garnered itself a place on the 2001-02 fall schedule. After the 9/11 attacks, the ratings went down. People were not interested in reality shows or game shows. The episodes now featured celebrities, rather than ordinary people. There were a few episodes with ordinary people in between, but they usually had themes (such as halloween costumes, christmas costumes, or contestants that looked like Anne Robinson). It got worse as the episodes were beginning to be pre-empted for NBA playoff games. The ratings continued to sink and the show was cancelled. The show aired its last episode in July 2002. It is still questionable if NBC had done this on purpose to get the show out of its lineup. A set of unaired episodes were shown later that year on the PAX Network. The last set of taped episodes remained unaired until the show ended up on the GSN schedule in 2003, where the show is still rerun at 4:00 P.M. every weekday.

Related Topics:
American - 2001 - NBC - Who Wants To Be A Millionaire - 9/11 - July - PAX Network - GSN

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A syndicated version ran from January 2002 through September 2003 (it too ran only two seasons). It was hosted by George Gray. In this version there was a team of only six contestants. In the first syndicated season, the maximum pot was $75,000 and there were five rounds, while increasing to $100,000 (and the rounds decreased to only four all with a $25,000 top prize) in the final syndicated season. In contrast to Robinson's "dominatrix" tone, Gray was more playful and humorous to the contestants.

Related Topics:
Syndicated - January - September - George Gray - Dominatrix

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Both U.S. versions were produced by The Gurin Company, BBC Worldwide and NBC Studios.

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Australia

An Australian version premiered in February 2001, on Seven Network. Presented by Cornelia Frances, the show featured 9 contestants vying for $100 000. It aired twice weekly in primetime. At the beginning, the show received a lot of feedback from angry people, complaining how rude Cornelia was, some even saying she was worse than Anne Robinson. After toning the show down, it continued to receive modest ratings until its cancellation in April 2002. There was even a special version where it was linked with the Mole where the Mole contestants were part of the show. In this episode, Bob Young won the playoff over Thao Nguyen and became the winner of this episode, where the prize was a free pass to the next episode on the Mole (aka immunity) and all money won went to the kitty. According to Cornelia Frances, they won $13400, the lowest amount won in any Australian episode of the Weakest Link. However, Grant Bowler, the host of the Mole rounded up to $14000 since all kitties of the Mole have been rounded by $1000.

Related Topics:
Australia - February - Seven Network - Cornelia Frances - Anne Robinson - April - The Mole - Bob Young - Thao Nguyen - Grant Bowler

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Hong Kong

The Hong Kong version of the show was licensed and started quickly by TVB, after rival ATV took the lion's share of ratings with the Chinese version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Per the licensing agreement, Carol "Dodo" Cheng initially had to act just like Anne Robinson — complete with the same style of voice and facial expression. Since Chinese culture typically does not value this kind of attitude toward people, TVB received complaints about the show. Bowing to public pressure, the broadcaster changed the style of the show, softening Carol Cheng's "character". As a result, ratings went up.

Related Topics:
TVB - ATV - Who Wants to be a Millionaire - Carol "Dodo" Cheng

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Philippines

The Philippine version of the show is produced by Viva Entertainment and ECM Productions. The show premiered on September 2002 on IBC 13 as a follow-up to the success of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire in the country. It was initially hosted by actor/former politician Edu Manzano. Known his villainy roles and serious acting styles, Manzano made a good and fitting host of the show (contributing to its popularity). He was later replaced by comedian/singer Allan K. His humorous hosting stint (along with the fire that razed the original studio the show was taped) led its show to its demise on October 2002.

Related Topics:
Viva Entertainment - ECM Productions - September - 2002 - IBC 13 - Who Wants To Be A Millionaire - Edu Manzano - Allan K - October

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The show followed the eight-player primetime format with the money tree as follows: P1,000-P2,000-P5,000-P10,000-P20,000-P50,000-P80,000-P125,000. If the highest amount was banked successfully in all seven rounds, the highest amount possible would be a million Philippine pesos.

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Non-English versions

March 2001, saw the appearance of the first non-English version. Der Schwächste Fliegt premiered weekdays at 3pm, hosted by Sonja Zietlow (who was already known for her tough-talking styles on her self-titled talk show from prior years). Just like the British version, the show pitted nine contestants against each other for a pot of 50 000 Marks. By September of that year, the show was sinking fast in ratings, so in order to gain ratings, Sonja became much nicer to contestants. This did not help the show very much, and it was cancelled in December. However, in February 2002, the show was given one last shot in the Saturday night slot. This time with a revamped studio, that now featured an audience, and a higher prize of 50 000 euros, (100 000 Marks). It has been said though, that after the first few episodes, actors were paid to be contestants on the show, in order to make the show better. But whatever the reason, it did not bring in the much-needed ratings, and was cancelled one final time in March.

Related Topics:
March - 2001 - Der Schwächste Fliegt - Sonja Zietlow - December - February - Euro

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The show is aired in Poland as well, weekdays at 5 pm on TVN channel. Najs?absze ogniwo includes eight contestants and Kazimiera Szczuka as the host.

Related Topics:
Poland - TVN - Najs?absze ogniwo - Kazimiera Szczuka

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