| A Jay Wolpert production in association with the Bud Austin Company and Burt Sugarman Productions air dates: 4/23/79-5/30/80 on CBS daytime host: Tom Kennedy announcer: Rod Roddy HOW TO PLAY: Two players, a returning champion and a challenger, took turns "charging" and "blocking". The champion decided who charged and who blocked in the first game of a 2-out-of-3 match. The charger went offstage while the blocker placed a maximum of 6 blocks on a game board which was configured in this manner: 6 $250 $350 $500 5 $10 $20 $30 $40 $50 4 $10 $20 $30 $40 $50 3 $10 $20 $30 $40 $50 2 $10 $20 $30 $40 $50 1 $10 $20 $30 $40 $50 Each of the first five levels were limited to 3 blocks and only one block was allowed on the 6th level for starters. After the blocks were placed, the charger came out of the soundproof booth and had 60 seconds to "charge" up the board towards victory. The player picked one of the 5 spaces on the first level. If it was blocked, the amount on that space went into the blocker's bank and the charger was forced to wait 5 seconds before picking another box. If there was no block, a "blooper" was revealed. For instance: Lyndon Johnson's wife was nicknamed Tweety Bird. If the charger corrected the underlined part, that amount went into the charger's bank and (s)he moved up to the next level. If (s)he answered wrong, (s)he picked another box on the same level. If the charger felt (s)he didn't have enough time to make it through all six levels, (s)he may call out "Longshot!" which would stop the clock and instantly move up to the sixth level. The blocker secretly placed a block behind one of the unblocked spaces on the sixth level. The charger had to pick a safe box and correct the blooper in order to win the game. The amount picked, and the game, would go to the charger if the blooper was corrected or to the blocker if the space was blocked or if a wrong answer was given. For the second game, the two players switched roles. The third game, if needed, involved the champ deciding who charged and who blocked. The first player to win 2 games won the money in their bank and faced the Gauntlet of Villains. The champ had 60 seconds + 1 second for each $100 won in the previous front game (ex.: $700 meant the champ had 67 seconds.) to make it past 10 villains. Tom read the champ a blooper and the champ had 2 seconds to correct it. If a wrong answer was given or if no answer was given in 2 seconds, the answer was shown on a small screen on the villain's picture and another blooper was asked. A correct answer moved the player on to the next villain. If ten bloopers were corrected before time ran out, (s)he won $25,000 and retired from the show. If not, (s)he won $100 for each correct answer and faced another challenger. Late in the series' run, each champion could play the Gauntlet up to 5 times. In late '79, the show became Celebrity Whew! and paired each contestant with a celebrity. The contestants played the first and third games and the celebrities played the second game. In the Gauntlet, one teammate ran the first five and the other ran the last five. OTHER TIDBITS: In '79, a college student named Randy Amasia won $1,190 in one match which allowed him 71 seconds to run the Gauntlet of Villains. He succeeded and left with $26,190. He set up a game show website which included a Whew! page. He died from throat cancer in 2001 at age 44. Announcer Rod Roddy would also lose his battle with colon and breast cancer 2 years later. In '69, exec producer Jay Wolpert earned $25,000 after winning the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions. Back to my game show joint or my home page. |
| "CLOSE CALLS...NARROW ESCAPES...SPLIT-SECOND DECISIONS...AND $25,000 IN CASH! A COMBINATION GUARANTEED TO MAKE YOU SAY..." |
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