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Introduction
The Weakest Link appeared on our screens in August 2000 on BBC Two. Hosted by Anne Robinson, the show immediately shocked the viewers as the contestants were being humiliated and dismissed by the presenter, which was unusual for a television programme!
It was this twist in the game show that has made it so popular with the viewers. Some say it is rude and abrasive and encourages bullying, others admire it for its humour, and wit. Some like it as they can watch the contestants ruthlessly battle it out against each other using tactical voting to become the Strongest Link, and win the prize money. Others, watch it for the quick-fire questions and intelligent banking.
So, hopefully, here is all the information you will ever need about the show.
Any of the 9 people in the studio could win up to £10,000. They don't know each other, however, if they want the prize money, they will have to work as a team, but, 8 of them will leave with nothing, as round by round, we lose the player, voted, the Weakest Link.
The 9 contestants stand in a semi-circle around Anne. Questions are asked in a clockwise direction
In each round, the aim is to answer enough questions correctly to reach the £1,000 target within the time limit. The fastest way is to create a chain of 9 correct answers. If a contestant gets their question wrong, the chain is broken, and all the money in that chain is lost, but if they say 'Bank' before the question is asked, the money is safe, however, the team starts a new chain from scratch. At the end of the round, only money that has been banked can be taken forward.
There are 3 minutes in Round 1. Questions are fired at the contestants in a clockwise direction starting with the person whose name is first alphabetically. If they do not know the answer, the contestant can say "Pass". All 8 rounds usually consume around 200 questions in total.
When 3 minutes have gone, Anne tells the contestants how poorly they did in that round, and then informs them that it is time to vote off the Weakest Link.
Anne
will say to the contestants things like "Who is too slow to stay?", "Who is
beyond help?", "Who should be put out of their misery?", "Who has outstayed
their welcome?", "Whose donut has ran out of jam?", "Who needs to be dispatched
without delay?", "Who has begun to look dangerously dim?", "Who would be better
off stepping outside for some fresh air?", "Who do you need to ditch without
delay?", "Who is an embarrassment to the rest of the team?", "Who can't you wait
to get rid of?", "Who is the Village Idiot," "Who needs their Village Idiot
Back," and then "It's time to vote off the Weakest Link.".
The contestants then write down the name of the player they want to be eliminated on a board.
Meanwhile, the 'voice-over' man (Jon Briggs) tells us who was statistically the Weakest Link (the player with the most questions wrong, and the least money banked etc.) and who was statistically the Strongest Link (the player with the most questions correct, and the most money banked etc.). He will then say something like "But how will the votes go?", "But will the team have noticed?", "But will the voting follow the facts?", "Whose game is over?", and "Who will collect the votes?".
One by one, in a clockwise direction, the team have to flip over their boards to reveal who they want to get rid of.
Anne will now ask some contestants why they have voted for that player, and tell them who was statistically the worst player. She may even pick on certain contestants, for example, an accountant who got an arithmetic question wrong, and she will tell each of the contestants how rubbish they did in the last round! Very Funny Stuff!
Whoever
gets the most votes is the player that is to be sent off. If there is a tie in
the votes, the Strongest Link gets to cast the deciding vote.
Now, Anne gets the chance to
humiliate the chosen player and send them off with the immortal catchphrase "You
are the Weakest Link¡K goodbye!" after she has explained that the rest of the
team wants to get rid of them, and they
performed rubbish in the last round.
The player then has to take the dreaded 'Walk Of Shame' where they must walk off the studio and leave with nothing.
They are interviewed and say things like "I think John will be voted off in the next round because he seems to be losing his confidence", "I think I deserved to be voted off in that round because I was statistically the worst player", and "I think Jane will win because she has very good general knowledge.".
As the next round progresses, 10
seconds has been take off the clock, so in Round 2 there are 2 minutes 50
seconds, in Round 3, there are 2 minutes 40 seconds, and so on. The round starts
with the Strongest Link from the last round.
When there are just 2 contestants left (Round 8), there are just 90 seconds on
the clock, but whatever is banked @ the end of the round is trebled and added to
the banked money so far to make up the final prize money, so £3,000 is
available.
Now,
the 2 surviving contestants have to play against each other head to head. The
Strongest Link from the last round can decide who goes first. Anne asks
alternate questions, best of 5, whoever answers the most correctly wins, it's as
simple as that.
If there's a tie after 5, they go into a 'Sudden Death' situation, where if the
first player gets their question right, the second player must also get their
question right to stay in the game, and if the first player gets their question
wrong, the second player must get theirs correct to win.
The winning player is now the
Strongest Link and goes away with the total prize money. The other player leaves
with nothing!
Then Anne will say "Join us again for the Weakest Link, *wink* goodbye!" and the
winning contestant and the runner up are interviewed during the credits.
The BBC Two day-time Weakest Link pulled in huge ratings for its time-slot and the show was becoming a huge success, especially with the popularity of its biggest catch-phrase "You are the Weakest Link... goodbye!". So, the BBC decided to make a Champion's League version of the show, where the contestants would be previous winners of the day-time show. At the start of 2001, however, the Champion's League format was scrapped, and brand-new contestants played, and nobody @ all were previous winners. A few changes had to be made to the show though.
The first change made was the logo and introduction screen. The logo in all
Weakest Link programs had changed. But the four note stab just changed in the
Prime Time Show. The graphics looked a bit better and the 'The' had disappeared.
Some Weakest Link fans say that the 'The' was lost due to 'Americanization' as
it was @ this time the US were after Weakest Link. That's why I made
Save
The. The theme music was also enhanced
slightly.
The
next change was that there are only 8 contestants instead of 9, however, the
show still lasted 45 minutes (the same as the day-time show).
The total prize money was changed from £10,000 to £20,000. In each round, £2,500 was the target instead of just £1,000. The chain, was now 8 'links' long: £50, £100, £200, £500, £1,000, £1,500, £2,000, £2,500.
A studio audience was now included in the show.
There were some new things hanging down from the studio ceiling, and improved lighting. The floor was lit up too.
See
what's on the ceiling on the
Australian Site.
Instead of having boards to flip over when revealing who the contestants would like to get rid of, new electronic name cards are used.
The day-time version of the Weakest
Link is recorded at Earlsfield studio in south London whereas the prime-time
version is recorded at the BBC TV Centre, London.
Even more changes have been made now, as in May 2001, 7 contestants take part in
the show instead of 8. This means the show only lasts for 30 minutes. It uses
the same prime-time studio, but with 1 less podium.
£20,000 is still up for grabs, but the chain now only has 7 'links': £50, £100, £250, £500, £1,000, £1,750, £2,500. The money won when there are only 2 players remaining (Round 6) is trebled instead of doubled, and there are only 2 minutes in Round 1.
This change seems to have made it equally hard but helps make the pace of the game even faster!