1 vs. 100 (US game show)

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1 vs. 100

Genre	Game show
Running time	60 min.
Executive producer(s)	Scott St. John
Starring	Bob Saget
Narrated by	Joe Cipriano
Country of origin	USA
Original channel	NBC
Original run	October 13, 2006–present
No. of episodes	7 (as of December 8, 2006)
Official website
IMDb profile

The American version of 1 vs. 100 is broadcast by NBC. Like in other formats, a single player goes up against 100 other contestants (referred to as the "mob"), gaining money for each contestant they eliminate but losing all their winnings with any incorrect answer along the way. The host is actor-comedian Bob Saget, and the top prize is $1,000,000. It premiered on NBC Friday, October 13, 2006 at 9:00 PM and will air on Fridays at 8:00 PM in subsequent episodes.^[1]

1 Gameplay
2 Criticism
3 Renewal
4 Records and statistics
5 Notable mob members
6 Episodes and U.S. Television Ratings
7 Trivia
8 References
9 External links

[edit] Gameplay

Question	Value
1, 2, 3	$1,000
4, 5	$2,000
6	$3,000
7	$4,000
8	$5,000
9	$6,000
10	$7,000
11	$8,000
12	$9,000
13+	$10,000

Usually opens with Saget saying "This game is simple. Either you will win...or they will win." The contestant is given a question with three possible answers. After answering a question correctly, any player in the 100-person mob who answered the question incorrectly is eliminated from play. Players add a specific amount to their bank for every member of the mob they eliminate on a particular question (see table, left). Eliminating the entire 100-person mob augments the prize money to $1,000,000.

When answering a question, the player has three forms of assistance available to them, known as "helps":

Poll the Mob: The player picks one of the three answers. The number of mob players who chose that answer is revealed. The contestant may ask one of those players why he/she chose that answer.

Ask the Mob: One mob member who answered correctly and one who answered incorrectly are chosen at random. Each explains his/her decision to the contestant. This eliminates one of the incorrect answers. The mob member must tell the truth as to what answer s/he chose, but does not have to tell the truth as to why s/he chose the specific answer.

Trust the Mob: The most commonly chosen answer by the mob is revealed, but the contestant must answer the question with that response.

A contestant may use any or all helps in the same question. It is possible (as shown in episodes 2 and 6) that a mob member may be picked for more than one help even on the same question.

The contestant can leave the game - while leaving helps unused, if applicable - after the third question (the last $1,000 question), the fifth question (the last $2,000 question), and every single question thereafter without any information on the upcoming question(s), departing with all winnings earned up to that point. The remaining mob members receive nothing. If, however, a contestant answers a question incorrectly, he/she leaves with nothing and the active members of the mob split the contestant's earnings. When a contestant leaves the game in any way, the remaining mob members are carried over to the next game. Members who were eliminated are replaced.

[edit] Criticism

Early criticism of the first episode asserted that the questions tend to be far less difficult than the average game show. An early question “What Hawaiian appetizer is often found on Asian cuisine menus?” came with the potential answers: a) pu-pu platter b) ka-ka combo c) du-du delight. Eight of the 100 got it wrong (the correct answer is a), proving Bob Saget’s point: “You never know what they will or won’t know.” ^[2] It should be pointed out that the questions have been difficult enough to eliminate several notable members of the mob, including Jeopardy! champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter and three million-dollar winners from Who Wants To Be A Millionaire (see below). The questions on recent episodes appear to be more difficult, and have actually been praised for their unique approach, with rephrased answers that often resemble simple riddles.

Further criticism revolved around the composition of the Mob. While there have been a number of teachers, valedictorians and other professionals, much of the Mob resembles a typical studio audience with surfers, waitresses and models.^[3]

[edit] Renewal

On October 20, 2006, it was reported that NBC has ordered 10 additional episodes of 1 vs. 100, bringing the total number of episodes to 15. NBC cited the show's encouraging ratings performance.^[4]. The show returned with these new episodes on Friday, December 1, 2006. A special Christmas episode will air on December 25, 2006 which will feature Mob members representing "The 12 Days of Christmas".

[edit] Records and statistics

Total Contestants: 14 (10 winners, 4 losers)
Most money won (with no help) - $201,600 by Christine Tarbet (October 20, 2006)
Most money won (with help) - $174,000 by Keikabou (December 15, 2006)
Least money won - $34,900 by Portia Peters (October 27, 2006)
Most money lost to mob - $51,800 by Camielle Bennett (October 27, 2006)
Least money lost to mob - $6,950 by Kelly Roos (November 3, 2006)
Most money split by mob members - 18 members, $2,877.78 each (October 27, 2006)
Least money split by mob members - 40 members, $173.75 each (November 3, 2006)
Most questions answered - 9 by Keikabou (December 15, 2006) (NOTE: After taking the money, he answered another question which asked what the New York Stock Exchange symbol "LUV" represented, and the correct answer was Southwest Airlines, which would have earned him an additional $28,000 and brought his total to what would have been a record $202,000.)
Most mob members wrong on a single question - 34 (October 27, 2006)
Number of occurrences where no one was wrong on a single question - 4
Most mob members defeated - 93 by Molly Joyner (December 8, 2006)
Fewest mob members defeated - 49 by Aaron Shanderlin (October 20, 2006)

[edit] Notable mob members

The game consists of 100 Mob members, ranging from teachers, brain surgeons, and Mensa members to Deal or No Deal models and game show champions. Here are some of the notable "Mob members":

Ken Jennings, Jeopardy! champion. (Podium #13 in episode 1; previewed the show on his weblog ^[5]; eliminated in episode 2; won $714.29)
Meghan Markle, Deal or No Deal model. (Podium #7 in episode 1; also appeared with two other Deal or No Deal models)
John Carpenter, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire $1,000,000 winner (Podium #16; appeared and eliminated in episode 3.)
Nancy Christy, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire $1,000,000 winner (Podium #17; appeared and eliminated in episode 3.)
Dr. Kevin Olmstead, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire $2,180,000 winner (Podium #18; appeared and eliminated in episode 3.)
Kevin Federline, rap artist and singer Britney Spears's then-husband (Podium #13; appeared and eliminated in episode 6)
Annie Duke, poker player (appearing in episode airing December 1 in Podium #22; moved to Podium #13 on December 15) Was not eliminated in the December 15 episode (NOTE: Had solo contestant Keikabou continued and could've had his question right, Annie would've been eliminated.) and will return in the December 22 game. Now holds the record for the most correct questions without a miss.
Brad Rutter, Jeopardy! $1 million Masters & Ultimate $2 million champion (appeared in December 1 episode at podium #33). He defeated Ken Jennings in the Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions. He was eliminated on the December 15, 2006 episode.
David Eckstein, of the St Louis Cardinals, 2006 World Series MVP (appeared in the second game of the December 1 episode at podium #13; eliminated on the December 8 show).
Four member of the main cast of the Las Vegas drama on NBC: Josh Duhamel, Nikki Cox, James Lesure and Molly Sims (appeared in the first game of the December 1 episode to promote a 2-hour Las Vegas special that followed the show; playing for charity, they were all eliminated without winning any money).
Bob Eubanks and Wink Martindale, December 8 show (appearing at podiums #13 and #14, respectively; they were eliminated on consecutive questions.)
PJ Golden, (Podium #87 episode 5). Owner of Stereotype Records and former rock semi-demi-star. Returned for upcoming episode.
Rex Pokingholme, who answered 26 questions in a row as a member of the mob in position #86. Eliminated on December 15, 2006.

[edit] Episodes and U.S. Television Ratings

This is ratings information for the series. "Rating" is the estimated percentage of all televisions tuned to the show, and "share" is the percentage of all televisions in use that are tuned in. "Viewers" is the estimated number of actual people watching, in millions, while "ranking" is the approximate ranking of the show against all prime-time TV shows for the week (Monday to Sunday).

Unless otherwise cited, the overnight rating and share information comes from Zap2It^[6] and viewer and ranking information comes from CalendarLive.^[7] The following week, the numbers are updated with the final Nielsen numbers from TVWeek.com.^[8] Additional ratings information, including the 18-49 rating, comes from BroadcastingCable.^[9]

Episode #	Air Date	Rating	Share	18-49	Viewers	Rank
1	October 13, 2006	7.8	13	n/a	n/a	n/a
2	October 20, 2006	7.2	13	n/a	11.9	n/a
3	October 27, 2006	6.1	11	n/a	n/a	n/a
4	November 3, 2006	6.6	11	n/a	n/a	35
5	November 10, 2006	6.4	11	n/a	9.9	37
6	December 1, 2006	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
7	December 8, 2006	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
8	December 15, 2006
9	December 22, 2006
10	December 25, 2006 Special Christmas Edition

[edit] Trivia

The value of eliminated mob members was different during the show's initial run of five episodes; the values used were:

Question	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13+
Episodes 1-2	$100	$500	$1,000	$2,000	$3,000	$4,000	$5,000	$6,000	$7,000	$8,000	$9,000	$10,000	$10,000
Episodes 3-5	$100	$250	$500	$1,000	$1,500	$2,000	$3,000	$4,000	$5,000	$6,000	$7,500	$10,000	$10,000
Episode 6-	$1,000	$1,000	$1,000	$2,000	$2,000	$3,000	$4,000	$5,000	$6,000	$7,000	$8,000	$9,000	$10,000

In addition, contestants were able to stop after every question on the first five episodes.

The episode airing on December 1, 2006 featured a top prize of $3,000,000 for its first contestant.

If the contestant is about to eliminate a large portion of the mob (and win a large amount of money), Bob will often reveal the incorrect mob members before finding out if the contestant is correct.

On the first five episodes, the only two helps were "Poll the mob" and "Ask the mob" -- and the players had to use them in that order.

A massive lighting and graphic update was added on episode 6. Examples of this include yellow lighting when faced with the Money or Mob decision, and flames bursting outwards in the mob when the contestant elects to go on.