Win Ben Stein's Money
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Win Ben Stein's Money was an American television game show that ran from July 28, 1997 to May 8, 2003 on Comedy Central. It featured three contestants who competed in a general knowledge trivia contest to win the grand prize of $5,000 from the show's host, Ben Stein.
Stein always had a co-host to exchange jokes with and to ask some of the questions in the game. Jimmy Kimmel was the co-host for the first three years of the show's run, but he left the show in 2000 (even though he made occasional guest appearances after that). Nancy Pimental replaced Kimmel and co-hosted the show through 2001. Kimmel's cousin, Sal Iacono, who took over the role in 2002, was the show's last co-host. The show won six Daytime Emmy awards. Rerun episodes of the Kimmel version currently air late nights on GSN.
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[edit] Rules of the game
[edit] First round
The game began with three contestants, five categories (whose titles were puns hinting at the question contents) that were read by the co-host, and $5,000 in Stein's bank. The money was not from Ben Stein's actual assets, but was put up instead by the show's producer, Valleycrest Productions. Once a player chose a category, Stein asked a question that was worth a value between $50 and $150, depending on the level of difficulty. If a player answered that question correctly, the value of the question was subtracted from Stein's bank and added to the contestant's score. Stein then asked that contestant a follow-up question from the same category for an additional $50; any of the opponents could answer that question if the contestant answered it incorrectly. (If nobody answered the original question correctly, Stein asked a $50 toss-up question that any of the three contestants could answer.) A new category replaced the old one after both questions were asked, and whoever won the previous question got to choose the next category.
At the end of the first round the contestant with the lowest score was eliminated from the game and that player's money (if he/she had earned any) was put back into Stein's bank.
[edit] Second round
Stein competed against the two remaining contestants in this round, answering questions from the eliminated player's rostrum. The co-host (Kimmel/Pimental/Iacono) -- who always gave a disclaimer stating that Stein had no advance knowledge of the questions from that point forward -- asked the questions in this round.
The second round also contained five categories, but the questions in that round were worth anywhere between $200 and $500 of Stein's money if a contestant answered them correctly. (If Stein answered a question correctly, the bank total did not change.) Follow-up questions were not asked in this round.
The contestant with the lower score at the end of the second round was eliminated from the game, with his or her winnings going back into Stein's bank.
For this round, Stein would always play from the podium to the far right in the third position as the viewer saw it.
[edit] "Best of Ten" Test of Knowledge
Both Stein and the winner of the second round were placed in isolation booths, so one could not hear the other's answers. The isolation booth for the contestant was plain, with a bare light bulb hanging for light, while Stein's booth had a leather wingback chair and appeared to have lavish furnishings. (In later seasons, the contestant's isolation booth was made to appear in disrepair, with a large crack running down the back wall among other "damage.") The co-host asked each of them the same ten questions, and both Stein and the contestant had sixty seconds apiece to answer them. If the contestant answered more questions correctly than Stein did, the contestant won all of the $5,000 that Stein put into the bank at the beginning of the show. If Stein answered more questions correctly, the contestant only won the money that he or she won in the first two rounds. Originally, if there were a tie, the contest would go to Ben Stein, and the contestant would just win the money that he or she gained. Later on though, the rules were changed; the contestant won the money that he or she had already won from Stein plus an additional $1,000. The contestant always had the choice of playing first or second.
As noted in a disclaimer during the closing credits, "Ben Stein's money" was actually furnished by the producers of the show. However, any money left over in the prize budget at the end of a season that had not been won by contestants would be given to Stein. Therefore the stakes were really money that could end up being Ben Stein's. Stein was also paid a standard salary as host which was not affected by his game play, so he traditionally donated his prize money to charity (not mentioned on the show). [citation needed]
[edit] Ben Stein's Cup
Beginning in the fourth season, three of the best players of the season (who had already won $5,000) returned for a special "Ben Stein's Cup" episode, for a chance to win $25,000. In Round 1, the question values were $200-$800. In Round 2, the question values were worth $1,000-$2,000. The winner attempted to beat Ben Stein for the entire $25,000.
[edit] Running Gags
The categories always contain serious questions but are phrased in a humorous fashion. They are also often sexually suggestive.
A cuckoo clock was rung to signal the end of each round, with the cuckoo changing every show. Once, instead of a cuckoo, it was a Ben Stein bobblehead that came from the clock.
Ben often made no attempt to hide his distaste for being forced to "fight" three everyday people for "his" money. He often said "I'm putting $5,000 of my money on the line, and giving these (the contestants) three vultures (or wolves, cretins, etc.) a chance to take it all away from me."
Along with the above line, Ben often followed it up by saying, "Now why have I done this? Call me crazy." The audience then would reply by shouting, "You're crazy!" at Ben. Ben would then reply by saying, "But you can also call me fairly sure they don't have a chance against me!"
Ben often poked fun at Jeopardy! on the show. Players who answered in the form of a question were made to wear a dunce cap. After the first round, Ben once said, "And now I'm going to do something Alex Trebek would never do: I'm going to dive into the pit and actually become a common contestant!"
Before Kimmel would explain the rules of the "Best of Ten Test of Knowledge," he would use a pet name when telling Ben that he would do so (ex. "Yes, nipple nuts", "Yes, Mrs. Butterworth" or "Yes, my little Butt Nugget", which caused Ben to temporarily lose his composure and turn away from the camera).
After asking the ten questions in the final round to Ben, Kimmel would often follow up with a joke question. For example, after asking the last question, Kimmel once asked, "Will you have my baby?"
Related to the above, the joke question would usually be "How does it feel to lose $5,000?" if Ben goes second and loses.
Ben, upon losing the final round, would half-bow to the winning contestant, reluctantly open a safe, hand the contestant $5,000, and say, "I bow to your superior intellect. I'm humbled, I'm honored, I hate you, get out of here!"
Famous paintings or artwork were often shown between commercials, modified to include Ben. These include Ben on a classic "We Want You!" poster, Ben as the Mona Lisa, and Ben as the Statue of Liberty.
Beginning in the second season, fake money dropped from the ceiling when a contestant won the $5,000.
[edit] Versions outside the USA
A British version, called Win Beadle's Money, hosted by Jeremy Beadle, ran in the UK in 1999. The format was the same as listed above. Richard Morton was co-host.
Win Roy & H.G.'s Money, an Australian version hosted by comedy duo Roy Slaven and H.G. Nelson, ran for a handful of episodes in 2000.
[edit] Music
Various pieces of classical music were used as the themes. The opening theme was the fourth movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Ode To Joy, Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee which was repeated to begin the second round. The closing theme was Ride of the Valkyries, from the second opera of Richard Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung. Other classical music pieces used on the show included:
- Water Music by George Frederick Handel (leading to first commercial break).
- Spring from The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi (Coming out of the first commercial break).
- Eine kleine Nachtmusik by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (leading into the second commercial break).
- Trepiak (a/k/a "The Russian Dance") from The Nutcracker by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (used to segue to the final commercial break).
- Night on Bald Mountain (leading to the final round) by Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (coming out of the final commercial break and cuing to the final round).
[edit] External links
- Win Ben Stein's Money episode guide (unofficial)
- Win Ben Stein's Money at the Internet Movie Database
