1 vs. 100 (Australian game show)
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| 1 vs. 100 | |
|---|---|
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| Genre | Game show |
| Creator(s) | Endemol |
| Starring | Host Eddie McGuire |
| Country of origin |  Australia |
| No. of episodes | 8 (As of March 26, 2007) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 minutes (Including commercials) |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Channel Nine |
| Picture format | 576i (16:9 SDTV) |
| Original run | January 29, 2007 – |
| Links | |
| Official website | |
1 vs. 100 is an Australian game show that is based on the American game show of the same name and the format created by Endemol. The game pits one person against 100 others for a chance to win one million dollars. The program is hosted by Nine Network CEO and personality Eddie McGuire.
The Australian version of the show premiered on January 29, 2007 at 8:30pm on the Nine Network and is recorded in the Melbourne Docklands Central City Studios.
The format of the Australian show is based on series 2 of the US show (those US shows that aired after 1 December 2006). The prize ladder is half the value of the US ladder (in Australian Dollars), with a single million dollar jackpot for eliminating all 100 players.
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[edit] Format
The Australian version of 1 vs. 100 is very closely related to the American version of the same name, with only the prize structure changed. One contestant competes against a "mob" of 100 people for a top prize of $1 million.
Contestants are given a question with three possible answers. The mob must answer the question within six seconds, and then the contestant must answer it. When the contestant is happy to answer the question, he/she pushes the button that corresponds with the answer. If he/she answers the 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). If after any correct answer the entire 100-person mob has been eliminated, the contestant wins the grand prize of $1,000,000.
After 90 members have been eliminated, the contestant will be able to look at the question - but not the answers - for three seconds before he/she decides to choose the mob or the money. This rule was recently added to the US version on March 9, 2007.
Contestants have three forms of assistance, or "helps" available to use at any point during the game:
- Poll the Mob: Contestants pick one of the three answers (two if Ask the Mob was used in the same question). The number of mob players who chose that answer is revealed. This choice could be wasted if no one picked that answer as they could have picked the other answer(s).
- 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. Mob members must tell the truth as to which answer they chose, but do not have to tell the truth as to why they chose that answer. This automatically eliminates one wrong answer, thus leaving contestants with a 50-50 chance of picking the right answer. If all the mob members select the same answer, one member is polled, and the contestant is told of the possibilities: either he chooses the same answer (in which case he either goes on with every member of the mob, or everybody goes home with nothing); or he chooses a different answer (in which case either the mob splits the prize pool if they are correct, or the contestant goes home with one million dollars.) Conversely, if all the mob members choose from the two incorrect answers, only one mob member is interviewed. The contestant is then informed that that answer is incorrect, and that every mob member got it wrong; the contestant then gets to choose from the correct answer, and the other, incorrect, answer.
- Trust the Mob: Contestants commit to choosing the answer chosen by the largest number of mob members. If there is a two or three way tie (eg: 50 mob members left, 20 choosing A, 20 choosing B, and 10 choosing C), the contestant has to choose from one of the high-polling options (so in this example, the contestant is compelled to choose either A or B, even if C is the correct answer.)
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Contestants may use multiple helps on a single question, but may only use each help once during the game. It is possible that a mob member may be picked for both the Poll the Mob and Ask the Mob, even on the same question.
As in the US version, a player must successfully answer three questions on the first prize level ($500) before he or she has the option of leaving the game, taking all money earned after this round. If he or she continues, he must answer successfully two questions on the second level ($1,000) before the player may leave the game and take the money. Starting with the third level ($1,500), a player may stop after any successful question. If there are more than 10 mob members left, contestants must make that decision before seeing questions; once they see a question, they are committed to answering it. With 10 or fewer mob members, the contestant (and the mob) sees the question, but not the answers, for three seconds before making his or her choice to continue. When contestants quit and take their winnings, remaining mob members win nothing, but can compete in the next game.
When a contestant answers incorrectly, however, he/she leaves with nothing; any mob members who correctly answered that question split the contestant's earnings, and can continue in the next game without putting their winnings at risk. (Mob members who answer that final question incorrectly are eliminated, and win nothing; they do not contribute to the prize pool.)
If the contestant answers the first question incorrectly, or the entire mob and the contestant answer the same question incorrectly, no money is awarded to anybody.
The maximum amount of winnings after eliminating all but one member of the mob is $495,000. In order for this to happen, everybody including the contestant must get the first twelve questions correctly.
In the Australian version, the podiums count up 1-100 from the top row, not the bottom row, as in the US version.
[edit] Launch and Preshow Controversy
The Australian version of the show was officially launched on January 18. The Nine Network approved a season of 15 episodes. The first show was scheduled to be shot on Friday, January 19 and air from Monday, January 29. However, controversy began before the cameras started rolling.
The controversy started amongst confirmed and potential contestants, when taping of the first episode was delayed less than 12 hours before it was scheduled to start. The given reason was a problem caused by Melbourne's power blackouts three days earlier. However, speculation is that producer Michael Healy was asked a question at the Thursday night launch party, which was assessed as incorrect, despite the fact that he was right. Producers were not willing to chance problems at their first taping, hence inconveniencing the players, many of whom had taken time off work to attend the show. It is believed that around 30 contestants turned up to the taping on Friday, unaware that they were not required.
When taping did get under way on Sunday 21 January, a contestant in the first episode answered a question incorrectly: What is the unit of time equivalent to 60 seconds? Due to a technical glitch relating to the Mob, the question had to be asked again as if the question had never occurred (since the Mob must be asked the question first before the contestant gives his answer). The second time around, the contestant gave the correct answer, robbing the Mob of a chance at just over $100,000. This procedure would be different than in the US version, where a question would be replaced, and a disclaimer would run stating "because of a production problem, a question was replaced". (This question would eventually be asked as a home viewer question during the second episode).
A season of 15 episodes has been approved for production and the first show was shot on January 20, 2007. The production will remain at the Central City Studios on Sound Stage 3 for approximately six weeks.
[edit] Ratings
The January 29 debut of 1 vs. 100 did extremely well in the ratings, and was the most watched program of the night. A peak audience of 2.4 million viewers and an average audience of 1.95 million watched the show in Australia's capital cities.[1] The second episode went to air on February 5 and narrowly lost in viewers to the season 3 premiere of Desperate Housewives in a competition for viewers against the Seven Network. With 1.43 million viewers, the second episode was well down on the premiere, but still a pleasing number for McGuire.[2]
The ratings for each episode are as follows:
| Episode # | Air Date | Total Viewers (Rounded off to the nearest 10,000) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | January 29, 2007 | 1,950,000 |
| 2 | February 5, 2007 | 1,430,000 |
| 3 | February 12, 2007 | 1,330,000 |
| 4 | February 19, 2007 | 1,270,000 |
| 5 | March 5, 2007 | 1,230,000 |
| 6 | March 12, 2007 | 1,290,000 |
| 7 | March 19, 2007 | 1,380,000 |
[edit] Contestants and their winnings
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1 indicates the contestant is still playing, therefore, the total winnings and mob members may change.
2 no episode was broadcast on February 26, due to the broadcasting of the 79th Academy Awards.
Total prize money given away to contestants: $570,000
Total prize money given away to members of the mob: $187,912
Total prize money given away overall: $757,912
[edit] Pods
Please update the article to reflect recent events, and remove this template when finished.
Pods is the Australian term used for groups of mob members who share the same careers or hobbies. In the Australian version, there are three pods for each new contestant to play. If there are two or three members are in a pod, they'll all be in a line. If four, five or six members are in a pod, they'll be in two rows.
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1 indicates the pods are still playing and therefore the numbers of pod members remaining and for what time period may change.
[edit] Trivia
- The first episode, the first four answers were all B.
- In the first episode, questions that were displayed in the TV (not the studio screen), the answers were all in rows. After that, the answers were in columns.
- From the first three episodes, when the money or the mob option was shown on TV, the text was bolded. After that, the text wasn't bolded.
- After the first episode, a box at the bottom of the screen with the name of a "help" appeared when that help was being used, but not in the first episode.
- In the first episode, a single note was used for the sound that indicated that an answer had been locked in. After that, a long note was sounded after it, to fit in with a melody that was sounded after the note indicating that the answer had been revealed.
- In the 6th episode there was a mob member called Mark who appeared in Australia's The Rich List on Channel Seven.
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ Michael Gadd (2007-01-30). McGuire makes Nine the one. News.com.au. Retrieved on 2007-01-31.
- ^ Seven wins on TV ratings, The Australian, February 6, 2007. Retrieved on February 7, 2007.
