The Up-Late Game Show

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The Up-Late Game Show
Genre	Live, Phone-in Quiz show
Starring	Simon Deering Rob Rigley Chrissy Bray
Country of origin	Australia
Production
Producer(s)	Southern Star
Running time	120 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	Network Ten
Original run	16 August 2005 – 15 December 2006

Simon "Hotdogs" Deering, host of The Up-Late Game Show.

The Up-Late Game Show is a late night interactive television program shown in Australia on Network Ten, written and hosted by Big Brother Australia 2005 contestant Simon Deering, commonly known by the nickname Hotdogs. The show's format centres on the host presenting simple puzzles, to which viewers provide answers by telephone in return for cash prizes. The show airs when Big Brother Australia does not, alternating in timeslot with Big Brother UpLate.

The show debuted on 16 August 2005, the day after the Big Brother 2005 finale. The first caller in was Big Brother winner Greg Mathew, who congratulated Hotdogs on his new show. The final episode of the first series aired on 22 April 2006 to make way for Big Brother UpLate.

The second series started on 31 July 2006 (the day of the Big Brother Australia 2006 finale) with Hotdogs returning as host. From August 2006, Hotdogs was joined by co-hosts Big Brother 2006 housemate Rob Rigley and songstress Chrissy Bray. On Monday 7 August and Tuesday 26 September former housemate Krystal Forscutt co-hosted the show.

The show's format began with Hotdogs sitting at a table, with a bowl of popcorn and a mug. After the Christmas and New Year break, the format had changed to Hotdogs walking around the set.

In 2006, the show was made available via Internet streaming at QuizTV.com.au, the same site that Big Brother UpLate streams from when Big Brother is in season, for the benefit of those not in states that receive The Up-Late Game Show live. It was also aired for a short period on Pay-TV channel the Expo Channel, featuring exclusive content not seen on the Network Ten version and featured a different host.

The Uplate show has been notorious for the many prank calls it has received. Callers exploited Hotdogs's inability to cover up or improvise under pressure, causing embarrassing outbursts on his part. On one occasion, when a caller claimed to be God calling from the future to answer a riddle, Hotdogs remained speechless for a full minute.

On Friday 15th December 2006, The Up-Late Game Show went to air for the final time. It is known that due to the Late Show with David Letterman, the show will only come back in 2007 if David Letterman is pushed up in the timeslot before Big Brother 2007.

The show is broadcast from the Southern Cross Broadcasting studios in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory.

[edit] Criticism

On 11 August 2006 satirical comedy series The Chaser's War on Everything featured a segment on the influx of late night phone-in quiz shows. The segment mocked the standard of all late night quiz programs and their questions. Accusing this style of programming of making money by "hardly ever letting callers through", therefore limiting the chances for people to win prizes. The segment showed taped footage of a Quizmania two minute bonus round, where host Amy Parks stalled for the entire length of the round and no calls were taken, despite the claim of taking "as many calls as possible". To add further to this Julian Morrow and Chas Licciardello claimed to have been calling the Up-late Game Show hundreds of times during this segment.[1] Similar complaints have been voiced by Australian entertainment critics.[2]