Who Dares Wins (game show)
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Who Dares Wins was an Australian adventure game show that aired on the Seven Network between 1996 and 2001 with re-runs airing in 2005. Hosted by former test cricketer Mike Whitney and co-hosted by Tania Zaetta, the show has been screened in over 50 countries around the world.
As an adventure game show in which contestants are expected to complete undesirable tasks in order to win prizes, Who Dares Wins could be considered a precursor to contemporary series such as Fear Factor. It was created by David Mason and Adrian Brant.
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[edit] Format
The main focus of each episode of the show often revolves around a dangerous stunt of some kind. An unsuspecting contestant, previously nominated by a viewer of the show, is ambushed by Whitney and dared to partake and complete the stunt successfully in order to win a major prize (usually a holiday and spending money).
Dares on the show have included:
- Experiencing a force of 8 g while flying in a Russian MiG-29 fighter plane
- Climbing a 150m high radio mast solo
- Riding a motorcycle out the back of an airborne plane
- Swimming across a lagoon filled with 200 crocodiles
- Climbing down a wire ladder attached to a helicopter as it flies under the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
- Reversing a car off and then driving back onto a car trailer as it drives down a runway at 80km/h
- Jumping a row of cars while towing a caravan
- Using a wire ladder to scale the exterior of a hot air balloon while in the air.
- Climbing up the side of Melbourne Central Shopping Centre's glass cone.
- Crossing between two buildings on a metal balance beam multiple stories high.
- Entering a shark cage and diving with great white sharks.
- Singing "Advance Australia Fair" in front of a crowd of 40,000 spectators at Adelaide Football Park (one of the few non-dangerous dares featured on the show)
Most of the runtime of a typical episode is devoted to the preparation of the stunt and the training the contestant receives in order to try complete it successfully. Often the stunt would also be demonstrated beforehand (successfully or unsuccessfully) by professional stuntmen.
In the climax of the show the contestant then attempts to complete the dare; if successful they win the major prize. If they fail or decide to drop out, co-host Zaetta will then try to complete the dare instead; if she succeeds the contestants forfeits the prize, if she fails or pulls out herself the contestant wins regardless.
During the show each major dare is bookended by several minor segments in which Whitney travels the streets and shopping malls of Australia challenging people to complete a lesser dare for a cash prize (usually around $50 to $200). This may range from sticking a hand into a container full of cockroaches or having all their hair shaved off, to more complex dares such as tightrope walking above a mall foyer, or diving off a ten metre platform into a pool.
The show was licensed to the UK and named "Don't Try This At Home" and then renamed "Challenge of a Lifetime".
Despite Australian production of the show ending in 2001, Who Dares Wins continues to be popular around the globe on cable television networks such as AXN. In particular, the show's massive success in India has even lead to a series of India-based specials hosted by Zaetta in 2002, and later an Indian spinoff called Extreme Dhamaka in 2003.
In the United States the Game Show Network aired Who Dares Wins on several occasions.
[edit] Awards
- At the 39th Annual TV Week Logie Awards held in 1997, Tania Zaetta was nominated for the Logie for "Most Popular New Talent" for her work on Who Dares Wins.
