Weakest Link

Weakest Link is a television game show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and ended on 31 March 2012 when its host Anne Robinson ended her contract. The original British version of the show is still aired around the world on BBC Entertainment.

History

The format was devised by Fintan Coyle and Cathy Dunning, and developed for television by the BBC Entertainment department. It has been licensed across the world, with many countries producing their own series of The Weakest Link. As with the original British version, all of the hosts wear black clothing (or sometimes dark colours with black). Most versions also have disciplinarian female hosts, again similar to the British original—with exceptions being Fausto Silva (Brazil), Julien Courbet (2014 France), Eamon Dunphy (Ireland), Edu Manzano, Allan K. (both Philippines), Shiro Ito (Japan), Pedro Granger (Portugal), Tseng Yang Qing (Taiwan) and George Gray (United States). Gray (2002-03) and Courbet (2014-present) are comedians, and those versions were designed to play off comedy. Recordings of the show commenced from BBC's Elstree facility, but were switched in 2009 to Glasgow and the BBC Pacific Quay studio centre.

Not all the international versions share the title The Weakest Link. The format is distributed by BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC. Australia was the first country to adapt the BBC show, and versions have also been produced in Argentina, Australia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Panama, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Udmurtia and the United States.

In Croatia, in May 2010 the quiz reached its 1008th episode, and with the British original, is the only version to have reached as many episodes.

The Weakest Link franchise is the second most popular international franchise, behind only the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? franchise, which also originated in the United Kingdom.^[1]

Format

Each weekday, a group of 9 (or ranging from 5 to 10, varies among versions) contestants work as a team to reach up to the most amount of money. If a person answers the question correctly, the money will move upwards to the next stage in the chain. If a person answers the question wrong, the money is lost and the chain starts again. If a person banks the money it stays safe, however the chain will start again. If there are 9 correct answers in a row (No banking). When approaching the top stage of money, the last player who answered it correctly must pass over to the next player (on their right or clockwise), must bank to receive the money. There is a time limit which goes down, usually around 10 seconds as the game progresses. In some versions, if the contestant takes too long time to think, the host may interrupt him or her and tell the correct answer, and it will be considered as incorrect. At the end of each round the contestants must vote for who they thought was the Weakest Link in the round that just occurred, If the vote comes to a tie, the strongest link can decide between the players of who should leave, usually this player votes for who they voted first. The strongest link is the person who either: had the most correct answers, banked money, only person to answers all the questions right or not hesitating. Then Anne, to the voted contestant will say "(name), you are the weakest link, goodbye". The contestant is asked for the walk of shame and has an interview outside the game. The person who was the strongest link in the last round goes first. If the strongest link got voted, the second strongest player starts. In the UK version, the final round has a 90-second last round with no voting but money is still to be earned. After the final money round the grand money chance is given. To decide who takes the money. There is a head-to-head round with 5 questions asked to each player in turn decided by the strongest link from the final money round. Whoever gets the most questions correct wins, If there is a tie, the game continues and the two contestants have a sudden death battle with this going on and on until there is winner. The loser goes home with nothing.

Game rule variations

In the second syndicated version of the American version, after the second last round, the last two contestants do not face the clock and the money tree, instead, the remaining two contestants go straightly into the head-to-head round. Similarly, the French version (2014 to present) also does not use the clock and money tree for the final round, and in the penultimate round is the three-player triple stake round for €15,000 and lasts 90 seconds.

Strategy for banking money

In a New Scientist blog article, Erica Klarreich argues that there are only two sensible strategies in The Weakest Link (the U.S. edition) when it comes to banking money. Either players should choose to bank after every correct answer, or after six straight correct answers to maximize the pot. The correct strategy to take will depend upon the skill at answering questions of the members of the team. For all but the weakest teams, the optimal strategy is to raise the pot six straight times without banking. But since this happens so seldom on the show, Klarreich argues, the dominant strategy will usually be instead to bank after every question. The common practice of banking after just three questions would only outperform the strategy of banking after every question if a team maintained a success rate of over 67%.^[2]

International versions

Legend:      Currently airing        No longer airing        Future version  

Country	Name	Host	TV station	Top prize	Premiere	Finale
Arab World	الحلقة الأضعف Elhalka Eladaaf	Rita Khoury	Future Television	US$16,000	2002	2003
Australia	Weakest Link	Cornelia Frances	Seven Network	A$100,000	February 2001	April 2002
Azerbaijan	Zəif Bənd	Kamila Babayeva	Lider TV	AZN9,000 (Formerly AZM 45,000,000)	2004	2006
		Solmaz Süleymanlı			2012	2014
Belgium (Dutch)	De Zwakste Schakel	Goedele Liekens	VTM	2,000,000BEF	2001
Brazil	Ponto Fraco	Fausto Silva	TV Globo	R$1,000,000	2001 (Pilots rejected by BBC)
Chile	El Rival Más Débil	Catalina Pulido	Canal 13	CL$40,000,000	2004
China	汰弱留强·智者为王 Tài ruò liú qiáng·zhìzhě wéi wáng	Chen Luyu	Nanjing TV	CN¥200,000	2002	2004
	智者为王 Zhìzhě wéi wáng	Shen Bing
		Xia Qing
Czech Republic	Nejslabší! Máte padáka!	Zuzana Slaviková	TV Nova	Kč1,000,000	2002	2004
Croatia	Najslabija karika	Nina Violić	HRT1	kn 90,000	2004	2010
		Daniela Trbović
Denmark	Det Svageste Led	Trine Gregorius	DR1	KR200,000	2001	2002
Estonia	Nõrgim lüli	Tuuli Roosma	Kanal 2	500,000 kr	2004
Finland	Heikoin lenkki	Kirsi Salo	MTV3	€15,000	2002	2005
				€16,000
				€18,000
France	Le Maillon Faible	Laurence Boccolini	TF1	150,000F €20,000 €50,000	9 July 2001	12 August 2007
		Julien Courbet	D8	€45,000	2014	present
Georgia	სუსტი რგოლი Susti Rgoli	Nino Burduli	Rustavi 2	ლ10,000	200?	-
Germany	Der Schwächste fliegt!	Sonja Zietlow	RTL Television	DM50,000	19 March 2001	March 2002
				€50,000
Greece	Ο Πιο Αδύναμος Κρίκος O Pio Adynamos Krikos	Elena Akrita	MEGA	₯5,000,000	2001	2003
				€15,000
Hong Kong	一筆OUT消 Jat1 bat1 OUT siu1	Carol Cheng	TVB Jade	HK$3,000,000	20 August 2001	18 January 2002
Hungary	A Leggyengébb Láncszem	Krisztina Máté	TV2	3,000,000 Ft	2001	2004
	Nincs Kegyelem			6,000,000 Ft
India	Kamzor Kadii Kaun	Neena Gupta	Star Plus	Rs.2,500,000	2002	2003
Indonesia	The Weakest Link Indonesia	Chantal Della Concetta	NET.	Rp.500,000,000	2015	-
Ireland	Weakest Link	Eamon Dunphy	TV3	€10,000	2001	2002
Israel	החוליה החלשה HaChulia HaChalasha	Pnina Dvorin	Channel 10	₪100,000	2002	2004
		Hana Laszlo		₪90,000
Italy	Anello Debole	Enrico Papi	Italia 1	€15,000	2001
Japan	ウィーケストリンク☆一人勝ちの法則 Uikesutorinku hitori-gachi no hosoku	Shiro Ito	Fuji Television	JP¥16,000,000	2002
Macedonia	Најслаба алка Najslaba Alka	Zivkica Gjurcinovska	Alfa TV	420,000 MKD	2010	2011
Malaysia	Weakest Link	Sekilara Kiramila	RTM	RM80,000	2003	2009
Mexico	El Rival Más Debil	Montserrat Ontiveros	Azteca Trece	MX$200,000	2003	2008
		Lolita Cortés			27 July 2013	7 September 2013
					26 May 2014	-
Moldova	Veriga Slaba	Andrei Gheorghe	Kanal 1	1,000,000 MDL	200?	2009
Netherlands	De Zwakste Schakel	Chazia Mourali	RTL 4	€10,000	2001	2004
New Zealand	The Weakest Link	Louise Wallace	TV One	NZ$20,000	July 2001	March 2002
Norway	Det Svakeste Ledd	Anne Grosvold	NRK	KR200,000	2004
Philippines	Weakest Link	Edu Manzano	IBC	PHP1,000,000	2001	2002
		Allan K.
Poland	Najsłabsze Ogniwo	Kazimiera Szczuka	TVN	27,000 zł	2004	2006
Portugal	O Elo Mais Fraco	Julia Pinheiro	RTP1	€10,000	2002	2003
		Luisa Castel-Branco
		Pedro Granger			2011	2012
Romania	Lanţul Slăbiciunilor	Andrei Gheorghe	Pro TV	lei50,000	2001
Russia	Слабое Звено	Mariya Kiselyova	ORT	RUB300,000 RUB400,000 RUB350,000 RUB1,000,000(celebrity editions)	2001	2005
		Nikolai Fomenko	Channel 5	RUB350,000	2007	2008
Serbia	Najslabija Karika	Sandra Lalatović	BKTV	RSD5,000,000	2002-2006
Singapore	智者生存 Zhizhe shengcun	Yvette Cui (Cui Lixin)	MediaCorp TV Channel 8	S$100,000	2002	2003
	Weakest Link	Asha Gill	MediaCorp TV Channel 5	S$1,000,000
Slovenia	Najšibkejši Člen	Violeta Tomič	SLO 1	2,400,000 SIT (€10,000)	2003	2005
South Africa	Weakest Link	Fiona Coyne	SABC3	R50,000	2003	2008
				R100,000
Spain	El Rival Más Débil	Nuria González	TVE1	€7,200	2002	2004
		Karmele Aranburu	TVE2
Sweden	Svagaste Länken	Kajsa Ingemarsson	TV4	100,000 kr	2011	2013
Taiwan	Weakest Link 智者生存 Weakest Link zhizhe shengcun	Belle Yu	STAR Chinese Channel	NT$400,000	2001	2003
		Tseng Yang Qing
Thailand	Weakest Link กำจัดจุดอ่อน Weakest Link Kacad cudxxn	Krittika Kongsompong	ThaiTV 3	฿1,000,000	2002	2003
Turkey	En Zayıf Halka	Hülya Uğur Tanrıöver	Show TV	TL100 billion	2001	2002
		-	Kanal D	-	Kanal D Cancel Production
United Kingdom	The Weakest Link	Anne Robinson	BBC	£10,000 (Daytime)	14 August 2000	31 March 2012
				£50,000 (Primetime)
United States	Weakest Link	Anne Robinson	NBC	US$1,000,000	2001	2002
		George Gray	Syndicated	US$75,000	2002	2003
				US$100,000

In popular culture

Anne Robinson's catchphrase "You are the weakest link. Goodbye!" has made several appearances in pop culture, including references in Family Guy, Scary Movie 2 and The League of Gentlemen. In the first season of the 2005 revival of Doctor Who, character Rose Tyler appears on a futuristic version of The Weakest Link, hosted by an "Anne droid" voiced by Anne Robinson, where eliminated contestants were supposedly disintegrated. The "Anne droid" began a special Doctor Who themed version of the real show, with actors from the series playing for charity; the real Anne Robinson, however, unplugged her droid counterpart and continued the show herself.

References

External links

• Official website
• UK Gameshows Page: The Weakest Link
• Official site of the Israeli version (via Internet Archive)
• Official site of the French Version (Boccolini era)