Who's Still Standing?

Who's Still Standing?
Genre	Game show
Created by	Lisa Shiloach-Uzrad Amit Stretiner
Presented by	Ben Bailey
Theme music composer	Jeff Lippencott David Mark T. Williams
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	9
Production
Executive producer(s)	Craig Plestis Tim Puntillo
Running time	approx. 40 minutes
Production company(s)	Smart Dog Media Armoza Formats Universal Television (as Universal Media Studios)
Distributor	NBCUniversal Television Distribution
Broadcast
Original channel	NBC
Original run	December 19, 2011 (2011-12-19) – January 30, 2012 (2012-01-30)
External links
Website

Who's Still Standing? is an American adaptation of the Israeli game show Lauf al Hamiliyon, (Hebrew: לעוף על המיליון‎), which offers contestants the opportunity to win up to US$1 million while competing in head-to-head trivia battles. Ben Bailey, host of the game show Cash Cab, hosted the show which originally ran on NBC from December 19, 2011 to January 30, 2012.^[1]

On May 13, 2012, it was announced that the show will not be renewed for a second season due to high production costs, despite having acceptable ratings.

Format

One player (the "Hero") attempts to defeat 10 competitors ("Strangers") in a series of trivia showdowns to win $1 million. The Hero stands at center stage, with the 10 Strangers standing around the perimeter and facing in toward the Hero. Each participant stands on a trapdoor. The Hero challenges each Stranger, one by one, in an order selected by the Hero, in a head-to-head trivia battle. The host asks alternating questions, starting with the Stranger, with a series of partially filled-in blanks showing the words in the correct answer. The participant has 20 seconds to give the correct answer, starting from the moment the question appears. The answer must be given as spelled out in the puzzle (although slight variations in pronunciations are allowed). Multiple guesses are allowed, as long as the correct answer is given before time runs out (even if it is given unintentionally while thinking out loud).

The Hero is given two passes (in some episodes, three passes are given) at the start of the game. Passing a question forces the Stranger to answer it, with a fresh 20-second countdown. Strangers may not pass; they must answer every question put to them.

The challenge ends when a contestant misses a question: the trapdoor under that person's feet opens, dropping the participant through the stage and eliminating him or her from the game with no winnings. If the Hero drops, the victorious Stranger wins $10,000 ($25,000 in the eighth or ninth challenge, $50,000 in the tenth challenge). If the Stranger drops, the Hero wins an amount of money between $1,000 and $20,000, revealed on a screen at the Stranger's position once the challenge is over. The value of each Stranger is based on the difficulty that the Hero is expected to face in defeating him or her.

Occasionally, a head-to-head round is introduced as a "Specialty Round," in which all the questions and answers share a common theme or word.

After five Strangers have dropped, the Hero is offered a chance to leave the game with all money won to that point, or stay in and try to win more. If the Hero decides to stay in, he or she receives one more pass and will have another chance to leave after each subsequent Stranger is dropped. Dropping eight, nine, or all 10 Strangers increases the Hero's winnings to $250,000, $500,000, or $1 million, respectively. Any Hero who chooses to end the game and keep their winnings has the option of leaving by walking out of the studio or dropping through the floor.

After the Hero exits the game, the remaining Strangers, including the one who defeated the Hero if applicable, play a "Speed Round" among themselves. The host asks a question to each one in turn, with 10 seconds on the clock instead of 20. Each correct answer adds $2,000 to a jackpot, while a wrong answer drops the Stranger with no winnings (although if the Hero had been defeated, the Stranger who defeated the Hero still keeps their winnings). The last one left standing wins the entire jackpot. As with a winning Hero, the winner has the option of walking out of the studio or dropping through the trap door. A Speed Round is always played and filmed when at least two Strangers remain; should there not be enough time to air the Speed Round, it may either be posted on the show's website after the episode airs, or aired on a subsequent episode.

Variations

In the US version

Game rules have varied among, and even within, episodes in the first season. One episode began with a game in which the Hero started with two passes, and Strangers whose elimination earned between $1,000 and $20,000, with five Strangers needed to win money; in the second game, the Hero began with three passes, eliminated one contestant for $1 and another for $50,000, and was given the option of quitting after eliminating just three Strangers (with no offer of an additional pass to continue). The value for each correct answer in the Speed Round has varied as well ($1,000 instead of $2,000).

In the Chinese version

Original Game

The Chinese version of the game show's rules is quite different from the other versions. In the current episodes, a contestant begin with only one pass (in Simplified Chinese it is called "免答权", the right to be free from answering the current question). If the Hero eliminate three Strangers, he is given the option of retiring from the game or moving on. If the Hero want to move on, they must eliminate two Strangers, and rules are remained the same as the first round. After eliminating five of the Strangers, the rules is similar to the US version, but the Hero has only one pass before each subsequent round.

If the Hero use the pass and the Stranger playing with the Hero answered the question correctly, he or she can "Steal" the prize and the Hero gets nothing in this round.

Unlike the other versions, in the Chinese version, if the Hero lost the game, the Stranger who beat the last Hero is the next Hero. If the number of the Strangers is no more than three, the Speed Round is automatically started.

The final winner of each episode is given a choice of retiring from the show with all the prizes or moving on to the end game - the "Final Five Questions". If the contestant succeeded in answering the 5 questions correctly, he can win the Top Prize; However, if not, half of the prizes are lost.

"Last Man Standing"

In the episodes from January 31, 2013 to February 21, 2013, the game used different rules from the original game of the Chinese version. Ten contestants stand around the center of the stage, and they are divided into five pairs. They compete in pairs, and the winners of the head-to-head rounds proceed to the next round.

In the second round, five contestants answer questions in turns. The last contestant still stands on the stage win the game.

Head-to-head

In some episodes, four teams of five (from Peking University, Tsinghua University, Zhejiang University, Shanghai Jiaotong University) competed for the free trip to the United States. The game used special rules. One of each team's contestants play the head-to-head rounds, and if all of one team's contestants are eliminated, the other team wins the game.

International versions

Country	Title	Network	Host	Date aired	Prize
Israel[2] (original version)	לעוף על המיליון Lauf al Hamiliyon	Channel 10	Yaron Brovinsky	December 20, 2010 - June 2013	₪1,000,000
Arab World	المصيدة El masyadeh[3][4]	MBC1	Badr Al Zeidan	October 23, 2013 - January 15, 2014	SR1,000,000
Brazil	Quem Fica em Pé?[5]	Band	José Luiz Datena	April 9, 2012	R$100,000
China	一站到底 Yizhan Daodi[6]	JSBC	Li Hao & Zhang Chunye	March 2, 2012 – present	Electronics, Home appliances, etc. and Free double trip to places around the world
Germany	Ab durch die Mitte[7][8]	Sat.1	Daniel Boschmann	July 2, 2012 - July 20, 2012	€50,000
Hungary	Maradj talpon![9]	m1	Gábor Gundel Takács	October 3, 2011 - December 19, 2014	25,000,000Ft.
Italy	Caduta libera![10]	Canale 5	Gerry Scotti	4 May 2015	TBA
Spain	¡Ahora caigo![11]	Antena 3	Arturo Valls Carlos Sobera (1 episode)	July 6, 2011 - September 28, 2011 (weekly)	€200,000 (weekly)
				August 22, 2011 – present (daily)	€100,000 (daily)
Turkey	Eyvah Düşüyorum[12]	Star TV	Eser Yenenler	January 6, 2012 - March 13, 2013	500,000TL
			Mehmet Ali Erbil	June 13, 2014 – present	250,000TL
United States	Who's Still Standing?[13]	NBC	Ben Bailey	December 19, 2011 - January 30, 2012	US$1,000,000

Note: According to the words of the contestants in the Chinese franchise, they are offered with prize money (approximately 10,000 U.S. dollars of the top prize) as a matter of fact.

References