Russian Roulette (game show)

Russian Roulette
Created by	Gunnar Wetterberg
Presented by	Mark L. Walberg
Narrated by	Burton Richardson
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	131
Production
Location(s)	Sony Pictures Studios Culver City, California
Running time	22 minutes
Production company(s)	Gunnar Wetterberg Productions Columbia TriStar Television (season 1) Sony Pictures Television (season 2) GSN Originals Season 3: G.S.N CLASSICS.
Release
Original network	GSN
Original release	June 3, 2002 (2002-06-03) – June 13, 2003 (2003-06-13)

Russian Roulette is an American game show created by executive producer Gunnar Wetterberg that ran for two seasons on Game Show Network from June 3, 2002 to June 13, 2003

Gameplay

The Russian Roulette set consists of a circle with six trapdoors, four of which are occupied by the episode's contestants.

First round

The four contestants are each given $150 at the beginning of the episode, and questions in the first round are all worth that same amount.

The number of red lights on the field indicates the number of active drop zones. At the start of the round there is only one drop zone active. After each additional question, another drop zone is added, increasing the odds that the contestant will be eliminated after providing an incorrect answer. From the fifth question onward, there are always five drop zones.

Second and third rounds

The second round is played similarly to the first, with the three remaining contestants answering questions valued at $200 each. One contestant is eliminated in this round, with the two remaining contestants competing in round three.

The $100,000 Bonus Round

First season

The winning contestant is moved to the top-left zone and has 60 seconds to answer five "brain-teaser" questions referred to by the host as "Five Killer Questions". These usually consist of word jumbles, math problems and general-knowledge questions. The timer begins ticking while the host asks the first question. After every ten seconds, one drop zone opens on the playfield. If time runs out or the contestant at any time gives an incorrect answer, he or she drops, but receives $500 for every correct answer. The contestant has the option to pass on a question and return to it if time allows. Also, the contestant must say "My answer is..." before their answer so that thinking aloud is not mistaken for an answer.

Second season

The endgame is similar to the first version, except the contestant must answer 10 multiple-choice questions (each with three choices) in 60 seconds in order to win $10,000. The timer only starts ticking after the first question has been read. If the contestant fails, an additional $300 is given for every correct answer given. Saying "My answer is" before the answer is no longer required. As before, should all 10 questions be answered correctly, the clock stops, and the contestant then has the option of risking their bonus round winnings for a final pull.

Special Episodes

As part of an April Fools Day prank in 2003 where the GSN Originals hosts traded shows for the day, Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck host Todd Newton hosted the episode with Mark Walberg and the Whammy in the audience. The episode ended with Newton himself jumping down one of the open drop zone holes.

International versions

On all versions of Russian Roulette outside of the U.S., U.K., Portugal, and Poland (in season two), there are also displays of the contestants' heart rates on the screen (examples include Russia's, Poland's (season one), and Hong Kong's versions), and most versions even have the contestants themselves asking questions to their opponents. There is also a camera underneath each of the trapdoors to catch footage of the contestant dropping from another angle. Some may also have a maximum time limit of 15 seconds instead of 10 to answer questions. The Polish version has 30 seconds to answer the question in season one and 20 seconds in season two. Most versions of the show (except for the versions in the U.S., Greece, Taiwan and India) run for an hour rather than a half-hour. As of 2013, there are no versions of the show still in production internationally. However, China's religional broadcaster Shandong TV revived the show in Spring 2015 in substitution of the previous edition using the format of The Million Pound Drop, this version using a format that a little different to other ones - and the daily prize fund always starts at RMB¥50,000, and each correct answer before the final round earns RMB¥1,000 to the final pot. The Chinese version is broadcast live on weekdays, and runs for 65 minutes (including commercials).

Legend:      Currently airing        No longer airing  

Country	Name	Host	Channel	Prize	First year aired
Argentina	Decisión Final	Horacio Cabak	América	AR$100.000	June 6, 2003
Brazil	Roleta Russa	Milton Neves	Rede Record	R$500.000	October 2002-October 2003
Bulgaria	Руска pулeткa	Nikolay Georgiev	BNT 1	100.000лв	2003
Chile	Ruleta Rusa	Diana Bolocco	Canal 13	$100.000.000	May 5, 2013
China	让梦想飞·智命一击 Rang Meng Xiang Fei · Zhi Ming Yi Ji	Yang Bo	Shandong TV	No limit for top prize	March 16, 2015
Egypt	الدائرة El Daera	Ayman Kaisouni	ERTU1	250.000 ج.م.	September 2010
Greece	Ρωσική Ρουλέτα Rosiki Rouleta	Miltos Makridis	MEGA	€100.000	2002-2003
Hong Kong	一觸即發	Dayo Wong	TVB	HK$500,000	2002
India	Bachke Rehnaa Zara Sambhalna	Mohnish Behl	SET	Rs.1,000,000	September 9, 2002
Indonesia	Russian Roulette	Dede Yusuf	Trans TV	Rp100,000,000	September 4, 2002 – December 31, 2003
Poland	Rosyjska Ruletka	Henryk Talar Krzysztof Ibisz	Polsat	100,000zł	2002-2004
Portugal	Decisão Final	José Carlos Malato	RTP1	€30.000	May 28, 2012 – January 13, 2013
Romania	Ruleta Rusească	Razvan Exarhu Florin Mihoc	TVR	1.000.000.000lei	2003
Russia	Русская Рулетка	Valdis Pelsh	Channel One	1,000,000руб	April 2, 2002 – August 6, 2004
Serbia and Montenegro	Ruski Rulet! Руски рулет!	Irfan Mensur	RTV Pink	3,000,000rds	April 2003-May 2004
	Ruski Rulet Show! Руски рулет шоу!	Milan Kalinić		€2,000	September 2004-July 2005
Serbia  Croatia  Bosnia and Herzegovina  Montenegro  Slovenia  Macedonia	Ruski Rulet Show! Руски рулет шоу! (VIP version)	Dragan Marinković Maca	RTV Pink Pink BH Pink M	€2,000	January 2007 – 2008
Singapore	灵机一洞	Xu Nailin	MediaCorp TV Channel 8	S$10,000	2003-2004
Spain	Decisíon Fínal	Luis Crespo	Telecinco	€10,000	March 18, 2002
Taiwan	俄羅斯輪盤	Cai Kangyong	Star Chinese Channel	NT$1,000,000	Unknown
Turkey	Rus Ruleti	Berkun Oya	Star TV	1,000,000YTL	April 12, 2008
United Kingdom	Russian Roulette	Rhona Cameron	ITV	£10,000	October 31, 2002 (Pilot) April 1, 2003 – April 22, 2003

References

External links

• Russian Roulette at TV.com
• Russian Roulette at the Internet Movie Database
• Hong Kong Version
• UK Gameshows Page: Russian Roulette