Unan1mous

Unan1mous is an American reality television program that premiered on the Fox Network on March 22, 2006 and ran for one season. The host of the series was J. D. Roth.

Concept

Nine strangers are locked in a bunker and told they cannot leave until they unanimously choose to award one of them the grand prize money. Contestants are isolated from the outside world, and have no access to any time references. If a contestant leaves the bunker, the amount of the available prize is cut in half (except in certain circumstances such as medical reasons).

Votes are cast by each contestant taking a ball and selecting the name of one of the other contestants via a roller inside of it (a person's own name is not included in their ball). If a vote is not unanimous, something negative happens to the players in order to increase the pressure to reach a unanimous decision. Throughout the course of the game, these were the "punishments" the players received:

• The contestants select three random envelopes, each containing a secret about one of them. It is not known whose secrets are being read, and contestants vote to decide which secret is the worst. The holder of that secret is "outcast" from the game, meaning they are no longer eligible to win the money, but that they will remain in the bunker (wearing a special uniform) and continue to vote. Outcast players are also still subject to the rule that if anyone leaves, the amount will be halved. (After Vote 1)
• The money begins to constantly decrease, pausing only when a vote is being held or to freeze the amount when someone has decided to leave. (After Vote 2)
• The contestants secretly vote to decide who will become an outcast. (After Votes 3 and 4)
  • The person voted to become an outcast is given the chance to select any remaining active player to become an outcast. (After Outcast Vote 2)
• The three outcasts each get to select one of the four remaining players, making the unpicked person an outcast. (After Vote 5)
• The four outcasts must select which one of the outcasts gets put back into the game. If they cannot decide by a majority within 15 minutes, the decision is left to the group leader (who, if an outcast, can choose to bring him/herself back). (After Vote 6)

The show was supposedly open-ended, and could end at any time: from one episode to several depending on when a unanimous vote is eventually reached. If the contest continued long enough, the money would be completely gone. The final episode aired May 10, 2006. However, the whole premise had a definite time limit of less than 8 full days. The entire show was filmed in only 10 days, as the total amount of money was cut in half once and then decreased at such a rate as to make it impossible for the contestants to be stuck in the bunker "forever."

Cast

• Richard, 42: Temp Worker, Writer
• Jameson, 38: Human Resources Manager. Gay Activist
• Kelly, 49: Minister, Conservative Republican
• Jonathan, 30: Real Estate Finance,
• Jamie, 24: Choreographer, Bow and Rifle Hunter
• Steve, 43: Truck Driver. Conservative Christian. Married and has four children
• Tarah, 25: Handbag Designer, Republican
• Vanessa, 36: Teacher, Soccer Mom. Atheist and liberal
• Adam, 35: Professional Poker Player, bartender, liberal, Actor

Vote history

(Red indicates Outcast)

Footnotes

1. ↑ Jamie left the game due to medical reasons, so the money was not cut in half because of her departure
2. ↑ Due to conflicts with others in the bunker, Kelly removed herself from the game and cut the money in half
3. 1 2 Richard was made an outcast after the first vote, but when Kelly left the game, he became active again to keep the total number of eligible players at 8
4. 1 2 After Vote 6, the inability of the outcasts to decide which of them to bring back into the game resulted in Tarah, the group leader and then an outcast, choosing to bring herself back in.
5. 1 2 Vanessa was chosen by Steve to join him as an outcast after Outcast Vote 2.
6. ↑ After Vote 5, Tarah was the person not chosen to remain active in the game by the other outcasts.

Finale

On Wednesday, May 10, 2006, the final vote was taken. Tarah received the necessary 6 votes (out of 7; her vote was for Jameson) to win the game, and won $382,193 as a result.

Broadcast information

Unan1mous was broadcast on eight consecutive Wednesday nights, from March 22 to May 10. It was broadcast in the 9:30 pm time slot, immediately after American Idol (the actual start time for each episode was 9:32 pm). The premiere episode attracted an audience of 15.84 million viewers in the United States, with most of the other episodes attracting between 12 and 14.5 million viewers. Despite these high ratings, the show did not return for a second season, presumably due to high production costs. Fox 8 in Australia has just finished airing the series. It is also broadcast in Sweden on TV6 and in the Netherlands on RTL5.

International versions

Versions of the show have aired in Italy, Kenya, Spain, Norway and in the United Kingdom (where the show is called Unanimous). A version in Russia called Who does NOT want to be a millionaire? has started on October 4, 2008 at the TNT (Russia) channel. An Indian adaptation of the show, known as The Player, aired on December 12, 2009 on Channel V.

References

• Rogers, Steve (2006). "Fox reveals the identities of its 'Unan1mous' reality show contestants". Reality TV World. Retrieved 2006-03-09. 

External links

• Unan1mous at the Internet Movie Database
• Unan1mous at TV.com