The Weakest Link

The Weakest Link is a television game show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and originally ended on 31 March 2012 when its host Anne Robinson completed her contract. The original British version of the show is still aired around the world on BBC Entertainment. The game begins with a team of contestants who take turns answering general knowledge questions within a time limit to create chains of correct answers in a row. At the end of each round, the players vote one contestant, "the weakest link", out of the game. Once two players are left, they play in a head-to-head contest, with five questions asked to each contestant in turn, to determine the winner.

For other uses, see The Weakest Link (disambiguation).

The Weakest Link
Created by	Fintan Coyle Cathy Dunning
Original work	The Weakest Link (United Kingdom)
Films and television
Television series	The Weakest Link (independent international versions, see below)
Games
Video game(s)	Weakest Link (2001)
Miscellaneous
First aired	14 August 2000 (2000-08-14)
Distributor	BBC Worldwide

The format has been licensed across the world, with many countries producing their own series of the programme and is the 2nd most popular international franchise, behind only the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? franchise, which also originated in the UK.[1]

Format

The programme sees a group of contestants (ranging from five to nine players) who will need to work as a team to try and win as much of a maximum cash jackpot by correctly answering general-knowledge questions in a series of rapid-fire rounds.

Each round features a money chain of anywhere from five to nine increasing cash values, with a maximum cash target that the team must attempt to reach within a time limit. The team can quickly achieve this target by stringing together a chain of correct consecutive answers, the minimum number of which depends on the number of "links" in the money chain (usually but not always the same as the number of contestants at the start of the show). A correct answer increases the value of the succeeding question, however, an incorrect answer breaks the chain and losing all money accumulated in that chain. A contestant can secure the accumulated money in the chain by saying "Bank" before their question is asked, however the chain resets to zero and the team must rebuild again. The round ends when the team has either run out of time, or has banked the target (in which case, the round ends prematurely). The target amount is the maximum amount available in the round. If the team banks a total exceeding this amount, it is rounded down to the maximum amount. Only money that has been banked is taken forward in the game, and forms the total prize money available at the end.

The round ends with the team voting off one person from the game. Before the votes are revealed, a voice-over announcer reveals who statistically is the Strongest Link and Weakest Link (these are determined by how many questions were answered correctly, incorrectly, money banked, and total monetary value of the questions asked). The votes are then revealed, followed by inquiry by the host for the reasoning behind the vote, along with berating of the contestants. The person with the most votes is named the Weakest Link (regardless of the statistics), is eliminated from the game and wins nothing. In the event of a tie, the Strongest Link is immediately deemed immune from the vote and must break the tie.

This process repeats, with each successive round beginning with the Strongest Link from the last round (except for Round 1, where a pre-designated player starts first; or if the Strongest Link was voted off, in which case the second Strongest Link goes first), and the time limit available to them decreasing. Once there are two players remaining, they play one final round, where the money banked is multiplied by a certain amount (doubled, tripled or quadrupled).

The final two contestants then compete in a head-to-head round to determine the winner, with the Strongest Link from the last round determining who begins the round. Each contestant is alternately asked a series of five questions. The player who answers the most correctly wins the money accumulated in the game. If there is a draw, the game continues to sudden death, where the first to answer a question correctly over their opponent's incorrect answer wins. The loser, like all other contestants prior, goes home with nothing.

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]

Game rule and format variations

Compared with the original format, the others have some changes, making them not the same as the original.

Format changes

In the UK original series the host (Anne Robinson) acted cold, harsh and mean to the contestants. Some international hosts went to the BBC Studio for instruction and training purpose (meeting the UK production team and Anne Robinson) to replicate the presenting style. However, the format distributor BBC Worldwide changed the rules and this is not required anymore. As a result, some international hosts are nicer and more relaxed to the contestants. This has changed the whole program style compared with the original BBC series. Notable examples are France (2014–2015), Turkey (2015/2019), Finland (2017–2019), Cyprus (2017), Netherlands (2019) and Greece (2019). The new Dutch host Bridget Maasland is also the first host worldwide not to wear black clothing on every episode. Although she does wear dark and black suits on about half of the shows, she often wears bright colored outfits in the other episodes. Her style of hosting resembles the style Anne Robinson adapted in the later UK shows, asking contestants more about their private lives, let them sing and dance during the voting and chit chat about more than just the mistakes made.

US syndicated version

In the 2nd syndicated version of the American version, after the 2nd last round, the last 2 contestants do not face the clock and the money tree. Instead, the remaining 2 contestants go straight into the head-to-head round.

French version

The latest French version (aired from 2014 to 2015) also does not use the clock and money tree for the final round, and in the penultimate round is the 3-player triple stake round for €15,000 and lasts 90 seconds.

Dutch version

In the current Dutch version that started in May 2019, just like on the latest French version, round 8 was cut from the format after they aired the show for two weeks. Instead, in round 7, the money triples, and one last player is eliminated after that round. Making the top prize money no longer €10,000, but €9,000. After that, the remaining two contestants go straight into the head-to-head round. However, in the 2nd series, the number of contestants dropped to 7. The top prize money decreased to €8,000, and the 90-second round returned.

International versions

Countries that have produced their own version

The format is distributed by BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, and also produced by different production companies. Australia was the 1st country to adapt the format; not all the international versions share the same title as UK.

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), Tasos Tryfonos (Cyprus and Greece), Julien Courbet (France), Riku Nieminen (Finland), Nikolai Fomenko (Russia), Eamon Dunphy (Ireland), Edu Manzano, Allan K. (both Philippines), Shirō Itō (Japan), Pedro Granger (Portugal), Enrico Papi (Italy), Tseng Yang Qing (Taiwan), Baybars Altuntaş (Turkey) and George Gray (United States). Gray and Courbet are comedians, and those versions were designed to play off comedy.

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.

Legend:      Currently airing (4 countries)        No longer airing        Unsold pilot (Only Brazil)        Future version (Only United States)

Country	Local title	Host	TV station	Top prize	Catchphrase	First episode	Last episode
Arab World	الحلقة الأضعف Elhalka Eladaaf	Rita Khoury	Future Television	$16,000	أنت الحلقة الأضعف ، الله معك	14 October 2001	April 2003
Australia	Weakest Link	Cornelia Frances	Seven Network	$100,000	You are the Weakest Link. Goodbye!	5 February 2001	22 April 2002
Azerbaijan	Zəif bənd	Kamila Babayeva	Lider TV	AZM45,000,000 (2004–2005) AZN9,000 (2006–2007)	Ən zəif bənd sizsiniz, xudahafiz!	May 2004	April 2007[3]
		Solmaz Süleymanlı		AZN9,000		3 March 2012	2014
Belgium ( Flanders)	De zwakste schakel	Goedele Liekens	VTM	fr. 2,000,000	Jij bent de zwakste schakel. Salut!	29 August 2001	December 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	$40,000,000	Tú eres el rival más débil. ¡Adiós!	2004
China	汰弱留强·智者为王 Tài ruò liú qiáng·zhìzhě wéi wáng	Chen Luyu	Nanjing TV	¥200,000	你被淘汰啦，再见!	9 February 2002	2004
	智者为王 Zhìzhě wéi wáng	Shen Bing
		Xia Qing
Croatia	Najslabija karika	Nina Violić	HRT 1	kn 90,000	Vi ste najslabija karika. Doviđenja!	26 April 2004	31 May 2010
		Daniela Trbović			Vi ste najslabija karika. Zbogom!
		Mirko Fodor[4]
Cyprus	Ο Πιο Αδύναμος Κρίκος O Pio Adynamos Krikos	Tasos Tryfonos[5]	RIK 1[5]	€5,000	Είστε ο πιο αδύναμος κρίκος, Λυπάμαι πολύ!	18 September 2017[5]
Czech Republic	Nejslabší! Máte padáka!	Zuzana Slavíková	TV Nova	Kč 1,000,000	Jste Nejslabší, a máte padáka!	15 February 2002	1 July 2004
Denmark	Det svageste led	Trine Gregorius	DR1	kr. 200,000	Du er det svageste led, farvel!	2001	2002
Estonia	Nõrgim lüli	Tuuli Roosma	Kanal 2	kr 80,000	Sina oled nõrgim lüli, head aega!	5 September 2004	July 2005
Finland	Heikoin lenkki	Kirsi Salo	MTV3	€16,000 €18,000 €20,000	Sinä olet heikoin lenkki, hyvästi!	6 September 2002	18 February 2005
		Riku Nieminen	Nelonen	€20,000		20 March 2017	28 June 2019
France	Le maillon faible	Laurence Boccolini	TF1	F 150,000 €20,000 €50,000	Vous êtes le maillon faible, au revoir!	9 July 2001	12 August 2007
		Julien Courbet	D8	€45,000		8 September 2014	22 July 2015
Georgia	სუსტი რგოლი Susti rgoli	Nino Burduli	Rustavi 2	ლ10,000	თქვენ სუსტი რგოლი ხართ, და ამიტომ ტოვებთ პროექტს!	2005
Germany	Der Schwächste fliegt!	Sonja Zietlow	RTL Television	DM50,000	Du bist der Schwächste, du fliegst, und tschüss!	19 March 2001	23 February 2002
				€50,000
Greece	Ο Πιο Αδύναμος Κρίκος O Pio Adynamos Krikos	Elena Akrita[5]	MEGA[5]	₯5,000,000	Είστε ο πιο αδύναμος κρίκος, Λυπάμαι πολύ!	2001	2003
				€15,000
		Tasos Tryfonos	Skai TV	€10,000		21 September 2019
Hong Kong	一筆OUT消 Jat1 bat1 OUT siu1	Carol Cheng	TVB Jade	HK$3,000,000	你係眾望所歸，無得留低，你要一筆OUT消, Goodbye!	20 August 2001	18 January 2002
Hungary	A leggyengébb láncszem	Krisztina Máté	TV2	Ft 3,000,000	Ön a leggyengébb láncszem, viszlát!	12 August 2001	2002
	Nincs kegyelem[6]			Ft 6,000,000
India	Kamzor Kadii Kaun	Neena Gupta	Star Plus	Rs. 2,500,000	Kamzor Kadii aap jaa Sakte hai, Namaste!	December 2001	21 May 2002
Ireland	Weakest Link	Eamon Dunphy	TV3	€10,000	You are the Weakest Link. Goodbye!	December 2001	July 2002
Israel	החוליה החלשה HaChulia HaChalasha	Pnina Dvorin	Channel 10	₪100,000	!אתה החוליה החלשה, שלום	2002	2004
		Hana Laszlo		₪90,000
Italy	Anello debole	Enrico Papi	Italia 1	€15,000	Lei è l'Anello Debole, se ne vada!	29 October 2001	17 November 2001
Japan	Weakest Link ウィーケストリンク☆一人勝ちの法則 Uikesutorinku: Hitori-gachi no Hosoku	Shirō Itō	Fuji Television	¥ 16,000,000	ウィーケストリンクと決定しました。__君、退場!	16 April 2002	16 September 2002
Mexico	El rival más debil	Montserrat Ontiveros	Azteca Trece	$200,000	Tú eres el rival más débil. ¡Adiós!	2 August 2003	October 2009
		Lolita Cortés			Tú eres el rival más débil, te vas.	27 July 2013	7 September 2013
						26 May 2014	27 December 2014
Netherlands	De zwakste schakel	Chazia Mourali	RTL 4	€10,000	Je bent de zwakste schakel, tot ziens!	6 May 2001	28 August 2004
		Bridget Maasland		€9,000 (2019) €8,000 (2020)	Je bent de zwakste schakel, dag!	6 May 2019
New Zealand	Weakest Link	Louise Wallace	TVNZ 1	$20,000	You are the Weakest Link. Goodbye!	17 July 2001	March 2002
North Macedonia	Најслаба алка Najslaba alka	Živkica Kalenikova	Alfa TV	ден 420,000 (2010) ден 320,000 (2011)	Вие сте Најслабата алка, збогум!	3 May 2010	2011
Norway	Det svakeste ledd	Anne Grosvold	NRK	kr. 200,000	Du er det svakeste ledd, adjø!	30 August 2004	6 December 2004
Philippines	Weakest Link	Edu Manzano	IBC	₱1,000,000	You are the Weakest Link. Goodbye!	15 October 2001	October 2002
		Allan K.
Poland	Najsłabsze ogniwo	Kazimiera Szczuka	TVN	zł 27,000	Jesteś najsłabszym ogniwem, do widzenia!	1 March 2004	26 January 2006
Portugal	O elo mais fraco	Julia Pinheiro	RTP1	€10,000	Você é o elo mais fraco, adeus!	11 June 2002	2003
		Luisa Castel-Branco
		Pedro Granger				19 September 2011	25 May 2012
Romania	Lanțul slăbiciunilor	Andrei Gheorghe	Pro TV	L 500,000,000	Ești veriga cea mai slabă din lanțul slăbiciunilor. La revedere, Drum bun!	13 October 2001	2002
Russia	Слабое звено Slaboe zveno	Mariya Kiselyova Leonid Yakubovich (25 December 2002) [7]	ORT/Channel One	₽300,000 (25 September - 30 October 2001) ₽400,000 (1 November 2001 - October 2004) ₽350,000 (October 2004 - 2 July 2005) ₽1,000,000 (celebrity editions, 2001–2004)	Вы самое слабое звено, прощайте!	25 September 2001	2 July 2005
		Nikolai Fomenko	Channel 5	₽350,000		2 December 2007	28 December 2008
		Mariya Kiselyova	MTRK (Mir)	₽320,000		14 February 2020
Serbia	Najslabija karika	Sandra Lalatović	BKTV	din 5,000,000	Vi ste najslabija karika. Doviđenja!	2002	2006
Singapore	智者生存 Zhizhe shengcun	Yvette Cui (Cui Lixin)	Mediacorp Channel 8	S$100,000	你是最弱一環,再見!	19 May 2002	2003
	Weakest Link	Asha Gill	Mediacorp Channel 5	S$1,000,000	You are the Weakest Link. Goodbye!	27 October 2002	2003
Slovenia	Najšibkejši člen	Violeta Tomič	SLO 1	SIT 2,400,000	Vi ste Najšibkejši člen! Adijo!	3 October 2003	2006[8]
South Africa	Weakest Link	Fiona Coyne	SABC3	R 50,000 (2003–2004)	You are the Weakest Link. Goodbye!	3 September 2003	2008
				R100,000 (2005–2008)
Spain	El rival más débil	Nuria González	TVE1	€7,200	Eres el rival más debil, ¡adios!	15 May 2002	2004
		Karmele Aranburu	TVE1
			TVE2
Sweden	Svagaste länken	Kajsa Ingemarsson	Sjuan	kr 100,000	Du är den svagaste länken, hejdå!	31 October 2011	2013
Taiwan	Weakest Link 智者生存 Weakest Link zhizhe shengcun	Belle Yu	STAR Chinese Channel	NT$400,000	你是本回合被淘汰的參賽者, goodbye!	22 October 2001	11 February 2002
		Tseng Yang Qing			第_回合被淘汰的是_,再見!
Thailand	Weakest Link กำจัดจุดอ่อน Weakest Link Kamchat Chut On	Krittika Kongsompong	ThaiTV 3	฿1,000,000	คุณคือจุดอ่อนของทีม เชิญค่ะ	7 February 2002	26 December 2002
Turkey	En zayıf halka	Hülya Uğur Tanrıöver	Show TV	TL100,000,000,000	En zayıf halka siz oldunuz, güle güle!	2001	2002
		Baybars Altuntaş	TV8[9]	₺54,000		21 September 2015	15 November 2015
		İpek Altınbaşak-Farina	aTV	₺80,000		24 July 2019[10]	21 September 2019
United Kingdom	The Weakest Link	Anne Robinson	BBC	£10,000 (Daytime) £20,000 (Primetime)[11] £50,000 (Primetime)	You are the Weakest Link. Goodbye!	14 August 2000	31 March 2012
				£15,000		17 November 2017[12]
United States	Weakest Link		NBC	$1,000,000		16 April 2001	14 July 2002
		George Gray	Syndicated	$75,000		7 January 2002	20 May 2003
				$100,000
		Jane Lynch [13]	NBC	$ ?		2020

See also

• List of television show franchises

References

1. "Millionaire dominates global TV". BBC News. 12 April 2005. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
2. Klarreich, Erica (16 January 2002). "Strongest strategy for The Weakest Link revealed". New Scientist. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2gPJ8saNyg&t=15m6s
4. Due to Daniela having surgery in 2010, HRT asked Mirko to temporary host the show until Daniela recovers.
5. "Πότε κάνει πρεμιέρα "Ο πιο αδύναμος κρίκος" του ΡΙΚ" [When does RIK's "Weakest Link" premiere?]. offsite.com.cy (in Greek). 7 September 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
6. Nincs kegyelem was the alternative name of this show, but recently used original name (A leggyengébb láncszem).
7. A special Christmas and New Year celebrity edition.
8. http://www.violetatomic.si/predstave.php?predstave1_id=70
9. Original production was Kanal D, but later they decide to reject and TV8 was takeover.
10. "En Zayıf Halka 1. Bölüm Fragmanı". 18 July 2019. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
11. 8/7 players version (2000–2001)
12. Westbrook, Caroline (19 July 2017). "The Weakest Link is coming back to TV - complete with Anne Robinson". Metro. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
13. https://www.vulture.com/2020/07/jane-lynch-the-weakest-link-revival-nbc.html. Missing or empty |title= (help)