Weakest Link (Hong Kong)

一筆OUT消 (Cantonese Yale: Yāt Bāt OUT Sīu) was the Hong Kong edition of the UK show The Weakest Link, presented by Hong Kong actress Carol Cheng in the Cantonese language. The Chinese title of the show is a word play of Chinese idiom 一筆勾銷 (Cantonese Yale: Yāt Bāt Ngāu Sīu), which means "Written off".

一筆OUT消
GenreGame show
Created byFintan Coyle, Cathy Dunning
Based onThe Weakest Link
Presented byCarol Cheng
Narrated byKevin So (So Keung Man)
Theme music composerPaul Farrer
Country of originHong Kong
Original language(s)Cantonese
No. of episodes108
Production
Production location(s)Studio 6,T.V. City, 220 Clear Water Bay Road, Hong Kong
Running time60 minutes per episode
Production company(s)ECM Production
Sharp-Roxy (Hong Kong) Ltd
BBC Worldwide
Release
Original networkTVB Jade
Picture format576i (SDTV) 4:3
Audio formatStereo
Original releaseAugust 20, 2001 –
January 18, 2002
External links
[http://tvcity.tvb.com/special/weakestlink/ Website]

Purchase

The Show Format and Production License, TVB was quickly bought from The Weakest Link International License Holder BBC Worldwide and ECM Production. Then the show started quickly to air on TVB Jade, after rival ATV took most of the ratings with the Cantonese language version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. The top prize was HK$3,000,000. It premiered on August 20, 2001.

Host

As per the licensing agreement, hostess Carol Cheng initially had to act just like Anne Robinson, complete with the same cold and mean style of presenting. BBC staff were present for the first five tapings, and the network and production team had to model the show after the British version. Because Chinese culture typically does not value confrontational behaviour towards people, TVB received many viewers complaints about the show. Bowing to public pressure, the broadcaster changed the style of the show, and Carol Cheng became gentler with the contestants.[1] As a result, the ratings went up, and eventually the show beat Who Wants to be a Millionaire (albeit occasionally) in ratings. Since TVB ordered only 108 daily weekday shows, the series finale aired on January 18, 2002.[2]

Game play

The game play was identical to that of the U.S. nighttime show, with the first round lasting 2:30 and each succeeding round lasting 10 seconds less than the preceding round, until Round 7, which lasts for 1 minute, 30 seconds for double the stakes or a possible $750,000. The final round is a 5-question shootout in which the player who answers more questions correctly wins all the money, with "sudden death" play in the event of a tie. Unlike the British version, the first round started with the person whose first character (surname) in their Chinese name is first alphabetically. The money chain for each round is as follows:

  • $375,000
  • $225,000
  • $150,000
  • $75,000
  • $30,000
  • $15,000
  • $7,000
  • $3,000
gollark: Nobody cared enough to stop me, basically.
gollark: But if there was no heavloophole it would have passed fine.
gollark: Okay, yes, ignoring that.
gollark: I waited two days and got two votes for versus one against, which means it could have passed "naturally".
gollark: I wouldn't even have had to use the loophole.

References
  1. "Singtao.com". std.stheadline.com. Retrieved 2019-04-20.
  2. "《 一 筆 Out 消 》 五 大 死 穴 | 2001-08-23 | 壹週刊 | 蘋果日報". Apple Daily 蘋果日報. Retrieved 2019-04-22.
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