UPDATED - "Anne, you are the Feeblest Wink..."
Apr 17 '01
The Bottom Line Anne Robinson, you ARE the weakest link. Now clear off!
The Weakest Link (or The Feeblest Wink, as my 10 year old daughter calls it - watch for the wink at the end of the show!)has been around here in England now for sometime. It started out as a 'teatime' show (5.15), but there is now also an evening version. I have been following with interest the American reaction to this show, and indeed, the differences between this one and the English version.
An Admission
I have only seen the English version of the show - I have not seen the American. I am basing comments on the American version of the show on what I have heard on the radio and telly (yes, it gets reported in the news - how sad) and read in the papers, both English and American.
Summary of the Show
(For a more comprehensive summary, please see the OTHER review of this programme in this very category).
We start with 8 contestants. They are very simply introduced - they give their name, occupation and age - no chit-chat about their hobbies and children, as other game shows have.
The first round is 2 minutes long - there are 10 seconds knocked off the time each round. Anne goes around the contestants asking them each a question. If they answer it correctly, the money on a sort of 'money ladder' increases - for the teatime English show, it starts at £20 and goes up to £1,000 each round - it starts higher and finishes higher for the English. Before each question is asked, the contestant can shout "Bank" and the money they have won to that point is 'safe', but the chain starts over. If a question is answered incorrectly, the chain is broken, and starts over from the beginning.
At the end of each round, the contestants vote off the person they felt did the worse. At this point, Anne abuses them a bit.
The Important Differences - The presenter
Anne Robinson, of course, presents both the American and English version. The difference here is that we've seen her lots on the box (most recently, besides Weakest Link, is Watchdog, a consumer affairs programme). Although she comes across as 'crueller' on Weakest Link, she's still familiar. Just as an aside, she recently got into a bit of trouble here by making some ill advised comments about her feelings on the Welsh people.
The Important Differences - The prizes
Another HUGE difference - the amount of money that can be won! For the English evening version, the maximum that can be won in any single round is (I think) £5,000 (if I'm wrong, tell me, and I'll update). That amount is rarely won. The most I have seen a contestant win is around £6,000 in total for the evening version, and about half that for the teatime version.
The Important Differences - The contestants
Our contestants are English. This is important. Whilst some do walk away muttering and swearing revenge, most say firstly, when Anne quizzes them about their choice for the Weakest Link, something along the lines of "Well, I know I wasn't really any good, but really, I think s/he was just a little worse." I even heard someone say "I'd have voted for myself if I could".
Once they have been voted out, again, you get a few people muttering darkly, and obviously resentful, but most say that they were so pleased to get as far as they did, and they were sooooo lucky to be on the show in the first place.
Unquantifiables
Like I said, I haven't seen the American version, so I don't know if the set and music is the same (I would guess it is, as I've seen the American version of Millionaire, and it is an EXACT copy of the English version, down to the host's wardrobe). I have read a few of the questions (they made the newspaper - I remember that one didn't know George W's middle name...well, neither did I), and the seem of a similar difficulty to the English version, but I can't be sure. I find the English questions mostly quite easy, but then, I have a mind for useless trivia.
I gather it wasn't terribly well received in the US - it was quite well received here, but then, we didn't get all the hype accompanying it - remember, it started as a teatime show at 5.15.
My Opinion, for what it's worth
Anne, you ARE the Feeblest Wink. Goodbye.
Cheers,
Kate
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Epinions.com ID:
mattygroves
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Location: London, England
Reviews written: 81
Trusted by: 62 members
About Me:
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent
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