The Weakest Link

The Weakest Link (or, in the U.S., simply Weakest Link) is a television game show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC TWO in 2000. It was devised by doctor and sitcom writer Fintan Coyle and the comedienne Cathy Dunning, and developed for television by the BBC Entertainment department. It has since been replicated around the world. The BBC officially dropped the definite article (the "the") from the title (and the logo) in 2001, though it is still generally referred to by its original title, and three years later, hostess Anne Robinson still says "Welcome to The Weakest Link" and "let's play The Weakest Link" regardless.

The original format featured a "team" of nine contestants who take turns answering general knowledge questions. The object of each round is to answer a "chain" of consecutive correct answers to earn an increasing amount for a single communal pot of up to ten thousand pounds (in U.K. money). However, just one incorrect answer wipes out any money earned in that chain. Before their question is asked, a contestant may say "bank" and the money earned thus far is safely stored, however a new chain is initiated from scratch. It is advantageous but risky to not say bank, as each successive correct answer earns proportionally more money.

At the end of each round, contestants must vote off one player whom they consider to be "The Weakest Link": the one they believe wasted the most time, failed to bank judiciously or gave too many wrong answers. Until the beginning of the next round, only the television audience knows (via an announcer's narration) exactly who the "strongest link" and "weakest link" was statistically. While the contestants work as a team, they are encouraged at this point to be ruthless to each other. At the end of the show, only two contestants remain for a final showdown. Only the winner leaves with the accumulated prize money – everyone else leaves with nothing, however in special "celebrity editions" the losers leave with only a minimal amount of money donated in his/her name to his/her charity.

Part of the show's success was due to the presenter, Anne Robinson. Already well-known in the UK for her sarcastic tone while presenting the BBC's consumer programme Watchdog, she found here a new outlet in her taunts to the contestants. Her sardonic summary to the "team", usually berating them for their lack of intelligence for not achieving the target, became a trademark of the show, and her call of "You are the weakest link – goodbye!" quickly became a catchphrase. (Originally, the devisors suggested the equally acerbic Jeremy Paxman, host of University Challenge.) The voice-over in the UK version is by Jon Briggs.

Voting presents somewhat of a tactical challenge for canny players seeking to maximise their chances of winning, and maximising the payoffs if they do. Voting off weaker players is likely to increase the payoff for the winner, but stronger players may be more difficult to beat in a playoff. Some players may consider incorrectly answering some questions so as not to appear so much of a threat – however, such a strategy is risky. One study suggested that the optimal percentage of questions to answer correctly is 60%. If you do worse, you risk being voted off for being too weak; if you do better, you are perceived as a threat in the final showdown.

Mathematical analysis of the expected payoffs provided by various voting strategies suggest that the optimum strategies are to either attempt to go for the highest payoff, or bank after every question. Few teams adopt either – most choose to bank after three or four questions.

With elements inspired by Big Brother and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, the show differed from virtually all games shows before it by inviting open conflict between players, and using a host who is openly hostile to the competitors rather than a positive figure (though this feature of the show tends to be played for laughs, especially in the prime time version, where there is a studio audience for Robinson - and the contestants - to play to). Heavily criticised by the television press in some countries for its Hobbesian overtones, the show has nevertheless been a ratings success in most countries.

The American version of Weakest Link (without the "the" in the title) ran in 2001 and 2002 on NBC, with Anne Robinson hosting. In the network version, there was a team of eight contestants vying for a cash pot of up to one million dollars. The first episodes earned respectable ratings, but ongoing special "celebrity editions" doomed the U.S. network version after two seasons. (One of the most notable 'celebrity' editions featured an entire team of Anne Robinson lookalikes - male and female).

A syndicated version ran from January 2002 through September 2003 (it too ran only two seasons). It was hosted by George Gray. In this version there was a team of only six contestants. In the first syndicated season, the maximum pot was $75,000 and there were five rounds, while increasing to $100,000 (and the rounds decreased to only four) in the final syndicated season.

Both U.S. versions were produced by The Gurin Company, BBC Worldwide and NBC Studios.

The only editions of the show without a red haired, female presenter were the US syndicated edition (above), and the Irish edition, presented by Eamon Dunphy.