Eén tegen 100
1 vs. 100 is a game show aired in several countries. The game pits one person against 100 others for a chance to win a large cash prize. Players are asked questions of the multiple choice variety each with three possible answers. The gameshow is a variation of the show Eén Tegen Honderd, a Dutch gameshow produced by Endemol and sponsored by the National Postcode Lottery.
American format
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The American version of 1 vs. 100 premiered on the NBC network on Friday, October 13, 2006 at 9:00 p.m [1], but has since moved to a regular timeslot of Fridays at 8:00 p.m. The show is hosted by actor-comedian Bob Saget and narrated by Joe Cipriano, and the top prize is $1,000,000.
As in other versions of the game, a single player competes against one hundred contestants, nicknamed the "mob", in answering a series of trivia questions, each of which is presented in a multiple-choice format with three possible answers. Each question is assigned a dollar value, as shown on the table, right. Each of the mob members individually answer the question pressing one of three buttons located in front of them. Then, the player must also answer the question. If the player answers incorrectly, then she or he is eliminated and receives none of the prize pool. The remaining mob members who answered correctly then will share the prize among themselves. If the player answers correctly, then any mob member who answers incorrectly is eliminated from the game. The prize pool then increases by the value of the question, multiplied by the number of mob members who have been eliminated. The player then has a choice to (1) risk his/her prize pool by continuing to play against the mob or to (2) exit the game and take home the money accumulated, unlike most other versions of the show, including the original Dutch version. (Usually presented as "The money...or the mob?") If the player eliminates all 100 members of the mob by the final question, the player receives the top prize of $1,000,000. The further along a player goes, the harder the questions get.
As of episode 6, a Deal or No Deal style stepladder format has been adopted where players must answer the first three consecutive questions before deciding to take the money or the mob. The player must then answer the next two consecutive questions before making the next decision. From there on, it's one question before making the next decision.
Unlike the European (and Hong Kong) versions of the show, there are no "escapes" or "doublers" on the show. Instead, each player receives two opportunities to receive assistance from the mob, known as "helps". They are "Poll The Mob" and "Ask The Mob", and they had to be used in that order. Starting with the sixth episode, a third option, "Trust The Mob," was added, and players could choose which option at any point in the game.
- During "Poll The Mob", the player selects one of the three answers about which to get more information — though this is not necessarily the contestant's answer. The number of "mob" players who chose that answer is revealed, and the contestant chooses one of the revealed mob members to discuss his or her response.
- For "Ask The Mob" two mob members are randomly selected: one who answered correctly and one who answered incorrectly. Each explains his or her decision to the contestant. This also eliminates the third choice from consideration.
- For "Trust The Mob" (added in episode 6) the most popular answer the mob gave is revealed. The contestant is then committed to this answer.
While mob members are required to be honest about which of the three answers they selected, they are under no obligation to be truthful with the player regarding the reasoning behind their responses. They are permitted to deceive the player in an attempt to solicit an incorrect response.
Top American game show champions have participated in the shows. In the first two episodes, legendary 74-time Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings was prominently featured.[2] He was seated at podium number thirteen during the premiere episode.[3] Jennings was part of the first mob to defeat a contestant, winning about $700, before being eliminated on the question, "What color is the number 1 on a roulette wheel"? Jennings guessed black, but the answer was red. The man who defeated Jennings in the Jeopardy! Ultimate Tournament of Champions, Brad Rutter, joined the mob for episode 6, staying for more episodes, but was unable to defeat a contestant. Champions from Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Nancy Christy, John Carpenter, and Kevin Olmstead were in another episode. All three were eliminated on one question, and won nothing.
Three models from Deal or No Deal (Endemol USA and NBC's sister show that aired before 1 vs. 100) were also in an early mob, which also features an eclectic mix of professors, valedictorians, schoolteachers, and athletes. Mob members remain in the game until they miss a question, and continue against subsequent contestants if they are not eliminated. Unlike other versions of the game, players are not selected from among the mob. (Producers intended the "last player standing" all-star match aired February 9 to be an exception. Under the rules of that match, upon the featured player's elimination, producers would choose a mob member at random to face whatever other members remained. However, Annie Duke, the all-star whom producers invited to compete first, missed a question which only one member answered correctly, giving that member the victory and bringing the match to a close before any randomly selected member could be featured.)
Musician and then-husband of Britney Spears, Kevin Federline, was a mob member in episode 6. Federline was eliminated on the third question. (The show was taped before divorce proceedings began.)
The debut of 1 vs. 100 performed well for NBC, delivering the network's highest rating in the Friday night 9 p.m. time slot since December 2002 (excluding coverage of the Olympics) in adults 18-49 and the highest overall viewer total in the time period since March 2004. The show won its time slot with 12.6 million viewers (adults 18-49), and was the night's number one show in 18-49, total viewers and other key ratings categories.[4]
On cable, NBC's sister business news channel CNBC re-airs the last week's episodes of 1 vs. 100 every Wednesday night at 10 p.m. and Thursday morning at 12 am EST. This will follow CNBC's success on re-running Deal or No Deal every week.
TVgameshows.net has reported the show has a February sweeps plan in 2007 where top mob members and game show winners are slated to participate in the mob for a "last man standing" contest. Jennings, Rutter, Christy, Carpenter, and Olmstead returned to the show to participate in the special series. Annie Duke is also involved in the tapings. The episode aired on February 9, 2007. Larry Zerner won the $250,000 grand prize. The episode was reportedly taped January 8, 2007 according to Jennings.[5] Other February specials include "the most hated mob" (consisting mainly of IRS agents, DMV employees, telemarketers and meter maids), and a mob full of children.
Australian format
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The Australian version of the show was officially launched on January 18, 2007 and premiered on January 29, 2007 on the Nine Network and is recorded in Studio 3 at the Melbourne Docklands Central City Studios. This version is based on the American version of the show, complete with a similar set, identical theme, and a similar prize structure with a $1,000,000 prize for knocking out all 100 members of the mob. It is hosted by the CEO of the Nine Network, Eddie McGuire.
A season of 15 episodes has been approved for production by the Nine Network. The first show was scheduled to be shot on Friday, January 19 and air from Monday, January 29. However, controversy reportedly arose before the cameras started rolling.
The controversy is said to have started amongst confirmed and potential contestants, when filming of the first episode was delayed less than 12 hours before it was scheduled to start. The official reason was a problem caused by Melbourne's power blackouts three days earlier. However, speculation is that producer Michael Healy was asked a question at the Thursday night launch party, which was assessed as incorrect, despite the fact that he was right. Producers were reportedly not willing to chance problems at their first taping, hence inconveniencing the players, many of whom had taken time off work to attend the show. It is alleged that around 30 contestants turned up to the taping on Friday, unaware that they were not required.
When filming did get under way on Sunday 21 January, a witness is quoted as saying that a contestant in the first episode answered a question incorrectly: What is the unit of time equivalent to 60 seconds? Due to a technical glitch, the question reportedly had to be reasked, and when it was reshot, the contestant gave the correct answer, robbing the Mob of a chance at just over $100,000. A spokesman for Nine Network denied this account, but admitted that there had been a problem in gameplay with some members of the Mob.[6]
The January 29 debut of 1 vs. 100 did extremely well in the ratings, and was the most-watched program of the night. A peak audience of 2.4 million viewers and an average audience of 1.95 million watched the show in Australia's capital cities.[7] The second episode went to air on 5 February and narrowly lost in viewers to the Season 3 premiere of Desperate Housewives in a competition for viewers against the Seven Network. With 1.43 million viewers, the second episode was well down on the premiere, but still a pleasing number for McGuire.[8]
Bulgarian format
The Bulgarian version of the show starts airing on 27th February, 21:00 on Nova Television. The host will be Niki Kanchev, who also hosts Who Wants to be a Millionaire and Big Brother. The show will be aired three times a week - on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 21:00 with a top prize of 100,000 leva, as with all game shows aired on the channel. Like the Portuguese version, in this version, the player faces only 50 opponents.
Danish format
A Danish version launched on TV3 this month, called 1 mod 100.[9] Football goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel is the host. The format is approximately the same as the British, where the contestant is given a choice between two categories every time, and questions go from a value of 500 Danish kroner up to 20,000 DKK.
Dutch format
This original version is hosted by former RTL broadcaster Caroline Tensen. It airs on Tien.
One person is selected to face the presenter. The person is given a series of questions based on varying topics, and is given the opportunity to select an 'Easy' or 'Difficult' question. Both the contestant and the other 100 players must answer the question, given in multiple choice format. If the contestant gets the question right, the presenter tallies how many of the 100 other players got the question wrong. The players who get the question wrong are eliminated from play, and the number of players eliminated is multiplied by a set amount, governed by the following formula (with the base value being €50,000):
where n is the number of players in the game. ntotal is the amount of players in the game prior to the question, and nmissed is the number of players who missed that question.
The contestant then has that amount of money placed into its money pool. For example, if there are 20 players left and 8 of them get the next question wrong, the lone contestant wins €20,000:
This continues round after round until one of two things happens:
- If all of the 100 players are eliminated, the lone contestant wins whatever winnings are in the pool.
- If the lone contestant gets a question wrong at any time, he or she goes home with nothing. The lone contestant can never quit out.
The contestant also has the option to use one of three "escapes" from the second question onwards. The contestant can choose to give up a proportion of his or her winnings — 25%, 50% and 75%, in that order — of whatever money is in the pool in exchange for not having to answer the question correctly. If the contestant uses an "escape" for a question, the question is asked and all remaining players from the group of 100 must answer the question. Those players who answered the question incorrectly are eliminated from further play, although the contestant does not score from those eliminated.
The contestant also has a "doubler" — if he or she is confident of an answer and thinks that their opponents will get it wrong, the contestant can use it to double the money he or she earns. Like other lifelines in the game, the "doubler" can be used only once.
Should the lone contestant ever get a question wrong, one of the contestants who got the right answer from the group of 100 becomes the new lone contestant.
French format
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The French version of 1 vs. 100, called Un Contre 100, premiered on TF1 on January 8, 2007. It airs weekdays on the network at 18:20. The set and logo strongly resemble those on the first series of the US version. Benjamin Castaldi is the host of the show.
Money is awarded for each question answered incorrectly by Mob members ("le mur") using the prize table to the right. The contestant can leave after answering any number of questions correctly, although their winnings up to that point are split with a home viewer. If the contestant succeeds in eliminating all 100 players, he or she wins €200,000, split with a home viewer. However, if the contestant answers a question incorrectly, he or she leaves with nothing; the remaining Mob members split half of the accumulated winnings, and a lucky home viewer wins the other half.
Contestants receive three helps ("jokers") along the way, of which the contestant can use up to two on a single question:
- Dodge ("Je Passe"): The contestant passes on the question, but still earns money for each Mob member that answers incorrectly. Unlike the traditional versions of the show where a contestant has three dodges, there is only one dodge in the French game.
- Second Chance ("La seconde chance"): If the contestant indicates he wants to use this help before answering the question and answers incorrectly, he or she will have a second chance to answer the question.
- Poll the Mob ("Qui pense comme moi?"): This is played like the US and Australian "Poll the Mob". The contestant will be told how many Mob members chose one particular answer of the contestant's choice. The contestant can then choose whether or not to lock in that answer.
If the contestant exhausts all three helps and is not sure of the answer, he or she has the chance to walk away with 25% of the accumulated winnings, which are split with a home viewer. The remaining mob members divide the remaining 75%.
German format
The German version, called Einer gegen 100, aired in 2002 on RTL and was hosted by Linda de Mol, host of the Dutch version of Deal or No Deal. Like the Dutch version, it had the same three "escapes" as well as a "doubler".
Hong Kong format
The Hong Kong version of 1 vs. 100 is made by Asia Television Limited and called 以一敵百.
The Hong Kong version of the show is shown on ATV Home starting 25th September 2006, Monday to Friday at 9:30pm, then moved to 8:30pm 2 weeks later starting 9th October 2006. Each episode is half an hour long. The host is Wyman Wong, a lyricist and former DJ.
The game mostly follows the Dutch format. The set amount for each question is HK$200,000. However, if the lone contestant gets a question wrong, he or she still gets a consolation prize depending on the number of opponents eliminated without using the 'escapes'.
| Opponents eliminated | Amount |
|---|---|
| 1 - 20 | HK$2,000 |
| 21 - 40 | HK$4,000 |
| 41 - 60 | HK$6,000 |
| 61 - 80 | HK$8,000 |
| 81 - 99 | HK$10,000 |
Hungarian format
The Hungarian version of the show premieres on TV2 on Feburary 24, 2007. Sváby András is the host. The show is called Egy a 100 ellen. The top prize, if the player can eliminate all 100 opponents, is 50,000,000 Ft. In the American, French, Australian, and Hungarian versions, a progressive tree is used for eliminating members of the Mob. Like the French version, there is no 3-2-1 tree structure requiring a contestant to answer three questions correctly in the first round, and two questions in the second round before the option to stop occurs.
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Norwegian format
The Norwegian version, called Alle mot En, premiered in April 2006 on TV 2. Øyvind Mund is the host.
Portuguese format
The Portuguese version, called Um Contra Todos, airs weekday evenings on RTP1. José Carlos Malato hosts. Unlike the other versions, the contestant faces only 50 opponents. Players have the same three escapes as in the Dutch version. The base value for questions is €12,500 (earlier €25,000), and winnings per question are calculated using the standard formula.
Spanish format
The Spanish version of the show is named 1 contra 100 and is broadcasted on Antena 3. Hosted by Juan y Medio, who also hosts the Spanish version of The Price is Right, 1 contra 100 started December 23, 2006 and airs both Saturday and Sunday at 8:00 pm. Like other versions, if the contestant answers incorrectly, the game is over. This version has 3 escapes that players can use so that they can continue the game without answering incorrectly, with the downside that using them reduces the contestant's winnings. Contestants earn €300 for each opponent eliminated. If they can win by eliminating all 100 opponents, they earn an additional €30,000. The top potential prize is €60,000 if the contestant can eliminate all 100 opponents without using the escapes.
UK format
The UK version of the show is produced in conjunction with the National Lottery. It is hosted by TV and radio host Dermot O'Leary, and airs on BBC One. In this version the first player is chosen apparently at random, but in truth by the production team, from the 101 contestants. The 'one' and the 100 are given a question to which they must all decide between 3 answers. The 'one' wins £1000 for every one of the 100 that gets the question wrong. The top prize for this version of the show is £250,000.
After the first question they have 2 weapons at their disposal:
Dodges — which means they can skip a question if they do not think they know the answer. If they take this option they make no money on the members of the 100 who get this question wrong, and their current prize fund is halved. They are given three dodges throughout the game.
Double — if the contestant believes that there are many people in play who are lilely to get the question wrong then they can play a double. This means that they win £2,000 for every contestant they knock out with this question.
After they have knocked out 75% of the audience they have one further choice:
Bonus Dodge — when the category choices come up, one of them is a Bonus Dodge. This comes in the form of a visual, audio clip or picture plus a question. If a contestant decides to take the Bonus Dodge they may not dodge the question and must answer correctly to stay in the game. This can be a risky option as if you do not know the answer you will be out of the game completely.
A contestant must either answer a question or dodge it, and if they get a question wrong they are out of the game with nothing. They cannot, in the UK version of the game, walk away with any of the prize fund unless they knock out all 100 opponents.
If a contestant eliminates all 100 opponents, they are given one opportunity to bail out of the game and take their money before finding out if their answer is correct. If they play on and have the correct answer, they get a £50,000 bonus. The next player is selected from the remaining 100 (usually of a different demographic profile from the previous player) and a new player takes the old players seat so that there are 100 opponents again.
If a contestant loses, the next player is selected from the remaining contestants still in play when the contestant lost. This is the incentive that the 100 have for getting the question right — a better chance of being the next contestant.
For the first series, four people went away with money: Geoff: £80,250 Brian: £67,125 Lynne: £59,000 Neil: £16,250
Starting October 2006, the first series consisted of 8 episodes on a Saturday evening. The second series began in January 2007.
For the second series: Neill £62,500
Vietnamese format
This version in Vietnam is named “Arena 100,” and was listed in the Vietnam Record Book as the biggest show with the highest number of players, 100.
The competition features 100 players answering general knowledge, social and lifestyle based questions.
This game show is different from other game shows on Vietnamese TV, in that players can’t stop the game if they want (note in the French, US, and Australian versions, the players may stop the game after a correct question, since they are not affiliated with lotteries like the Dutch and UK versions are). To be the winner, they have to outsmart all of the other 99 contestants and answer every question.
The rules of the game are simple; computers randomly select a player to answer questions. The points up for grabs total 100, with the winner being the player with the highest score. Whenever the front running player answers incorrectly, he/she is replaced by another player, who is selected from among secondary players who got the answer right. The game continues in this manner until it ends. However, if the front running player beats between 80 and 99 players before he/she is replaced, then there is a cash bonus of VND2mil (2,000,000 Vietnamese dong, which is about US$130).
The host is Lai Van Sam, host of the Vietnamese versions of The Price is Right, Wheel of Fortune, and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. As with most game shows hosted by Lai, it airs on VTV3.
Other international formats
1 vs. 100 has also aired in Sweden, Belgium, Israel, Argentina, and the Czech Republic (called 1 prodi 100 on TV Nova, format presumed to be the same as the Dutch version). In Italy, Mediaset has bought from Endemol the format and is testing it for a week-end position. The Serbian version of the show, called Jedan protiv sto, will start in the spring of 2007.
References
- ^ Zap2It, NBC Gets Its (Other) Game On, September 27, 2006.
- ^ Ken Jennings' Blog, L.A. confidential, August 13, 2006.
- ^ FlashGames², Preview of 1 vs. 100.
- ^ NBC Universal Media Village, 1 vs. 100 debuts with NBC's highest slot result since December 2002 in 18-49, October 14, 2006.
- ^ "Ken Jennings blog". Retrieved 2007-01-13.
- ^ "Game Eddie takes on fans". News.com.au. Retrieved 2007-01-27.
- ^ Michael Gadd (2007-01-30). "McGuire makes Nine the one". News.com.au. Retrieved 2007-01-31.
- ^ Seven wins on TV ratings, The Australian, February 6, 2007. Retrieved on February 7, 2007.
- ^ "Tusindvis af deltagere søges: Vind millioner i "1 mod 100"". Retrieved 2007-01-23.
External links
- Official site for Dutch version
- Official site for American version
- Official site for British version
- Official site for the Australian version
- Official site for the Spanish version
- Official site for the French version
- Official site for Hong Kong version
- Official site for the Bulgarian version
- Official site for the Hungarian version
- Official site for the Norwegian version