The Weakest Link (British game show)

In November 2017, Weakest Link returned for a celebrity Children in Need edition, marking the 1,694th episode of the programme.[2] The 40-minute edition aired on 17 November 2017 on BBC Two at 10pm GMT.

In June 2021, a 12-episode primetime revival with celebrity contestants and Romesh Ranganathan as host was announced.[3][4] The revival premiered on BBC One on 18 December 2021.[5] In March 2022, the revival was renewed for a second series, which premiered on 17 December 2022.[6][7] In February 2023, the revival was renewed for a third series.[8]

Question and target values during the daytime and primetime runs of the series are displayed in the table below.

At the end of every round, contestants must vote one player out of the game. Until the beginning of the next round, only the television audience knows exactly who the strongest and weakest links are statistically due to Briggs' narration. While the contestants work as a team when answering questions, they are at this point encouraged to be ruthless with one another. Players often decide to vote off weaker rivals, but occasionally decide to eliminate stronger players as well, in hope that it then improves their chances of winning the game. After the revealing of the votes, the host will interrogate the players on their choice of voting, the reasons behind their choice, as well as their performance, background and their interests. After interrogation, the player with the most votes is given a stern "You are the weakest link. Goodbye!" or "With [#] votes, you are the weakest link. Goodbye!" and must walk off the stage in what is called the "Walk of Shame." The eliminated contestant then delivers a brief confessional, summing up the experience of the show and occasionally taunting the team for voting them off, as well as providing opinion as to who is voted off next, and who is likely to win.

In the event of a tie or draw, the strongest link has the final decision about who is eliminated. If he or she voted for a tied player, there is the option of sticking with their vote or changing it. Strongest links usually stick with their original choice, unless another player in the tie has voted for them. Occasionally, the strongest link has voted for someone who is not in the tie, and so is forced to make a decision one way or the other.

The last two contestants work together in the eighth and final round identical to the previous ones, however, all money banked at the end of this round is tripled and added to the current money total, forming the final total for the game. At the end of this round, there is no elimination, with the game instead moving to the head-to-head round.

For the head-to-head round, the remaining 2 players are each required to answer 5 questions each in a penalty shootout format. The strongest link from the previous round chooses who goes first. Whoever has the most correct answers at the end of the round wins the game. In the event of a tie, the game goes to Sudden Death. Every player continues to be asked questions as usual, until 1 person answers a question correctly and the other incorrectly.

The winner of the game is declared "the strongest link" and takes home all of the money accumulated in the prize pool for the game, and the loser leaves with nothing, like all previous eliminated players. In daytime episodes, the maximum possible winnings are £10,000; in primetime and special celebrity charity episodes, the maximum is £50,000.

Following the huge success of the show in its early evening slot on BBC Two, a separate weekly prime-time version was added to BBC One, usually broadcast on Wednesday evenings. These versions of the show were produced on a larger budget than the daytime version, with the addition of higher jackpots and a larger set that included electronic podiums and a studio audience, but had the same rules as the daytime version.

The first primetime version of the show was Weakest Link: Champions' League, which premiered a few months after the original daytime run on 31 October 2000 and ran on Tuesdays.[9] These episodes featured eight previous winners who battled it off once again for a doubled jackpot of £20,000 (with a money tree of £50-£100-£200-£500-£1,000-£1,500-£2,000-£2,500; with the 7th round being a double round for £5,000). Six editions of this version were produced and were not successful in ratings. Although another episode that aired a week after also featured returning contestants, consisting of contestants who deemed themselves to be unfairly voted out previously.[10]

The second series of the prime-time editions saw a format change, with seven new contestants playing for the £20,000 jackpot (with a money tree of £50-£100-£250-£1,000-£1,750-£2,500; the 6th round being a triple round for £7,500) and the programme length reducing to 35 minutes instead of 40. These episodes normally featured standard contestants with some celebrity editions and ran from January to March 2001 on Mondays, with the last of the series airing on a Thursday.[11]

The third series saw yet another format change for the prime-time editions. The podiums were increased to the standard nine, and the potential prize money was raised to £50,000. With this, the prime-time version increased back to forty-five minutes. Once again, new regular contestants played with occasional celebrity editions, but this had transitioned exclusively to celebrities playing for charity by the fourth series in 2002, and this remained as such until the original show's end.

Although Briggs and Robinson state that 8 players will leave with nothing, normally the losing celebrities receive a "house" amount to give to their chosen charity, as well as their own fee for appearing on the show. In some celebrity editions, two celebrities have represented one position in the game, with the two conferring before giving their answer. There have also been several editions featuring entirely celebrity couples. A Christmas edition of the programme was also aired in some years. Some contestants, such as Christopher Biggins, Peter Duncan and Basil Brush, have appeared several times.

These editions tended to have a theme in relation to what celebrities were featured, such as a puppet edition where a Robinson puppet introduced the show.

The daytime version has also seen its share of variants.

The first edition to feature celebrity contestants aired on 24 December 2000, featuring nine celebrities attempting to win £10,000 for a charity of their choosing. As it was simply a special of the daytime series, it didn't feature any of the additions seen in the prime-time version. Shortly after, there were a few specials that aired between 2001 and 2002 that were similar to that of Champions' League featuring returning contestants, although once again these were just standard daytime episodes.

An April Fools' Day show that aired in 2003 featured Robinson being strangely and uncharacteristically nice to the contestants and abandoning her traditional black wardrobe in favour of a metallic pink overcoat. The nice nature of the episode even extended to the normally stoic narrator being much more excited and optimistic in his narration. However, Robinson did not remain kind to the contestants for the entire episode, resuming her old behaviour after declaring the winner and contestants as "so stupid".

Another variant of the daytime show was the 1,000th episode, which aired in December 2006, with the contestants featured being fan-favourites from previous editions (mostly from the prime-time series). Much like the prime-time version, a studio audience (consisting of previous contestants from the daytime series) was added, although gameplay rules remained the same, with the potential prize money remaining at £10,000. The show's first winner, David Bloomfield was one of the returning contestants, and was asked the question: If there have been 1,000 episodes of The Weakest Link, each with 9 players, how many contestants in total have appeared on the show? He answered the question correctly (9,000) but banked prior to it being asked. He did not win any money on the 1,000th episode and was voted off in only the 3rd round, despite having been the strongest link in the first two rounds. In the end, Miss Evans (who had previously appeared on the Strong Women special but had lost out to curate Emma Langley) defeated Basil Brush, winning £2,710, which she split with her co-finalist to give to charity. Robinson then announced that a bonus of £1,000 would be added to the final total, as it was the 1,000th episode, resulting in a final total of £3,710, or both contestants receiving £1,855 each. It also marked the first time that Anne Robinson did not say the phrase "...you leave with nothing." to the losing contestant.

The 1,693rd episode was titled "You are The Weakest Link - Goodbye" and aired on BBC One on 31 March 2012. Filming for the final original edition took place on 11 December 2011. The ending of the show was the only atypical part to the last edition.

A normal daytime edition of the show was made, with some of Anne's favourite contestants from over the years taking part, and with no audience present during filming or changes to the money tree (see above). The first round of questions was notably different and was mainly about Weakest Link and the host, Anne Robinson. The last question asked was "If the Roman numeral 'X' is halved, the result can be represented by which other Roman numeral?", the answer being "V". The last UK winner was Archie Bland, the editor of The Independent newspaper's Saturday edition, who won £2,090.[12]

A short montage of clips from the show was shown at the end of the game. After saying goodbye, all of the lights turned off with Anne being the only person left in the studio. The programme was eventually replaced by the Alexander Armstrong-fronted Pointless as the big BBC teatime quiz (it had aired on BBC Two for some years previously).