Weakest Link (5/10, Suvivor I Edition)
Chris Wolvie
round by round they are voted off as...
THE WEAKEST LINK! (SPECIAL 'SURVIVOR I' EDITION)
================================================
For this special half-hour edition, the rules have changed:
1. Only six contestants
2. Because of rule change #1, only six correct answers are needed to hit the $125,000 "target"
(the $25,000 and $75,000 'links' have been eliminated)
3. The clock starts at 2 minutes in the first round, 15 seconds are removed in each round
4. The fifth round winnings are QUADRUPLED, not doubled.
5. Final Round is best of 3, not 5
5. All the money goes to the winner's charity
Contestants:
(Name, Age, Location, Occupation [How Well Did In Survivor I])
RAMONA GRAY, 30, Edison, NJ, Chemist [4th Voted Off]
GRETCHEN CORDY, 39, Clarksville, TN, Mom [7th Voted Off, 1st of Rattana]
JOEL KLUG, 29, Green Bay, WI, Health Club Consultant [6th Voted Off]
SEAN KENNIF, 31, New York City, Neurologist [4th to Last Voted Off]
RICHARD HATCH, 40, Newport, RI, Motivational Speaker [Ultimate Survivor]
SUSAN HAWK, 39, Palmyra, WI, Truck Driver [3rd to Last Voted Off]
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
ROUND 1 2 minutes even
Money "banked": $4,000
Chains "banked": 4
RAMONA : 3 answers wrong *WEAKEST LINK*
GRETCHEN : 2 answers right, 1 answer wrong
JOEL : 1 answer right, 2 answers wrong
SEAN : 1 answer right, 2 answers wrong, 1 chain "banked"
RICHARD : 2 answers right, 1 chain "banked" *STRONGEST LINK*
SUSAN : 2 answers wrong, 2 chains "banked" *BANKED MOST*
"Who still has sand in their ears?"
RAMONA : RICHARD
GRETCHEN : RICHARD
JOEL : RICHARD
SEAN : RICHARD
RICHARD : SUSAN
SUSAN : RICHARD
Anne: "Joel, why have you votes for Richard? Richard answered all of his questions correctly.
Why do you want to get rid of him?"
Joel: "Doesn't everybody?! (It's true, but hardly an excuse)"
Anne: "Susan, why Richard? Do you not like Richard?"
Susan: "I'm just tired of playing games with Richard. (This from the one who backed him all the
way by calling him a "snake")"
Anne: "Ramona, why have you voted for Rich?"
Ramona: (hesitantly) "He's the...tallest guy on the...podium. (No excuse)"
Anne: "That doesn't wash with me. Try again..."
Ramona: "He's the...GAYEST guy on the podium. (OK,...THAT might be a semi-legit excuse...if you
were a homophobe)"
Anne: "Statisticaly, Ramona, YOU were the worst player. But, it's votes that count. Richard,
with 5 votes, you ARE the 'weakest link'. Good-bye."
[NOTE: Now,...I'm no fan of Mr. Birthday Suit by ANY stretch,...but this just wasn't right!
Just 'cause he already won a million doesn't mean he needed to be kicked off. This was for
CHARITY, for crying out loud...]
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
ROUND 2 1 minute, 45 seconds
Money "banked": $12,000
Chains "banked": 0
RAMONA : 1 answer right, 1 answer wrong, 1 chain "banked" *BANKED MOST*
GRETCHEN : 2 answers right, 1 answer wrong
JOEL : 1 answer right, 2 answers wrong, 1 chain "banked" *WEAKEST LINK*
SEAN : 3 answers right *STRONGEST LINK*
SUSAN : 1 answer right, 2 answers wrong, 1 chain "banked"
(Could've had a $50,000 chain had Ramona not banked when she did)
"Who's had no immunity from stupidity?"
RAMONA : SUSAN
GRETCHEN : SUSAN
JOEL : SUSAN
SEAN : SUSAN
SUSAN : JOEL
Anne: "Tell me, Ramona,...why have you voted for Susan?"
Ramona: (Again, hesitantly) "The hair."
Anne: "Joel, why Susan?"
Joel: "Uh, I knew she was gonna vote for me. It was my only chance."
Anne: "Well, it's votes that count. Susan, with 4 votes, you ARE the 'weakest link'.
Good-bye."
[NOTE: The sad thing? Colleen "The Rat" Haskell wasn't there to laugh in Susan's face! >:) ]
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
ROUND 3 1 minute, 30 seconds
Money "banked": $1,000
Chains "banked": 1
RAMONA : 2 answers right, 1 answer wrong *STRONGEST LINK*
GRETCHEN : 1 answer right, 1 answer wrong, 1 chain "banked" *BANKED MOST*
JOEL : 1 answer right, 1 answer wrong
SEAN : 1 answer right, 2 answers wrong *WEAKEST LINK*
"Who's about to experience a little deja vu?"
RAMONA : SEAN
GRETCHEN : SEAN
JOEL : SEAN
SEAN : RAMONA
Anne: "Joel,...one thing that shocks me, Joel,...is that you seem unaware of a Greek character
who fell in love with his own image. (I must've missed the 'Survivor' ep where Joel stared into
his reflection of the ocean's surface for hours) Why Sean?"
Joel: "He didn't...he blew the cash. We had the...(to Sean) you're supposed to 'bank', man.
You're supposed to 'bank'."
Anne: "Gretchen,...why Sean."
Gretchen: "To be honest, I don't want to be up at the final two with Sean."
Sean: "Thanks, Gretchen."
Anne: "You think you're going to be in the final two?!?"
Gretchen: "Maybe."
Anne: "Well, it IS votes that count. With 3 votes, Sean, you ARE the 'weakest link'.
Good-bye."
[NOTE: I've never seen Anne so EXCITED about a right answer as Ramona's last one...and it's DAMN
lucky Gretchen "banked" between that and when time ran out a second later.]
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
ROUND 4 1 minute, 15 seconds
Money "banked": $1,000
Chains "banked": 1
RAMONA : 3 answers wrong, 1 chain "banked" *WEAKEST LINK* *BANKED MOST*
GRETCHEN : 2 answers wrong
JOEL : 2 answers right *STRONGEST LINK*
"Who's SEVERAL coconuts short of a palm tree?"
RAMONA : JOEL
GRETCHEN : JOEL
JOEL : RAMONA
Anne: "Ramona, why Joel?"
Ramona: "'Cause I wanted a woman to win. (As stated, to this point, all the Strongest Links have
been men)"
Anne: "So, we ARE talking sisterhood, here?"
Ramona: "Yes."
Anne: "You're glad I thought of that. Well, it is votes that count. Joel, with 2 votes, you
ARE the 'weakest link'. Good-bye."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
ROUND 5 1 minute even
(QUADRUPLE ROUND)
Money "banked": $3,500 (quadrupled to $14,000)
Chains "banked": 2
RAMONA : 1 answer right, 3 answers wrong, 2 chain "banked" *BANKED MOST*
GRETCHEN : 2 answers right, 2 answers wrong
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
FINAL ROUND (BANKED GRAND TOTAL: $32,000)
Gretchen, being 'strongest link' of Round 7, elects to go first
Gretchen - Q: On the television show "Gilligan's Island", on what tiny ship
did the castaways begin their ill-fated three-hour tour?
A: S.S. Minnow (correct)
Ramona - Q: Which toy company introduced the Barbie(TM) doll in 1959?
A: Mattel (correct)
Gretchen - Q: What nautical unit of depth is equal to six feet?
A: League (incorrect; Fathom)
Ramona - Q: In the 1830s, which U.S. gun maker inventer the six-shot revolver?
A: Smith (Samuel Colt)
Gretchen - Q: In movies, "The Pink Panther", "The Great Race" and 24 other
Blake Edwards films were all scored by which composer?
A: Bernstein (Henry Mancini)
Ramona - Q: Four of the first five U.S. Presidents were born in which of the
original 13 colonies?
A: Virgina (correct)
1 2 3
Gretchen O X X
Ramona O X O
Ramona is the Strongest Link and wins $32,000 for her charity!
Gretchen...leaves...with NOTHING!
NOTES:
I will not include this ep to the stats because, quite frankly, the team had even LESS of a
chance (if that is at all possible) to make money. But, going by the average of the hour-long
shows, the Survivors were barely more than half as good as the other contestants.
The time constraints REALLY hurt this show. There wasn't enough time for Anne's usual crassness
when eliminating the players. There was barely enough time to ask the players why they voted
and to tell the loser "Good-bye". Had this been an hour-long ep, I think it would've been MUCH
better.
Maybe next time NBC will look to OTHER sources besides a CBS show in a vague attempt to boost
ratings during sweeps month...like former XFL players or "Law & Order" vs. "Law & Order: SVU" (I
can just imagine Jerry Orbach smirking as he votes off Richard Belzer). No WONDER they dropped
to 31st in the ratings.
Ironically, Susan Hawk was on FX's "The Test" later that night.
Despite the lack of insulting by Anne, it was a fairly interesting show. The audience was
more-or-less shut up during most of the other eps, except laughing during the explanations for
the votes. THIS time, they were allowed to laugh DURING the votes...which they did when Richard
was unanimously booted. Didn't make UP for the lack of insults, mind you, but...
And, finally, ABOUT DAMN TIME a woman won! GIRL POWER!
Join us next Monday for another review of "Weakest Link"...*wink*...good-bye.
The Anti-Whippersnapper
That would be Kelly Wigglesworth
Josh Eldridge
wrote:
>>Colleen "The Rat" Haskell
>
>That would be Kelly Wigglesworth
With the hairstyle she had, "The Rat" wasn't much of a misnomer.
Personally, she looked like a drowned rat, or at least her hair would
have benifited from the water...
Eldridge
(it's 1:45am over here. My wit ain't *sharp* at this time of night
--or any time, come to think of it...)
Rob Hoffmann
>I will not include this ep to the stats because, quite frankly, the team had even LESS of a
>chance (if that is at all possible) to make money.
This episode proves that people who know each other before the show
shouldn't play the Weakest Link. It's far too easy to set up a voting
strategy -- which, it is clearly obvious to anyone, they did on the
Survivor show -- which fouls up the idea of the game.
One thing I will say... last night's show demonstrates the need for a
rule theft, right out of "Survivor". Each round's strongest link should
be ineligible for voting-off. That ruins the "coward" strategy of
voting the strongest link off to save yourself later. In the round of
three players, this will cause a tie, of course, so the strongest link
gets the privilege of tossing out one of the other two players.
I wonder how this didn't come up in the British version -- are the Brits
that much more hono(u)rable about games than we are? :)
Rob
Leszek Pawlowicz
But I guess they believe this is part of the game, determining
strategy beforehand to help the "team" do better (although it doesn't
seem to have helped all that much, has it? ;-).
>This episode proves that people who know each other before the show
>shouldn't play the Weakest Link. It's far too easy to set up a voting
>strategy -- which, it is clearly obvious to anyone, they did on the
>Survivor show -- which fouls up the idea of the game.
Hey, if they made that a rule, I'd definitely try out for the show!
But it won't happen - if there were a really good player on the show
(hey, it might happen someday), it would become clear early on that
this person would make it to the finals and probably win. There goes
what little suspense there actually is.
Dolfan500
despite him being the strongest link. I'm surprised no one said to "Why did you
vote for Richard?" answer with "Look what happened the last time we DID'NT vote
him off"
And then Sue getting 100% of the vote (not counting her own(. Tell me. one year
later and these people still remember her comments to Kelley.
Guy
Steven Sousa
Leszek Pawlowicz wrote in message
<634oftg8tde8taq93...@4ax.com>...
>Rob Hoffmann <rob...@illusions.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>But I guess they believe this is part of the game, determining
>strategy beforehand to help the "team" do better (although it doesn't
>seem to have helped all that much, has it? ;-).
>
>>This episode proves that people who know each other before the show
>>shouldn't play the Weakest Link. It's far too easy to set up a voting
>>strategy -- which, it is clearly obvious to anyone, they did on the
>>Survivor show -- which fouls up the idea of the game.
>
>Hey, if they made that a rule, I'd definitely try out for the show!
>But it won't happen - if there were a really good player on the show
>(hey, it might happen someday), it would become clear early on that
>this person would make it to the finals and probably win. There goes
>what little suspense there actually is.
But if there were *two* really good players, it's possible that they could
work together to stick around until the final round, where they could amass
a sizable bank. I know that if I were on the show, I'd want the smartest of
my opponents in the final round with me, so that the bank would be higher.
Unless it was you, Leszek. ;-)
Steve Sousa
Leszek Pawlowicz
up the jackpot, but you don't want them good enough to beat you in the
final round. 100% of a smaller jackpot is better than 0% of a bigger
jackpot.
Nick Gates
> One thing I will say... last night's show demonstrates the need for a
> rule theft, right out of "Survivor". Each round's strongest link should
> be ineligible for voting-off. That ruins the "coward" strategy of
> voting the strongest link off to save yourself later. In the round of
> three players, this will cause a tie, of course, so the strongest link
> gets the privilege of tossing out one of the other two players.
>
> I wonder how this didn't come up in the British version -- are the Brits
> that much more hono(u)rable about games than we are? :)
Part a) Because it's the human element. Because it's fun that the best
person doesn't neccessarily win. Because it's the anti-game show.
Here's a little Morrissey style ditty that sums up the whole concept. On the
off chance that he ever hosts it. Or if he likes to send things in for
Richard Whiteley to read out on Countdown:
"Life isn't fair and neither am I,
With six votes unanimously you ARE the Weakest Link, goodbye.
Hang the DJ."
Anyway, if you were to give the strongest player immunity then in the final
vote his will the only one that counts. If he decided to get rid of the
second strngest, does that not make him just as bad?
Part b) Yes it does happen and Anne ridicules them a lot more for it than
she used to. In fact, before the final vote she now says "have the courage
to vote off... THE WEAKESLINK!"
However what is interesting is that certain over things tend to happen under
certain configurations. For example (ROS means 'Regardless of Strength'):
If there are two women and a male going into the final vote, ROS, 80% of the
time the male will get voted off.
If there are two people on one side of the arc and someone else on the
other, ROS 80% of the time the lone player will get voted off.
So there's a psychological and physical aspect too. Sometime's it's best to
keep people in who might not be very good but might give you all important
strength of numbers when you get down to the end.
Bye!
Nick
--
Nick Gates - International Game Show Analyst extrordinaire -
n...@ntlworld.com
THE! UK Game Show Page - http://www.qwertyuiop.co.uk/gs
Sponsored by Labyrinth Games - http://www.qwertyuiop.co.uk
Dean Scungio
"Survivor I" Celebrity Edition
Date: 5/10/2001
Contestants:
1. Ramona Gray; 30; Edison, NJ
2. Gretchen Cordy; 39; Clarksville, TN
3. Joel Klug; 29; Green Bay, WI
4. Sean Kennif; 31; New York City, NY
5. Richard Hatch; 40; Newport, RI
6. Susan Hawk; 39; Palmyra, WI
Round 1 (2:00)
--------------
ROUND BANK: $4,000 (out of $125,000)
TOTAL BANK: $4,000 (out of $125,000)
STATS: ( *: correct, X: incorrect, $: banked, -: time expired )
Rnd Full
1 2 3 %age %age
Ramona X X $X 0 0 Weakest Link, Banked $0
Gretchen * * X 67 67
Joel X X * 33 33 Lost $1,000 twice
Sean X * $- 50 50 Banked $1,000
Richard * $* 100 100 Strongest Link, Banked $1,000
Susan $X $X 0 0 Banked $1,000 twice
TEAM: 40 40
VOTING
Ramona: RICHARD
Gretchen: RICHARD
Joel: RICHARD
Sean: RICHARD
Richard: SUSAN
Susan: RICHARD
Results: Richard 5, Susan 1
Round 2 (1:45)
--------------
ROUND BANK: $12,000 (out of $125,000)
TOTAL BANK: $16,000 (out of $250,000)
STATS: ( *: correct, X: incorrect, $: banked, -: time expired )
Rnd Full
4 5 6 %age %age
Ramona $* X 50 20 Banked $10,000
Gretchen * X * 67 67 Lost $1,000
Joel * X $X 33 33 Weakest Link, Banked $1,000
Sean * * * 100 80 Strongest Link
Richard 100
Susan * X $- 50 25 Lost $1,000, Banked $1,000
TEAM: 62 50
VOTING
Ramona: SUSAN
Gretchen: SUSAN
Joel: SUSAN
Sean: SUSAN
Susan: JOEL
Results: Susan 4, Joel 1
Round 3 (1:30)
--------------
ROUND BANK: $1,000 (out of $125,000)
TOTAL BANK: $17,000 (out of $375,000)
STATS: ( *: correct, X: incorrect, $: banked, -: time expired )
Rnd Full
7 8 9 10 %age %age
Ramona * X * 67 38 Strongest Link
Gretchen X * $- 50 63 Lost $2,500, Banked $1,000
Joel X * 50 38
Sean * X X 33 63 Weakest Link, Lost $2,500
Richard 100
Susan 25
TEAM: 50 50
VOTING
Ramona: SEAN
Gretchen: SEAN
Joel: SEAN
Sean: RAMONA
Results: Sean 3, Ramona 1
Round 4 (1:15)
--------------
ROUND BANK: $1,000 (out of $125,000)
TOTAL BANK: $18,000 (out of $500,000)
STATS: ( *: correct, X: incorrect, $: banked, -: time expired )
Rnd Full
11 12 13 %age %age
Ramona X X $X 0 27 Weakest Link, Lost $1,000, Banked $1,000
Gretchen X X - 0 50
Joel * * 100 50 Strongest Link
Sean 63
Richard 100
Susan 25
TEAM: 29 47
VOTING
Ramona: JOEL
Gretchen: JOEL
Joel: RAMONA
Results: Joel 2, Ramona 1
Round 5 (1:00) ($500,000 Chain)
-------------------------------
ROUND BANK: $14,000 (out of $500,000)
FINAL BANK: $32,000 (out of $1,000,000)
STATS: ( *: correct, X: incorrect, $: banked, -: time expired )
Rnd Full
14 15 16 17 18 %age %age
Ramona * $X X $X 25 27 Banked $10,000 and $4,000
Gretchen X * X * 50 50
Joel 50
Sean 63
Richard 100
Susan 25
TEAM: 38 45
Shootout
--------
Gretchen: (*) (X) (X)
Ramona: (*) (X) (*)
Ramona wins $32,000 for a charity of her choice and Gretchen will be shipped
back to the island with absolutely NOTHING!
(Actually, there was a disclaimer during the credits that stated the winner
gets the prize money and the losers get $10,000 each. So everyone wins.
That will not sit well with Anne.)
FINAL STATS:
Q: Win Q:Lose
Record (%) BANK LOST VOTES Streak Streak
Ramona 6/18 (33%) $25,000 $ 1,000 2 1 3
Gretchen 8/17 (47%) 1,000 3,500 0 2 3
Joel 5/10 (50%) 1,000 2,000 3 3 3
Sean 5/ 8 (63%) 1,000 2,500 3 5 2
Susan 1/ 4 (25%) 1,000 1,000 5 1 2
Richard 2/ 2 (100%) 3,000 0 5 2 0
=================================
27/59 (46%) $32,000 $10,000
TEAM STATS:
Team overall record: 27/59 (46%)
Highest chain banked: $10,000 (Round 2: Ramona)
Highest link reached: $50,000 (Round 2: Ramona)
Most money lost: $2,500 (2) (Round 3: Gretchen, Sean)
Longest streak of right answers: 5 (Round 2)
Longest streak of wrong answers: 4 (Round 3)
You are all weakest links. Goodbye! <wink>
--
Dean Scungio
dscu...@worldnet.att.net
alt.tv.game-shows Lurker
Host of 'Net Ten-to-One
Host of 'Net U.S. Mastermind
Frequent Net Games Contestant
"It's not how much we give away,
it's the way we do it." -Monty Hall
Matt Ottinger
Leszek Pawlowicz wrote:
> You might want someone really good in the next-to-last round to build
> up the jackpot, but you don't want them good enough to beat you in the
> final round. 100% of a smaller jackpot is better than 0% of a bigger
> jackpot.
In this way, it's almost exactly like Survivor. When there are three of you
left, your last vote is based on who you want to keep more than who you want to
cast off.
--Matt
otti...@acd.net
Sko
that the real losers were the nominated charities (whoever they were)? The
Survivor spite knocked off anyone with half-a-brain, and left those geniuses
Ramona & Gretchen to fight it out for a whopping $32,000 (the minimum WWTBAM
prize).
If anything -- this show would have been the EASIEST to hit the targets on;
a chain of only 6 correct answers made $125K, and the last round was 4X. I
could have sworn at one point the "team" missed about 8 in a row, but I must
have missed something. At least it was entertaining. (Wasn't it?)
d.
"Dean Scungio" <dscu...@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:H4ZK6.422$he5....@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...