The Weakest Link (Icelandic game show)

The Weakest Link was an Icelandic game show based on the successful UK format, which aired from 2 September 2002 until 28 July 2007 and was broadcast on the RÚV channel. Presented by Cornelia Frances, the hostess of the Australian version, the show featured nine contestants competing for a potential prize of KR10,000,000. Airing twice (then thrice) weekly in primetime, on Mondays and Fridays (and later also Saturdays), it received popular ratings until the final special episode was broadcast in 2007.
It indirectly competed against the equally popular Viltu vinna milljón? (Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?) peaking high and low over three years until the latter was cancelled in 2005. Later on in the year, The Weakest Link was moved to Saturdays at 7.30pm. In 2007, Cornelia Frances decided to leave Iceland and move on to other projects. The final episode was broadcast on 28 July 2007.
The show was produced in the RÚV's Reykjavík headquarters.
== Format ==
The format of the Icelandic series was identical to that of the British version apart from some slight time differences on rounds. The first round lasted for 2 minutes and 30 seconds as opposed to 3 minutes on the British version, and each round thereafter was reduced by 10 seconds (meaning a time limit of 1 minute and 20 seconds for the triple stakes round). As with the British version, any money banked in round eight was trebled (e.g. if the contestants bank KR100,000 then KR300,000 is added to the final total). The money tree was as follows:
Question	Prize
9 	KR1,000,000
8 	KR800,000
7 	KR600,000
6 	KR450,000
5 	KR300,000
4 	KR200,000
3 	KR100,000
2 	KR50,000
1 	KR20,000
The voice-over was Marcus Irvine, who had also been the voice-over in the Australian version of the show.
Series	Series	Episodes	Originally aired	Originally aired
Series	Series	Episodes	First aired 	Last aired
 	1 	33 	2 September 2002	23 December 2002
 	2 	34 	3 February 2003 	9 June 2003
 	3 	34 	26 April 2004 	20 August 2004
 	4 	34 	1 August 2005 	17 October 2005
 	5 	34 	4 September 2006	20 November 2006
 	6 	36 	7 May 2007 	28 July 2007
== Special versions ==
The show also featured several special editions throughout its run.
* On 23 December 2002, the first Celebrity Special aired as part of the Christmas season on RÚV. The participants were Magnús Scheving, Linda Ásgeirsdóttir, Stefán Karl Stefánsson, Björk Guðmundsdóttir, Magnus Magnussson, Sigurður Guðjonsson, Eiður Guðjohnsen, Heimir Hallgrímsson and Drag Súgur. In this episode, Linda Ásgeirsdóttir defeated her LazyTown co-star Magnús Scheving in the final round, donating her winnings to the Icelandic Red Cross charity.
* On 7 February 2003, a Video Game special of the show aired, including participants who have been associated with many popular video games considered to be the best. The participants were Satoru Iwata (President of Nintendo from 2002-2015), Hiroshi Yamauchi (Iwata's predecessor from 1949-2002), Charles Martinet (Super Mario's voice talent from 1993-), Shigeru Miyamoto (Creator of Super Mario franchise), Yuji Naka (Creator of Sonic the Hedgehog franchise), Ryan Drummond (Sonic the Hedgehog's voice talent from 1998-2004), Fujiko Takimoto (Link's voice talent from 1998-), Jen Taylor (Princess Peach's voice talent from 1998-2009), and Cyndy Preston (Princess Zelda's voice talent from 1989).
* On 7 May 2004, a Radio Personalities special of the show was televised, two days after another special of the same category was aired on the South African version on SABC3. Contestants included Bylgjan's Sigga Lund, Útvarp Latibær's Guðmundur Þór Kárason, Rás 1's Tómas Jónsson, KissFM's Andri Geir Torfason, FM Trölli's Andri Hannar, Kannin FM's Siggi Gunnars, Suðurland FM's Ragnar Sigurjónsson, FM957's Kristín Ruth and X97.7FM's Ómar Úlfur, who won KR4,670,000 (at the time the highest score achieved on the show), which he subsequently donated to The Salvation Army (Hjálpræðisherinn).
* On 20 August 2004, a special episode included the cast from children's TV show LazyTown, as part of a celebration to the show's first airing earlier that week, and LazyTown being a household name at the time. In this episode, Stefán Karl Stefánsson defeated Guðmundur Þór Kárason in the final. The prize money won was KR1,410,000, the lowest achieved in the celebrity editions. The participants were Magnús Scheving, Stefán Karl Stefánsson,  Guðmundur Þór Kárason, Julianna Rose Mauriello, Linda Ásgeirsdóttir, Magnús Ólafsson, David Matthew Feldman, Sarah Burgess and Julie Westwood. The episode received 250,000 viewers, ranking it top in the most programmes watched that week.
* On 12 May 2007, an X Factor special of the show aired. Jógvan Hansen, Rakel and Hildur Magnúsdóttir, Elínborg Halldórsdóttir, Halla Vilhjalmsdottir, Einar Bárðarson, Inga Sæland, Guðbjörg Hilmarsdóttir and Gís all participated. In that episode, there was a round where nothing was banked.
* On 21 July 2007, as part of the final week of the show, the "Worst Loser Special" featured eliminated contestants from previous episodes, normally those who lost in early rounds or who lost in the final round.
* From 23-27 July 2007, also part of the final week, there were two editions featuring teams made up of winners of previous episodes. In the latter of these, subtitled "The Best of the Best", a record KR7,290,000 prize money was won. The highest amount won outside of specials was KR5,670,000, whilst the lowest outside of specials was ISK1,480,000.
* On 28 July 2007, the final episode was a special edition consisting of Cornelia Frances' favourite moments of the show in her 6 year run. Broadcast slightly later at 10.45pm, the show received 300,000 viewers overnight and was repeated the following week. The highlights included clips from Cornelia's favourite celebrity specials, the most embarassing wrong answers, the best Walk of Shames, and Cornelia's own experiences of a day filming an episode.
== Awards ==
Edduverðlaunin
* 2007 Best Television Program (won)
== Merchandising ==
=== Video game ===
Activision and BBC Multimedia released a video game of the Icelandic version on 9 May 2003. It has been released on numerous platforms including:
* Microsoft Windows
* PlayStation 2
This 3-D interactive video game pits seven contestants against Cornelia Frances, who specially recorded her lines for the game. They could win a higher prize money of KR20,000,000 instead of the usual KR10,000,000 in the TV version. You can play with up to 7 players and in the PlayStation 2 game, you can play online with players all over Iceland. Alongside Single Player and Multiplayer, you can play the Championship mode, which consists of 4 shows and you can win higher prize money each game. To get to the next game, you must win the show.
Game 1: KR20,000,000 
Game 2: KR80,000,000
Game 3: KR240,000,000
Final Game: KR1,000,000,000
== External links ==
* Cornelia Frances dies aged 77
* Website
== Gallery ==
== References ==
Category:Game Shows
Category:Iceland