Weakest Link USA

Weakest Link is an American television game show that made its debut in 2001. It is an adaptation of the British television series of the same name.
The series made its debut on NBC on April 16, 2001, and with the exception of the first 3 episodes which all aired the same week, the series aired once a week for an hour as part of the network's primetime schedule. The network cancelled Weakest Link in 2002 and its final episode aired on July 14, 2002, with ten episodes left unaired. These were eventually shown on PAX and GSN years later.
While the primetime series was still being produced, NBC began developing a daily half-hour edition that would be syndicated to local stations. This version premiered on January 7, 2002, and aired for a season and a half with the last new episode airing on May 20, 2003.
==Hosts and announcers==
As was the case with the British version, Anne Robinson hosted the NBC Weakest Link. George Gray, whose most notable hosting experience to that point was on Extreme Gong, hosted the syndicated version.
The show's voice-over announcers were John Cramer (NBC Original) and Lisa Friedman (syndicated).
==Rules==
For the original American run, the game was conducted in the same way as the British version, with a team of contestants trying to reach and bank a set target within the time limit by completing a chain of correct answers that would be broken with an incorrect answer or if a contestant decided to bank the money that was already in the chain by either saying the word "Bank" before the question was asked to them or (in the reboot version) saying "bank" and pressing a button on their podium. On NBC, the team was composed of eight people (six on a special half hour episode featuring contestants from the first season of Survivor aired on May 10, 2001, and five on a special celebrity edition aired during the 2001 NBA Finals) looking to win up to $1,000,000 ($500,000 for the NBA special). In the syndicated series, teams were reduced to six contestants and the potential top prize was significantly reduced. The first season offered a potential top prize of $75,000, and the second season saw that figure increased to $100,000.
The game starts with the winner of a backstage draw before the show began (unlike other versions where they start with the player whose name comes first alphabetically). The first round is played for 2 minutes 30 seconds on the NBC series and 1 minute 45 seconds on the syndicated series, and any money banked during the round is added to the team's overall prize total. If the team banked enough money to reach or exceed the target, the round ended immediately and any excess was forfeited. When time ran out, any unbanked money was lost. Any question in progress when time ran out was discarded, with the host revealing the correct answer only if it had been fully read.
At the end of a round, regardless of the outcome, each contestant secretly votes for the person they want to eliminate from the game; they are forbidden from voting for themselves. After votes are revealed one at a time, the contestant who received the most votes is eliminated from the game and leaves with a curt dismissal from the host: "You are the weakest link. Goodbye." In the event of a tie, a tiebreaking vote is cast by the contestant who was named as its "strongest link".
The time limit decreased in each round after the first (10 seconds per round on the NBC series, 15 seconds for the syndicated one). Play would begin with the strongest link from the previous round, or the second-strongest if the former had been eliminated.
After six rounds of play on the NBC series and four on the syndicated series, the team had been reduced to two members. For the 2001–02 run of the NBC series, a seventh round was played for 90 seconds (1:30) with the two remaining team members. Any money banked in this round was doubled and added to the bank from previous rounds to determine the final prize total.
The abbreviated first season of the syndicated series also used the double stakes round, which was conducted for 45 seconds with the last two contestants. The change in the potential top prize for the second season resulted in this round being cut from the show. Instead, the game ended after the fourth round and the two surviving contestants after the last vote advanced to the final round to play for the accumulated money in their bank.
===Final round===
The final round was a head-to-head showdown between the two surviving team members. The NBC series allowed five turns per contestant, while the syndicated series allowed three (which was previously used during one half-hour celebrity episode and one 15-minute celebrity episode). Before the round, the strongest link from the previous round was given the choice of whether to play first or second. In the second syndicated season, the choice went to the second-strongest link if the two had eliminated the strongest link in the final vote.
The host would then ask one question at a time to each contestant, alternating back and forth. If one contestant missed a question, the opponent was not permitted to answer. The round ended when all questions had been asked or when one contestant attained an insurmountable lead over the other, whichever came first. The winner of this round was named the day's strongest link and won all the money in the bank, while the runner-up received nothing. 
In the event of a tie, the host continued asking pairs of questions until only one contestant answered correctly, winning the bank.
Category:TV Shows
Category:Game Show Hosts
Category:Real World Articles