The Weakest Link

In The Weakest Link, a group of 9 people answer questions in sequence. As more questions are answered correctly, the prize money increases. A player may say bank before their question is completed, and the prize money will be stored. If a player answers incorrectly and does not bank the money, the money is lost and the chain is broken. If the contestant takes too long to answer, the chain is also broken. The contestants then vote for who they think was the weakest link (lost the most money). The contestant voted out leaves the show. The strongest link then starts the next round. If the strongest link was voted out, then the second strongest link starts. In the UK version, the final round has a 90-second triple stake round with no voting but money is still to be earned. After the final round, a head-to-head contest is played, with 5 questions asked to each player in turn. If there is a tie, the game continues to sudden death. The loser goes home with nothing.

The objective is to get to the final round, and win. The winner goes home with all of the money in the bank.

 The show typically has contestants from the C1/C2 demographic, and this is because they want the contestants to get enough questions right on the show to be entertaining for the audience, but they obviously don't want to give out the maximum prize money immediately.

The host is Anne Robinson. She maintains a hostile persona towards the contestants, which, despite its apparent reality, is very entertaining to the audience. She constantly insults the contestants, but in later episodes, especially on the American TV show, she became less hostile, perhaps to suit the humour of the American audiences more.

In the opening credits, all of the contestants are shown together on a couch. The opening graphics roll (a chain with the name of the show in it). Then the contestants are shown on their podiums with a bright spotlight shining behind them as they state their age, name and occupation.

BBC originally funded the show, and this was paid for by the national TV license. The highest winnings in the prime time version were £24,100. I couldn't find any viewing figures.

My Pitch:
Imagine Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, except based on teamwork, and the host hates everyone, and you can't actually be a millionaire.

Uses and Gratifications Theory

The Uses and Gratifications Theory is the idea that audiences seek out entertainment to fit their needs. This implies that media sources should compete for the attention of the audience. The idea is that the consumer will seek out the form of media based on these basic categories:
Identify - The audience should be able to identify with someone in the media.
Educate - To obtain knowledge
Entertainment - The media should entertain the audience
Social Interaction - The media should be a topic of conversation outside of being consumed
The Internet has led to instant gratification in the media, especially now that Google means the consumer can find whatever they want to.