The Weakest Link (U.S. Game Show)

The Weakest Link is a British television quiz show. The American version of the British television game show The Weakest Link aired in three separate formats, one on primetime network television and one in daily syndication. The current one is airing as a part of UPN Daytime (with Temptation: The New Sale of the Century).

The primetime Weakest Link debuted on NBC April 16, 2001 and aired until July 14, 2002. The series' final ten episodes went unaired until 2003, when PAX TV aired some of them. The remainder aired on GSN, which maintains broadcast rights to the series. While the primetime series was still in production, the daily syndicated series was being developed. That series debuted at midseason in 2002, premiering on January 7, 2002, and aired for a season and a half before ending its run on May 20, 2003. Reruns of this series would join the primetime series on both PAX and GSN but neither series is currently airing. The current version premiered on Sept. 3, 2014 as part of the new UPN Daytime lineup, with Dan Baxter serving as host, and Lisa Turner being the announcer.

Rules
In the syndicated series, the team size is at six players and the potential top prize is $100,000. One player would be eliminated after each round until two were remaining. On the syndicated version, each round thereafter was reduced by 15 seconds (with the first round lasting for 1:45); As on the British version, contestants who are eliminated in the rounds leading up to the final round are told by the host: "You are the weakest link. Goodbye!."

The final vote occurred prior to the penultimate round, with the two players competing in one more round together for double stakes (with the round lasting for 45 seconds).

Unlike most versions where the game started with the player whose name is first alphabetically, a random draw backstage, similar to most multiple-player game shows, was held among players to determine order, and the player who drew the first position starts the first round. Each round thereafter begins with the strongest link from the preceding round (or if that player had been voted off, the second strongest). For the head to head round, he or she also had the option of going first or passing play to the other finalist.

Money Chains
The bank's target value was the maximum amount of money that a team could accumulate in any one round, and if a team reached the target and banked it while already having money in the bank, the bank would be augmented to the target value instead of having the target value added to the bank.

Final Round
The final round was a head-to-head showdown between the two remaining contestants for the entire prize money bank. The strongest link from the final round was given the option of playing first or passing control to their teammate. The contestants were then asked a series of alternating questions, with a best of three format. Whoever answered the most questions correctly won all the money while the other, like the rest of the contestants voted off, would leave with nothing. If both players were tied after all the questions were asked, a series of sudden death tie-breaker questions would be asked, with the first player to top their opponent winning the game.