Beat the Star - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Beat the Star is a British game show

Game show

A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...

airing on television network ITV

ITV

ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

. It is the British version of the Schlag den Raab franchise, based on the German game show Schlag den Raab

Schlag den Raab

Schlag den Raab is a game show airing on the German television channel ProSieben. A candidate who can beat Stefan Raab in a number of disciplines wins the jackpot.- Premise :...

(Beat the Raab - Raab being host Stefan Raab

Stefan Raab

Stefan Konrad Raab is a German entertainer, television host, comedian and musician. Raab began his television career hosting the comedy show Vivasion in 1993 and has been hosting the late-night comedy show TV total since 1999. He became well-known in 1994 after composing a hit single spoofing...

). A candidate who can beat a celebrity in a number of disciplines wins the jackpot, starting at £50,000.

Premise

Each episode features one contestant battling against a celebrity

Celebrity

A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...

in a number of disciplines. The games include sports contests such as climbing

Climbing

Climbing is the activity of using one's hands and feet to ascend a steep object. It is done both for recreation and professionally, as part of activities such as maintenance of a structure, or military operations.Climbing activities include:* Bouldering: Ascending boulders or small...

, motorsport

Motorsport

Motorsport or motorsports is the group of sports which primarily involve the use of motorized vehicles, whether for racing or non-racing competition...

and ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

, puzzles and various other challenges. The show notably features several highly unusual challenges, including using a saw to cut a large log, dropping a pea into a bottle from a height of 1 metre, hammering nails into a piece of wood, and chopping a large sausage.

Games carry varying numbers of points for the winner (1 point for game 1, 2 for game 2 etc), and successful contestants win a prize of £50,000. If the celebrity wins, the jackpot rolls over (series 1), or is added to a prize fund for the season finale in which host Vernon Kay

Vernon Kay

Vernon Charles Kay is a British television presenter, radio DJ, american footballer and former model. He began television presenting on the BBC children's programme FBi, a spin-off of Fully Booked. Since he has presented various programmes, most notably T4, Beat the Star and All Star Family...

competes (series 2).

Recording

The pilot and first series were recorded in Cologne

Cologne

Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, using the set and facilities of the original German version of the show (though the German location is never acknowledged in the show itself). Eight episodes were recorded during April 2008. Members of the studio audience can win €500 or one of 20 tickets for German Schlag den Raab. Candidates needed to be at least 18 years of age, have a driving licence and a passport.
In October 2008 ITV announced a second series, having got good ratings with the first.
Series 2 was recorded at Pinewood Studios

Pinewood Studios

Pinewood Studios is a major British film studio situated in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, approximately west of central London. The studios have played host to many productions over the years from huge blockbuster films to television shows to commercials to pop promos.The purchase of Shepperton...

in Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....

next to the 007 Set.

Differences between Beat the Star and Schlag den Raab

Most noticeably, the UK show features a different celebrity player each week, is not broadcast live and lasts 75 minutes with 7 or 8 scheduled games (though remaining games are not played if the result is decided early).

In Germany, Schlag den Raab starts at 20:15 on Saturdays with a variable running time of at least four hours, with up to 15 individual games. The longest show in the history of "Schlag den Raab" lasted over 5 hours. The show began on Saturday 20:15 and ended on Sunday morning at 01:49. The German version starts with the selection of one of five candidates by televoting. The British remake is pre-recorded. In the German version, a member of the TV audience can win one or more cars, in the British version a member of the studio audience can win €500, though this is not shown in the broadcast show. The British version features different celebrities, whereas the German version is centred on television entertainer and late show host Stefan Raab

Stefan Raab

.
In the German version there's a jackpot starting with €500,000. The highest prize was €3 million on 23 May 2009.

The games are generally similar, although some games were dropped for series 2 of the UK show, when recording no longer took place in the original's Cologne

Cologne

studio.

In 2009, Beat the Star was brought back to Germany as Schlag den Star. Two season with four episodes each have been aired, the third one will be aired in September 2011. Concerning the differences mentioned above, Schlag den Star is very similar to Beat the Star, but Stefan Raab (not being opponent) is a joker for the contestant in one of the first six games. Schlag den Raab is aired regularly, Schlag den Star irregularly.

Transmissions

Series	Start date	End date	Episodes
1	20 April 2008	22 June 2008	8
2	19 April 2009	31 May 2009	7

Series 1

Episode	Date	Total Viewers	ITV Weekly Ranking
1	20 April 2008	5,250,000	16
2	27 April 2008	5,170,000	18
3	4 May 2008	3,800,000	20
4	11 May 2008	3,930,000	22
5	18 May 2008	3,900,000	20
6	25 May 2008	4,140,000	18
7	1 June 2008	4,930,000	20
8	22 June 2008	5,190,000	12

Series 2

Episode	Date	Total Viewers	ITV Weekly Ranking
1	19 April 2009	5,590,000	15
2	26 April 2009	4,250,000	20
3	3 May 2009	3,600,000	22
4	10 May 2009	4,140,000	24
5	17 May 2009	4,230,000	18
6	24 May 2009	Under 2,760,000	Outside Top 30
7	31 May 2009	3,870,000	29

External links

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