Dog Eat Dog (game show)
Encyclopedia
Dog Eat Dog is a Saturday night British
game show
on BBC One
hosted by Ulrika Jonsson
, which ran from 14 April 2001 to 2 November 2002. It was devised by David Young, then a BBC producer (and later founder of game show production company 12 Yard
). The programme started off by showing the six contestants at a training day where they underwent various tests to assess their strengths and weaknesses. The contestants talked about themselves and their fellow competitors.
, the contestants voted on who they thought would fail a given challenge, which would either be a mental
or physical
one. The contestant who received the most votes would have to attempt the challenge. If they failed, they went to the "Loser's Bench," and if they won, they got to choose who went to that area of the studio.
The last remaining contestant had the chance of winning the £10,000 prize, but had to face a general knowledge
round against the other five competitors. If they could predict which three would get their questions wrong, they won the money; however, if the losers got three of their questions right, they split the prize between them, i.e. £2,000 each, and the overall winner of the show went home with nothing.
The format was licensed internationally by BBC Worldwide
, the commercial arm of the BBC.
Some of the head-to-head competitions included:
n version hosted by Simone Kessell
was briefly aired in 2002 on the Seven Network
, but cancelled after receiving dismal ratings. The top prize was $50,000. The show gained more notoriety after it was axed than before it due to a number of tabloid stories regarding contestants who had won money on the show but not received it because the program they participated on never went to air.
A version made in Dubai
by Dubai TV was syndicated across the Arabic-speaking world and each episode featured contestants from different countries in that region.
A German
version hosted by Kai Böcking aired on ZDF
in 2002. The show's format was generally the same as the other versions, except that the game started with five players instead of six.
The Singapore
version of the show was hosted by Guo Liang under the name Show Me Your Power was aired in 2003 over Channel U as Dog Eat Dog was considered an inappropriate title.
The U.S.
version was hosted by Brooke Burns
in 2002 and 2003 on NBC
and reruns were picked up by the Game Show Network
.
In Poland
the station TVN
broadcast a version of the show in 2002 under the name Oko za oko (literally 'eye for eye'). The host was Jarosław Ostaszkiewicz who had previously voiced the Big Brother
in the reality show of the same name, the Polish version
of which was also broadcast by TVN.
BBC Worldwide
also licensed the format to a broadcaster in Sweden
.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
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...
on BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
hosted by Ulrika Jonsson
Ulrika Jonsson
Eva Ulrika Jonsson is a Swedish television presenter in the UK, who became famous as a TV-am weather presenter and moved on to present Gladiators and became a team captain of the show Shooting Stars.-Early life:...
, which ran from 14 April 2001 to 2 November 2002. It was devised by David Young, then a BBC producer (and later founder of game show production company 12 Yard
12 Yard
12 Yard Productions is a British television production company, founded by David Young and specialising in the game show genre. Its productions have included In It To Win It, Eggheads, The Rich List, and the critically acclaimed Without Prejudice?...
). The programme started off by showing the six contestants at a training day where they underwent various tests to assess their strengths and weaknesses. The contestants talked about themselves and their fellow competitors.
Format
In the studioStudio
A studio is an artist's or worker's workroom, or the catchall term for an artist and his or her employees who work within that studio. This can be for the purpose of architecture, painting, pottery , sculpture, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, radio or television...
, the contestants voted on who they thought would fail a given challenge, which would either be a mental
Mind
The concept of mind is understood in many different ways by many different traditions, ranging from panpsychism and animism to traditional and organized religious views, as well as secular and materialist philosophies. Most agree that minds are constituted by conscious experience and intelligent...
or physical
Body
With regard to living things, a body is the physical body of an individual. "Body" often is used in connection with appearance, health issues and death...
one. The contestant who received the most votes would have to attempt the challenge. If they failed, they went to the "Loser's Bench," and if they won, they got to choose who went to that area of the studio.
The last remaining contestant had the chance of winning the £10,000 prize, but had to face a general knowledge
General knowledge
General knowledge has been defined by differential psychologists as referring to 'culturally valued knowledge communicated by a range of non-specialist media' General knowledge therefore encompasses a wide range of knowledge domains...
round against the other five competitors. If they could predict which three would get their questions wrong, they won the money; however, if the losers got three of their questions right, they split the prize between them, i.e. £2,000 each, and the overall winner of the show went home with nothing.
The format was licensed internationally by BBC Worldwide
BBC Worldwide
BBC Worldwide Limited is the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in 1995. In the year to 31 March 2010 it made a profit of £145m on a turnover of £1.074bn. The company had made a profit of £106m...
, the commercial arm of the BBC.
Stunts
Some of the one-player stunts featured on various versions of the show were:| Stunt | Definition |
|---|---|
| 360 degree Ladder | Crawl around a circular ladder hanging in the air in a limited amount of time and capture the flag. |
| Earthquake Island | Climb up a ladder mounted on a tilting island-with rain. |
| Flag Capture | Climb a net and get the greatest number of flags in a limited amount of time. |
| He or She | Given a panel of about six subjects, guess which one was the female (or male) out of the group. This normally involved having five cross-dressing men and one female, with the contestant having to guess which one of them was the female. |
| Little Genius | Play a trivia game against a child prodigy Child prodigy A child prodigy is someone who, at an early age, masters one or more skills far beyond his or her level of maturity. One criterion for classifying prodigies is: a prodigy is a child, typically younger than 18 years old, who is performing at the level of a highly trained adult in a very demanding... . |
| Strip Games | The contestant was required to perform a feat of skill of some sort; every time the player made a mistake, he or she was required to remove one article of clothing. If the feat was accomplished before the player missed the attempt completely naked, the mission was completed. Some of the stripping stunts included throwing a beanbag or a football into a target, making a hole-in-one on a miniature golf Miniature golf Miniature golf, or minigolf, is a miniature version of the sport of golf. While the international sports organization World Minigolf Sport Federation prefers to use the name "minigolf", the general public in different countries has also many other names for the game: miniature golf, mini-golf,... hole (with each removed article of clothing allowing the player to move closer to the hole), darts Darts Darts is a form of throwing game where darts are thrown at a circular target fixed to a wall. Though various boards and games have been used in the past, the term "darts" usually now refers to a standardised game involving a specific board design and set of rules... (where the contestant had to forfeit an article of clothing in exchange for a dart), and hangman Hangman (game) Hangman is a paper and pencil guessing game for two or more players. One player thinks of a word and the other tries to guess it by suggesting letters.-Overview:... (with each missed letter costing an article of clothing). |
| Water Walk | Walk on a platform while being hit by water. |
| Out on a Limb | Player is enclosed in a large, X-Shaped figure, in which he or she must collect 4 red flags and 4 blue flags within the time limit, completing all of one color first, followed by the other. |
| Treadmill Trivia | Walk/run on a treadmill trying to answer ten questions right before falling off the treadmill from fatigue and into a giant swimming pool. Every time a question is answered wrong, the speed on the treadmill increases. A variation of this game was used in which the contestant was required to walk/run on a large wheel, which arbitrarily sped up throughout the round. |
| Ladder Wheel | Climb a full 360 degrees around a circular-shaped ladder-like structure. |
| Pandora's Box | Grab floating water markers and bring them to a box submerged underwater. |
Some of the head-to-head competitions included:
| Competition | ||
|---|---|---|
| Fish Throwing | Used only once, two professional fish throwers threw fish at each of the 2 contestants. Whoever caught the most won. | |
| Rainstorm Hanging | The remaining two contestants hang on a bar with just their hands in pouring rain; the first to fall loses. | |
| Rainstorm Pedestal | Contestants stand on a small pedestal mounted atop a long pole in the pool; the first person to fall off the pedestal loses. After five minutes, the rain machines are turned on; if both contestants last ten minutes, the intensity of the rain is increased. | |
| Wall Climbing | Contestants would climb up a wall holding a key which they would use to unlock a box at the top. They would jump down and take a second key to the top and put it in the keyhole they had previously unlocked. The first person to do this would dump 400 gallons of water on to the other person, and would send the other person to the dog pound. |
Other countries
An AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n version hosted by Simone Kessell
Simone Kessell
Simone Kessell is a New Zealand actress who has starred in several films and television series.-Personal life:Kessell is married to Australian director Gregor Jordan...
was briefly aired in 2002 on the Seven Network
Seven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
, but cancelled after receiving dismal ratings. The top prize was $50,000. The show gained more notoriety after it was axed than before it due to a number of tabloid stories regarding contestants who had won money on the show but not received it because the program they participated on never went to air.
A version made in Dubai
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...
by Dubai TV was syndicated across the Arabic-speaking world and each episode featured contestants from different countries in that region.
A German
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...
version hosted by Kai Böcking aired on ZDF
ZDF
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen , ZDF, is a public-service German television broadcaster based in Mainz . It is run as an independent non-profit institution, which was founded by the German federal states . The ZDF is financed by television licence fees called GEZ and advertising revenues...
in 2002. The show's format was generally the same as the other versions, except that the game started with five players instead of six.
The Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
version of the show was hosted by Guo Liang under the name Show Me Your Power was aired in 2003 over Channel U as Dog Eat Dog was considered an inappropriate title.
The U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
version was hosted by Brooke Burns
Brooke Burns
Brooke Elizabeth Burns is an American actress and former fashion model. She began her career on the popular TV series Baywatch and Baywatch Hawaii.-Early life:...
in 2002 and 2003 on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
and reruns were picked up by the Game Show Network
Game Show Network
The Game Show Network is an American cable television and direct broadcast satellite channel dedicated to game shows and casino game shows. The channel was launched on December 1, 1994. Its current slogan is "The World Needs More Winners"...
.
In Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
the station TVN
TVN (Poland)
TVN is a major Polish commercial television network. The broadcaster was co-founded by Polish businessmen Mariusz Walter and Jan Wejchert. The network launched on October 3, 1997. TVN belongs to the TVN S.A...
broadcast a version of the show in 2002 under the name Oko za oko (literally 'eye for eye'). The host was Jarosław Ostaszkiewicz who had previously voiced the Big Brother
Big Brother (TV series)
Big Brother is a television show in which a group of people live together in a large house, isolated from the outside world but continuously watched by television cameras. Each series lasts for around three months, and there are usually fewer than 15 participants. The housemates try to win a cash...
in the reality show of the same name, the Polish version
Big Brother (Poland)
Big Brother Poland is a television Series produced by Endemol. It has had a total of 5 seasons including one Celebrity Season.The First Season aired in 2001.-Nominations Table:Notes:...
of which was also broadcast by TVN.
BBC Worldwide
BBC Worldwide
BBC Worldwide Limited is the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in 1995. In the year to 31 March 2010 it made a profit of £145m on a turnover of £1.074bn. The company had made a profit of £106m...
also licensed the format to a broadcaster in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
.
Original series
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External links
- Dog Eat Dog at BFI