The People Versus

Infobox Television
show_name = The People Versus


caption =
format = Game Show
picture_format = 4:3 (2000) 16:9 (2001 - 2002)
runtime = 30mins (inc. comms)
creator =
starring = Kirsty Young (2000) Kaye Adams (2001 - 2002)
channel = ITV
first_aired = 2000
last_aired = 2002
num_series =
num_episodes =
country = UK
producer = Celador
related =
imdb_id =

"The People Versus" is a television game show which aired on ITV from 2000 to 2002 in the United Kingdom. Kirsty Young hosted the program in 2000, and Kaye Adams hosted the daytime version from 2001 to 2002. The show was radical in terms of the two changes of versions. The second version was a lot quicker than the first. The Kirsty Young version was criticised as being slow. The People Versus was made by Celador, the same makers as Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.

Formats

Kirsty Young version

For every question the contestants got correct they won £5,000. The rules were: In each round the players were shown five questions from one of their specialist subjects. In Round One, each contestant had to attempt and answer correctly one of those five questions - "one of five to stay alive". In Round Two, on a different subject they had to answer two correctly to stay in, Round Three three, Round Four four and finally in Round Five they had to answer all five. In each round, the player could, if they wanted, earn more cash by answering more questions than the quota required, again for £5,000 a piece. To help, each player was shown all five questions at the start. Each player was also given three 'flips'. If a player wanted to use a flip, they could substitute any of the five given questions for another one. Also, if they had the cash, they could elect to 'buy' answers to questions at £10,000 a at a time, which was steep but it is better than nothing.

Finishing Round 5 meant the contestant would begin again at Round 1. There was no limit on the amount of money someone could win which potentially meant someone could win more than a million pounds - higher than the top prize of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire!"

If a person got their question wrong they lost all money in that round and their seat in the game went to the person who set the question.

Kaye Adams version

Studio contestants are asked general knowledge questions set by the public. The rounds are as follows:

*Round one: one question worth £100
*Round two: two questions worth £250
*Round three: three questions worth £500
*Round four: four questions worth £1,000
*Round five: five questions worth £3,000

If the contestant gets stuck on a question, they can pass, but if they cannot pass any more, they must use a 'Flip'. A contestant has 3 to use at their disposal. This substitutes the question for a question on their specialist subject.

Finishing Round 5 meant that the contestant would bank the £3,000 and have the chance to restart from Round 1 again with their Flips restored. As in the first series there is an unlimited amount of money to be won. The highest sum of money won on the daytime version was £13,000 by Indrani Hettiaratchi.

If a contestant answers a question incorrectly then they are knocked out of the game. The person who set the question won £100. Later in the series this changed to £50 for a Round 1 knockout with no money being awarded for an elimination in a later round. The Bong Game was then played.

The contestant had a four minute time limit to finish the rounds. Running out of time meant they lost.

Another new element to the game was 'The Bong Game'. It's a game where the money s/he had in play can be given back to him/her. This only happens when the studio contestant gets a question wrong.

£100 if the player failed in Round 2, £250 in Round 3, £500 in Round 4, and £1,000 in Round 5.

The studio contestant has the choice of 3 Bong games. One of these three games doesn't have a bong in it all and goes all the way to the money s/he had in play.

A robotic voice reads out increasing amounts of money. The aim is to stop the voice before the bong sounded. The contestant had to press a button to stop the voice and win whatever was shown on the screen.

If the contestant beats the bong the rest of that money goes to the person who caught the studio contestant out. If the studio player fails to beat the bong then they win nothing and the member of the public wins the all of money in play. The contestant then finds out where the bong would have come in.

Other international versions

Hong Kong

Premiered on New Year's Day in 2002 on ATV, called "各出其謀" (lit. Everyone give out their questions) replaced the first series of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" (which the last contestant was also the first contestant of the show, but he lost at the Bong Game). It was host by Lam Kin-ming (林建明).

The values of each rounds were HK$5,000, HK$10,000, HK$20,000, HK$40,000 and HK$100,000 (about £6,451) respectively.

Russia

Called Народ против (Narod Protiv, lit. people against). The show was originally aired on Channel One, then a new series aired on REN TV.

The values of each rounds were 1,000 rubles, 2,500 rubles, 5,000 rubles, 15,000 rubles and 50,000 rubles (about £1,029) respectively.

External links

[http://www.ukgameshows.com/page/index.php/The_People_Versus "The People Versus"] at UKgameshows.com