Ultimatum (game show)

"Ultimatum" is a Quebec quiz show, broadcast on the TVA network. Its visual style and lighting and is largely inspired by the success of the British and American shows "Who Wants to be a Millionaire". The rules of the contest are, however, different.

Synopsis & Basic Rules

Standard Game

The game was played with five contestants with the returning champion as the first "controller". The controller picked a question category off of a set list, then read the question and directed it to another contestant. If the contestant got the question right, they became the new controller and the outgoing controller lost a life. If the contestant got the question wrong, the controller retained control and the contestant lost a life. Each contestant began the game with three lives, and if they were reduced to zero, were eliminated from the game.

However, each player also had access to a number of "tools" to encourage strategic play. Each tool could be invoked only once by each player over the course of the game. They were:
*Ricochet, which could be used by a player who was asked to answer a question to redirect the question to any other contestant (except the controller) as if the controller had asked them directly.
*Miroir (mirror), which could also be used by a player who was asked to answer a question, but would instead direct the question back on the controller, reversing the roles.
*Piege (trap), which was used by the controller. If a controller found a question they were sure they knew the answer to, they could "trap" another contestant of their choice, answer the question themselves, and, if correct, cost the trapped player a life. (If wrong, the trapped player assumes control and the outgoing controller loses a life.)

When any of these tools was invoked, or if the contestant had no tools left to use, the host would declare a question to be an Ultimatum, complete with tenser, more dramatic lights and background music.

After all contestants but one had been eliminated, the remaining contestant was declared the winner, and went on to play the bonus round. at one point during the series the contestant who won the game received $500

Bonus Round

The bonus round pitted the winner of the standard game against the collective brain power of the eliminated contestants, with a bit of a twist: for each life the winner had remaining at the end of the game, they could eliminate an opponent, meaning they would not be allowed to help the rest answer the question. In this fashion, if a winner had all three hearts left, the bonus round would effectively be one-on-one.

Later in the run, the bonus round was altered, the contestant chose a category, and was read a question, they'd have 10 seconds to think, if they answered correctly, he/she won $1,000, a wrong answer won nothing extra.

Tournament Play

on several occasions during the run a multi-week tournament would be held, the 5 contestants played every day from Monday through Friday, the player who won the most money was invited back for the finals, then 4 weeks would be played each with 5 new contestants, the 5 winners would play an additional week against each other, with the winner of the finals receiving $40,000.

ee also

*List of Quebec television series
*Television of Quebec
*Culture of Quebec
*Quiz show