The Weakest Link (2020) - General Discussion

[TAG42481]

I've been frustrated now that a few times the "announcer" has called somebody out for "getting all their answers right, but not banking any money."  Well, if you get all of your answers right, you SHOULDN'T BANK.  The idea of the game is to build the chain, right?  Sounds like the NEXT person should bank the accumulated money.

[Phishbulb]

Has there ever been a case where the team went through the entire chain and made all the money? I don't think it's happened with this new iteration of the show, but even on the original show did it ever happen?

[iMonrey]

On 6/21/2023 at 3:44 PM, Phishbulb said:

Has there ever been a case where the team went through the entire chain and made all the money? I don't think it's happened with this new iteration of the show, but even on the original show did it ever happen?

I've never seen it, either here or in the original American version. (I've obviously never seen the UK version so I don't know about that.)

[JeezumCrow]

On 6/21/2023 at 1:56 PM, TAG42481 said:

I've been frustrated now that a few times the "announcer" has called somebody out for "getting all their answers right, but not banking any money."  Well, if you get all of your answers right, you SHOULDN'T BANK.  The idea of the game is to build the chain, right?  Sounds like the NEXT person should bank the accumulated money.

I did see it once on the old American version - I remember because I was disappointed that it meant the round stopped and they couldn’t go for as many chains as they wanted. I don’t know that it happened more than that, though. 

[ams1001]

A fairy mystic? Um, okay. (I'd vote her off first just for that. But she was pretty dumb, anyway.)

Tonight I learned that the ostrich is a mammal and can fly. I was kinda rooting for Michael until that one.

At least when Hannah said ostrich the question was asking for a flightless bird.

[iMonrey]

This was actually a pretty strong team for a change. 84K is probably the highest bank I've seen. But S'erah was a joke. The show knew she was a kook when she was cast. Thank God she went first. And I was glad to see Bridget go too. We don't need trash talk on a show like this. Boy was she full of herself.

It occurs to me that Jane must know who voted for who in order to question the right people. Probably producers tip her off in an earpiece or something.

[ams1001]

6 hours ago, iMonrey said:

It occurs to me that Jane must know who voted for who in order to question the right people. Probably producers tip her off in an earpiece or something.

I wonder if she has a screen in her podium or something.

[Meedis]

Yes I agree...very strong team this time.   And the right folks got eliminated for once up till the final 4 where I was okay with any of those 4 making it to final 2.   I believe the total is second highest.   I seem to remember one team reaching $89K in the final last season or the season before.

Edited to add...I feel like they purposely threw the clunker contestant in the middle just so they couldn't make the chain...though Bridgett probably would've banked it short of reaching the goal.   So glad she got eliminated.   LOL

Checked page...and highest amount was $95K (back on page 5 of thread that went to an undeserving winner...LOL)

Edited July 14, 2023 by Meedis

[ams1001]

The wrestlers did pretty well. Nine correct in a row, twice in a row (except they banked in between so they didn't get all the money).

The Miz is literally the only one I've even heard of (because he was in the last season of Dancing With the Stars before it went to Disney+, IIRC), and he was voted off first. The fake fight was annoying; glad it only happened once.

Darn, I was rooting for Becky. But as a former literature major, Xavier screaming Don Quixote on his last question gave me a good laugh. 

I actually enjoyed this episode a lot more than I expected to. (Not a wrestling fan.)

[KeithJ]

Putting a team of three in yielded predictable results.  At least they were playing for charity.

[KeithJ]

17 minutes ago, ams1001 said:

The wrestlers did pretty well. Nine correct in a row, twice in a row (except they banked in between so they didn't get all the money).

They did do well but the questions were a lot easier than when regular people are on.  How many wrestling questions were there?  On most shows when celebs are playing for charity, the questions always seem to get easier.  Look at Celebrity Family Feud vs regular Family Feud fast money.  I couldn’t tell you the last time celebs didn’t hit 200 points but not hitting it is a regular occurrence on the normal show.  Top answers on the celebrity show are almost always in the 40-50 range vs the 20-30 range.

[iMonrey]

12 hours ago, ams1001 said:

actually enjoyed this episode a lot more than I expected to. (Not a wrestling fan.)

Same. I'm not inclined to like these theme episodes, but I got a kick out of the drag queens, and the wrestlers were pretty entertaining too. I guess there is something to be said for having a team that knows each other, the banter is fun. That said, the theatrics with the Miz after the first round I could have done without.

11 hours ago, KeithJ said:

They did do well but the questions were a lot easier than when regular people are on.  How many wrestling questions were there?

I noticed that too. Lots of sports questions overall and all the questions seemed pretty dumbed down. Still, they did better than I would have expected.

12 hours ago, KeithJ said:

Putting a team of three in yielded predictable results.  At least they were playing for charity.

I suspect the boot order was pre-arranged among them, too.

[cinsays]

I didn't like that they had the team of three - not fair!  

That Big-E guy was a waste of space and didn't even try. 

[opus]

I was kind of hoping one of the New Day guys would get “What was the first state admitted to the Union?”

[Phishbulb]

12 hours ago, opus said:

I was kind of hoping one of the New Day guys would get “What was the first state admitted to the Union?”

Or "What state did Joe Biden represent in the Senate?" Or "What state were Wayne and Garth less than thrilled to be in?" 😄

[Diana Berry]

On 7/17/2023 at 11:01 PM, ams1001 said:

The wrestlers did pretty well. Nine correct in a row, twice in a row (except they banked in between so they didn't get all the money).

The Miz is literally the only one I've even heard of (because he was in the last season of Dancing With the Stars before it went to Disney+, IIRC), and he was voted off first. The fake fight was annoying; glad it only happened once.

Darn, I was rooting for Becky. But as a former literature major, Xavier screaming Don Quixote on his last question gave me a good laugh. 

I actually enjoyed this episode a lot more than I expected to. (Not a wrestling fan.)

I have a soft spot for the miz since i watched him back in the day when he was just mike on the real world.   

[ams1001]

This Christmas special was fun (if a tad early...it's still November!!) Pretty sure it's the first time I've seen them complete the chain, but the first-round questions also seemed easier than usual.

Miki the Caroler was hilarious. I cracked up at her comment about how she likes to watch police chases: They're not getting away, but the nice part is they don't give up! (paraphrased, probably, because I already forgot exactly what she said). Sorry to see her go first. 

Eric the Elf kinda bugged me at first but I found myself rooting for him by the end. Probably because (as Jane pointed out) he dropped the overly-chipper Elf demeanor.

[Taeolas]

yeah the first round questions felt easier; it almost made me think the contestants were ringers or something jsut to have a full chain or something. The later questions still felt a little easier, but there were a number I'd have no clue about. 

In any case that was the first time I've ever seen a chain completed. Having Father Christmas doing the voice over and saying how hard the team made Jane's job was a nice touch too. 

[zoey1996]

The Santa/helpers/caroler show repeated this week. I hadn't watched it previously. I too had never seen a chain completed, that was pretty amazing! I liked them all, and was happy with the outcome.

[Meedis]

The contestants definitely felt very ringy.    But how nice was it to see a perfect chain.

[KeithJ]

Wow.  The Days of Our Lives cast was bad, really bad (borderline stupid).  I know they are "celebrities" but it didn't even seem like they were taking it seriously.

[iMonrey]

I haven't watched Days of our Lives in ages. The only two actors I recognized were the ones who play Lucas and Belle. And they were much, much younger when I was watching so it was kind of a shock to see how they had aged (and made me feel so old). I also recognized Galen because he used to be on Passions. Didn't recognize the guy who's playing Brady now, but they must be on their sixth or seventh Brady by now.

1 hour ago, KeithJ said:

Wow.  The Days of Our Lives cast was bad, really bad (borderline stupid).  I know they are "celebrities" but it didn't even seem like they were taking it seriously.

Sometimes I wonder if they regret doing this and showing how dumb they actually are. (To be fair, I didn't know how much money a sawbuck was either.)

Also, I'm assuming they cannot see the countdown clock when they're running out of time, because at least twice they missed the opportunity to bank when it was obvious they were going to run out of time before they could answer the question.

[cinsays]

2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I haven't watched Days of our Lives in ages. The only two actors I recognized were the ones who play Lucas and Belle. And they were much, much younger when I was watching so it was kind of a shock to see how they had aged (and made me feel so old). I also recognized Galen because he used to be on Passions. Didn't recognize the guy who's playing Brady now, but they must be on their sixth or seventh Brady by now.

Sometimes I wonder if they regret doing this and showing how dumb they actually are. (To be fair, I didn't know how much money a sawbuck was either.)

Also, I'm assuming they cannot see the countdown clock when they're running out of time, because at least twice they missed the opportunity to bank when it was obvious they were going to run out of time before they could answer the question.

i don't think they cared that much about winning, they were just there to play. was not impressed.  i much prefer the games of "normal, regular" people.  was kind of surprised they didn't give the runner-up at least $1000 for his charity.

[ams1001]

I watched Days of Our Lives back in college for a bit. No idea who any of these people are. Glad World Central Kitchen got some money, at least.

[Rodney]

They certainly don't cast geniuses anymore, as tonight showed.  The team really had a problem making money, and the two best performers got booted in fourth and third place.

All-black top two, though, which, as a black person, I appreciated seeing.

The winner had definitely performed weakly throughout the game, but she was just so earnest and happy to be there, I couldn't take her victory away from her.

[ams1001]

9 hours ago, Rodney said:

The winner had definitely performed weakly throughout the game, but she was just so earnest and happy to be there, I couldn't take her victory away from her.

I was surprised she made it to the end. Though maybe because she was kind of quiet and unassuming they figured she wasn't a threat. I liked her. Glad she won.

[iMonrey]

I often wonder how much time the team gets to spend together before the game begins because sometimes it appears certain players are voting together to eliminate the biggest threats to win. That seemed to be the case here. And it's a feature of the game that could be overcome. When it was just down to four players, the two strong players on the left (Jennifer and Chris) should have voted together against either one of the two weak players on the right (Micah and Ashley) which would have forced a tie they would have controlled. Instead one voted for Micah and the other voted for Ashley, which gave Micah and Ashley the power to vote Chris off together and leave Jennifer by herself, who they could then pick off at the end. 

In that respect, Micah and Ashley were better players than Jennifer and Chris even though they weren't as knowledgable when it came to answering questions. They let the more knowledgable players build the cash then voted them off. The other players should have focused more on eliminating weak players than players they considered threats at the end.

[Rodney]

6 hours ago, iMonrey said:

In that respect, Micah and Ashley were better players than Jennifer and Chris even though they weren't as knowledgeable when it came to answering questions. They let the more knowledgeable players build the cash then voted them off. The other players should have focused more on eliminating weak players than players they considered threats at the end.

I've always treated The Weakest Link like a faster, Q&A-based version of Survivor.  Boot the obvious weaker players early on, usually in the first three to four rounds, who aren't nearly as knowledgeable, and then, around the top five or four, start looking at the stronger, more knowledgeable players who were better at building up the bank.  Clearly, Micah and Ashley were strategists who'd thought of that, while Chris and Jennifer only thought about the strength of the team, neglecting the typical endgame strategy.

6 hours ago, ams1001 said:

I was surprised she made it to the end. Though maybe because she was kind of quiet and unassuming they figured she wasn't a threat. I liked her. Glad she won.

The guy she beat sure looked quietly pissed about it, though.

Edited April 10 by Rodney

[iMonrey]

2 hours ago, Rodney said:

The guy she beat sure looked quietly pissed about it, though.

I can't believe he missed the March of Dimes question though. I mean, I didn't know FDR created the March of Dimes but the clue was right there in the question when she said his likeness appeared on the ten cent piece. 

[ams1001]

This is not the first time a question referenced the actress who played Sue Sylvester in Glee and the player didn't know it. 

[iMonrey]

Again - there seemed to be some pre-arranged strategy in the voting process, because they couldn't have been voting left to right coincidentally. I'd really like to know how they are able to plan that though. When it got down to the final three, Laura should have voted off Adam, who was a stronger player than Evan. But it didn't end up mattering since she beat him anyway, surprisingly. Can't believe he couldn't guess 7-11! It's right there in the name! Hasn't he ever heard of 7-11's before??

12 hours ago, ams1001 said:

This is not the first time a question referenced the actress who played Sue Sylvester in Glee and the player didn't know it. 

Yup. That must kill her. Granted, Glee had a pretty niche audience in a specific age range. I gave up on it after Season 2 when they basically dropped all efforts in the grown-up storyline and it became 100% teen show.

[ams1001]

8 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Yup. That must kill her. Granted, Glee had a pretty niche audience in a specific age range. I gave up on it after Season 2 when they basically dropped all efforts in the grown-up storyline and it became 100% teen show.

I stuck it out to the end, but I recently got some facebook memories of posts where I asked something along the lines of "how much worse can this show get?" and I was basically watching to see the answer to that. (It was terrible. If it was that bad in the beginning I wouldn't have gotten past the first episode.) Some of the contestants looked like they might be of the age to have watched it (it ran from 2009-2015 so someone in their mid-teens when it started would be around 30 now), but I guess you also have to be into musicals.

[ams1001]

Stop banking after every answer!

Aw, I was rooting for Michael.

[iMonrey]

13 hours ago, ams1001 said:

Aw, I was rooting for Michael.

Yeah, it was sad when he choked up about being homeless. But he's apparently too young to know what Samsonite Luggage is! Young whipper-snapper. Anyone from my generation would know that from any given prize on any given game show!

[ams1001]

2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Yeah, it was sad when he choked up about being homeless. But he's apparently too young to know what Samsonite Luggage is! Young whipper-snapper. Anyone from my generation would know that from any given prize on any given game show!

I know, I said to myself, he's not old enough to know that one!

[opus]

On 4/24/2024 at 11:33 AM, iMonrey said:

Yeah, it was sad when he choked up about being homeless. But he's apparently too young to know what Samsonite Luggage is! Young whipper-snapper. Anyone from my generation would know that from any given prize on any given game show!

I goofed that one up. Thought they were asking for the guy, not the company.

[Diana Berry]

On 4/24/2024 at 11:33 AM, iMonrey said:

Yeah, it was sad when he choked up about being homeless. But he's apparently too young to know what Samsonite Luggage is! Young whipper-snapper. Anyone from my generation would know that from any given prize on any given game show!

I was rooting for him too.  But he played good strategy , those others would have voted him off.  Matt owed him so at least he got to play in the finale.  Hope he continues to work hard and graduate from college. 

[iMonrey]

Wow, this last batch of dummies were possibly the worst I've ever seen. The first four to go, at least. I mean, I didn't know for sure Lufthansa was a German airline, but I sure as hell know Peru isn't in Europe. And the woman who didn't know Yoda's "do or not do there is no try?" That's such basic pop culture even people who haven't seen any Star Wars movies should have heard it.

The final four had an interesting strategy, banking after every single question, but it only got them a total bank around the same as any other game. 

I wish the show would do a better job finding qualified contestants. I know this isn't Jeopardy but sometimes it seems like they just pull random people in off the streets who have no business being there.

[ams1001]

2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Wow, this last batch of dummies were possibly the worst I've ever seen. 

For a second I thought I was on the Jeopardy forum (last night's J! game wasn't great, either). 😄

Erick was bugging me; glad he lost.

[cinsays]

21 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Wow, this last batch of dummies were possibly the worst I've ever seen. The first four to go, at least. I mean, I didn't know for sure Lufthansa was a German airline, but I sure as hell know Peru isn't in Europe. And the woman who didn't know Yoda's "do or not do there is no try?" That's such basic pop culture even people who haven't seen any Star Wars movies should have heard it.

The final four had an interesting strategy, banking after every single question, but it only got them a total bank around the same as any other game. 

I wish the show would do a better job finding qualified contestants. I know this isn't Jeopardy but sometimes it seems like they just pull random people in off the streets who have no business being there.

i've never heard the saying and never saw any of the movies and have no idea how else i would have heard it, but, yeah, most of this crew were not very intelligent.

i was rooting for the other guy in the final 2 to win.  whatever he was going to use the money for would be a better use than a European honeymoon.  or maybe that's just me

Edited May 9 by cinsays

[iMonrey]

I can't believe the guy was crying over having to vote someone off. There's no crying in The Weakest Link!

[opus]

You just know the writers were high fiving each other over the fact that the turkey thing actually worked.

[cinsays]

On 5/9/2024 at 11:46 AM, opus said:

You just know the writers were high fiving each other over the fact that the turkey thing actually worked.

turkey thing?

[Taeolas]

Two questions in a row, the answer was Turkey. The third question could also logically have Turkey as an answer. The contestant didn't know the real answer, so they just went with the pattern and said "Turkey". (but I think they had banked at least so it was a free question). It was wrong but everyone had a legit laugh over the obvious pattern. 

[iMonrey]

Sometimes I despair for humanity when these contestants miss such easy questions.

"What common army vehicle shares its name with a place you keep tropical fish?" SUBMARINER?

"What food staple is thrown at a married couple at a wedding?" CAKE? And when Jane asked her about this flub she said she'd never been to a wedding before. Uh, OK, has she never watched TV or seen a movie?

And while I'm inclined to give a pass to someone not knowing much about Greek mythology, Mount Thaddeus is not a place.

When the other two eliminated Abby at the end there she looked like she was about to cry.

[PrairieDogBaby]

On 4/10/2024 at 11:25 AM, iMonrey said:

I often wonder how much time the team gets to spend together before the game begins because sometimes it appears certain players are voting together to eliminate the biggest threats to win.

I found the answer!  At the end of the end credits this blurb appears:

"All contestants were introduced to and allowed to speak briefly with fellow competitors prior to the taping of their episode and were granted the opportunity to develop game strategy based on these interactions."

[ams1001]

7 hours ago, iMonrey said:

"What food staple is thrown at a married couple at a wedding?" CAKE?

You mean cake isn't a staple? Huh.

Edited May 21 by ams1001

[opus]

41 minutes ago, ams1001 said:

You mean cake isn't a staple? Huh.

It is in my house.

[iMonrey]

17 hours ago, ams1001 said:

You mean cake isn't a staple? Huh.

It isn't a staple you throw at the couple, no.

[ams1001]

Ran the chain on the first round! It never occurred to me until now to wonder how they determine the strongest link if no one got anything wrong (I thought maybe whoever took the least time to answer their question, but it's the person who got the last one because they had the most money on the line).

I was rooting for Kari up until the end. She had a couple dumb answers.

Edited May 28 by ams1001