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The Challengers (game show)
Encyclopedia
The Challengers was an American syndicated game show
from Ron Greenberg
Productions, Dick Clark Productions
, and Buena Vista Television. The show was hosted by Dick Clark. The show premiered on September 3, 1990 and ended on August 30, 1991. Don Morrow
was the announcer, with Bob Hilton
occasionally substituting.
The game included elements of Greenberg's earlier show, The Who, What, or Where Game
, seen during the early 1970s and hosted by Art James
. Unlike most syndicated game shows, the series continued airing new episodes well into the summer of 1991, a time when most syndicated programming was generally in reruns.
This round was briefly removed partway through the run in favor of a single toss-up question. The contestant who answered correctly scored $100 and control of the Round 1 board. The Sprint later returned.
Contestants then secretly chose the question they wanted to face using buttons on their podiums. What happened next depends on how the vote broke down:
In each case, the last contestant to give a correct answer then picks a new category. Play continues until all six categories were played or time ran out.
As in Round One, play continued until all six categories were played or time ran out. If any player had $0 or less at the end of this round they were eliminated from further play.
If two players finished the second round with $0 or less, the remaining player earned the right to play all three questions. If the player answered even one question incorrectly, the game ended.
Whoever was in the lead won the game and returned the next day, although all contestants kept what they had earned. Winnings were awarded either by cash or by a Citibank
debit card
, originally Visa and later a choice of Visa or MasterCard
. Champions on The Challengers continued to play until they were defeated.
The Ultimate Challenge was first played on the pilot episode of The Challengers for $50,000. Contestant Doak Fairey failed to win the round and $5,000 was added to the pot. That amount was to be added to the pot each time a contestant advanced to the round and failed to win it. However, Fairey's attempt stood as the only one for the first two weeks of the program as no one was able to win the three consecutive games to play the Ultimate Challenge.
Beginning with the episode aired September 17, 1990, the rules were modified. The pot, which stood at $55,000, had $1,000 added to it for each day the Ultimate Challenge was not won. On September 21, four days after the rule change, contestant Larry Kaplan became the first to win the necessary three games to qualify for the Ultimate Challenge. Then, on September 24, Kaplan won $60,000 by correctly answering three questions about former United States Presidents; the win made him the highest winning contestant in Challengers history to that point. After Kaplan's win, the starting value of the Ultimate Challenge was cut in half, with $25,000 being the starting value and $1,000 added to it for each day.
On days that the Ultimate Challenge was played for at the top of the program, an abbreviated Round 1 was played with only three of the six categories in play.
The day's champion played one final question for a $10,000 prize. The category was revealed and the round was played the same as before- the question could have one or more possible answers and the champion was given five seconds to ponder his/her answer. A correct answer won the money, while a wrong answer meant the contestant won nothing more than what he/she had won in the main game.
The Ultimate Challenge was ultimately abolished sometime in early 1991.
, who was at that time the current champion in regular play and whose winnings at that point were high enough for him to qualify.
The tournament structure was similar to that employed by Jeopardy!
for its tournaments. The nine players faced off on the first three days of the tournament, with the three winners playing a two-day cumulative score final. All three players kept whatever they earned in the two games, with the tournament winner earning an additional $25,000.
Newman won the tournament and over $40,000; on November 18, he became the all-time Challengers champion with a $31,000 Ultimate Challenge win. He retired with $112,480.
Most of the current-event questions and answers were taken from, or verified by, Newsweek
; this was announced on-air at the midpoint of each episode.
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...
from Ron Greenberg
Ron Greenberg
Ron Greenberg is an American television game show producer who worked on numerous successful network and syndicated programs of that genre from the 1960s through the 1990s...
Productions, Dick Clark Productions
Dick Clark Productions
Dick Clark Productions is an entertainment production company founded by entertainer Dick Clark...
, and Buena Vista Television. The show was hosted by Dick Clark. The show premiered on September 3, 1990 and ended on August 30, 1991. Don Morrow
Don Morrow
Don Morrow is an American actor and announcer. He started his broadcast career while a student at Syracuse University on the GI Bill shortly after World War II. His first job was with Syracuse's first TV station WHEN as newscaster and announcer...
was the announcer, with Bob Hilton
Bob Hilton
Robert "Bob" Wesley Hilton is an American television game show personality. He hosted The Guinness Game, a revival of Truth or Consequences and the 1990 revival of Let's Make a Deal, and announced on several other shows....
occasionally substituting.
The game included elements of Greenberg's earlier show, The Who, What, or Where Game
The Who, What, Or Where Game
The Who, What, or Where Game was an American television game show that was broadcast weekdays on NBC from December 29, 1969 to January 4, 1974...
, seen during the early 1970s and hosted by Art James
Art James
Art James was an American game show host, best known for shows such as The Who, What, or Where Game and Pay Cards!. He was also the announcer on the game show Concentration....
. Unlike most syndicated game shows, the series continued airing new episodes well into the summer of 1991, a time when most syndicated programming was generally in reruns.
Challengers Sprint Round
Contestants were spotted $200 to start the round, and host Clark would read a series of rapid-fire questions. Correct answers added $100 to a player's score, while incorrect answers deducted $100 and took the question out of play for the other two players. Prior to this, if a player missed, either of the other two contestants could buzz in and attempt to answer the question. At the end of 60 seconds, whoever was in the lead took control of the first round. If two players were tied, one final Sprint question was asked, with a correct answer or an incorrect answer by an opponent gaining control.This round was briefly removed partway through the run in favor of a single toss-up question. The contestant who answered correctly scored $100 and control of the Round 1 board. The Sprint later returned.
Round 1
The contestant leading after the Challengers Sprint picked one of six categories, each of which has three questions. The contestants are then given clues to the subjects of the three questions worth, in increasing order of difficulty, $150, $200, and $250 (later reduced to $100, $150, and $200). Correct answers added the value of the question to the contestant's score, while incorrect answers subtracted the same value.Contestants then secretly chose the question they wanted to face using buttons on their podiums. What happened next depends on how the vote broke down:
- Each contestant chooses a different question. The three questions are asked in increasing order of value; each player must answer his or her question.
- Two players choose one question, the third player chooses a different question. The questions were asked in increasing order of value. The solo contestant must answer his or her question, while the two players who chose the same question use their buzzers. If the first player of the two who chose the same question is incorrect, the second player may attempt to answer or pass.
- All three players choose the same question. All three question values were immediately doubled, and the question is asked. The same toss-up rules as above apply. A contestant answering the question correctly has the option to play either of the remaining questions unopposed. Contestants who successfully answer the second question have the option to play the third. An incorrect answer on either question subtracted the doubled value of that question from the contestant's score and ended the category.
In each case, the last contestant to give a correct answer then picks a new category. Play continues until all six categories were played or time ran out.
Round 2
Six new categories were introduced and play continued as described above. Question values doubled to $300, $400, and $500 ($200, $300, and $400 after the Sprint Round was removed).As in Round One, play continued until all six categories were played or time ran out. If any player had $0 or less at the end of this round they were eliminated from further play.
Final Challenge
One final category was presented, with three questions. The difficulty of the individual questions determined the payout odds for that question. The easiest question paid off at even odds, the harder question paid off at 2:1 and the hardest paid off at 3:1. The players were then given fifteen seconds to choose a question and decide how much of their score they wanted to wager. As before, if all three players chose different questions each player got a chance to play their own question. However, if two or all three players chose the same question, only the player with the highest wager got to answer. Correctly answering won the value of the wager multiplied by the odds, while an incorrect answer only deducted the value of the wager.If two players finished the second round with $0 or less, the remaining player earned the right to play all three questions. If the player answered even one question incorrectly, the game ended.
Whoever was in the lead won the game and returned the next day, although all contestants kept what they had earned. Winnings were awarded either by cash or by a Citibank
Citibank
Citibank, a major international bank, is the consumer banking arm of financial services giant Citigroup. Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, later First National City Bank of New York...
debit card
Debit card
A debit card is a plastic card that provides the cardholder electronic access to his or her bank account/s at a financial institution...
, originally Visa and later a choice of Visa or MasterCard
MasterCard
Mastercard Incorporated or MasterCard Worldwide is an American multinational financial services corporation with its headquarters in the MasterCard International Global Headquarters, Purchase, Harrison, New York, United States...
. Champions on The Challengers continued to play until they were defeated.
Ultimate Challenge
The Challengers offered a bonus round to champions, called the Ultimate Challenge.Format #1
To play the Ultimate Challenge, a champion was required to win three consecutive games. Once a champion accomplished this, the round was played at the very beginning of the next show. The contestant selected one of two categories and was asked three questions in that category, with the subjects of all three of the questions revealed with the category. After each question was asked, the contestant was given five seconds to think. If all three questions were answered correctly, the contestant won an accumulating cash jackpot.The Ultimate Challenge was first played on the pilot episode of The Challengers for $50,000. Contestant Doak Fairey failed to win the round and $5,000 was added to the pot. That amount was to be added to the pot each time a contestant advanced to the round and failed to win it. However, Fairey's attempt stood as the only one for the first two weeks of the program as no one was able to win the three consecutive games to play the Ultimate Challenge.
Beginning with the episode aired September 17, 1990, the rules were modified. The pot, which stood at $55,000, had $1,000 added to it for each day the Ultimate Challenge was not won. On September 21, four days after the rule change, contestant Larry Kaplan became the first to win the necessary three games to qualify for the Ultimate Challenge. Then, on September 24, Kaplan won $60,000 by correctly answering three questions about former United States Presidents; the win made him the highest winning contestant in Challengers history to that point. After Kaplan's win, the starting value of the Ultimate Challenge was cut in half, with $25,000 being the starting value and $1,000 added to it for each day.
On days that the Ultimate Challenge was played for at the top of the program, an abbreviated Round 1 was played with only three of the six categories in play.
Format #2
Toward the end of 1990, the Ultimate Challenge was retooled and became the final segment of every program.The day's champion played one final question for a $10,000 prize. The category was revealed and the round was played the same as before- the question could have one or more possible answers and the champion was given five seconds to ponder his/her answer. A correct answer won the money, while a wrong answer meant the contestant won nothing more than what he/she had won in the main game.
The Ultimate Challenge was ultimately abolished sometime in early 1991.
Tournament of Champions
During the week of November 12, 1990 a five-day Tournament of Champions was held featuring the nine biggest winners to that point. The field included eight past champions and Stanley NewmanStanley Newman
Stanley Newman is a U.S. puzzle creator, editor, and publisher. Newman has been the editor of the Newsday Sunday crossword puzzle since 1988 and the editor of the Newsday daily crossword puzzle since 1992...
, who was at that time the current champion in regular play and whose winnings at that point were high enough for him to qualify.
The tournament structure was similar to that employed by Jeopardy!
Jeopardy!
Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...
for its tournaments. The nine players faced off on the first three days of the tournament, with the three winners playing a two-day cumulative score final. All three players kept whatever they earned in the two games, with the tournament winner earning an additional $25,000.
Newman won the tournament and over $40,000; on November 18, he became the all-time Challengers champion with a $31,000 Ultimate Challenge win. He retired with $112,480.
Teachers Tournament
Nine teachers competed, using the same format as the Tournament of Champions; $10,000 was awarded to the winner.Invitational Tournament
In August 1991, a second Tournament of Champions was held with nine players. The rules were the same as the prior two Tournaments, with an additional $10,000 awarded to the winner. Lorin Burt, who had won $46,075 during his time as champion, won the Tournament and an additional $34,600 ($24,600 in the two-day final) to retire with $80,675.Questions
Many questions were related to current events, an aspect that the producers saw as a selling point. Episodes were taped shortly before their airdate, which was prominently displayed in the opening and on a screen behind Clark; generally, a week of episodes were taped on the Friday of the previous week, which allowed such categories as "This Week On TV" and "Today At The Movies" to be used frequently.Most of the current-event questions and answers were taken from, or verified by, Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
; this was announced on-air at the midpoint of each episode.