Un, dos, tres... responda otra vez
Encyclopedia
Un, dos, tres... responda otra vez (One, two, three... respond again), often shortened as Un, dos, tres, and named Un, dos, tres... a leer esta vez (One, two, three... time to read) in the last season, was a Spanish
game show
created by Narciso Ibáñez Serrador
. The show, which ran from 1972 to 2004 spanning ten seasons, became the most famous game show in the history of Spanish television. It also was the first television show exported outside of Spain, with versions aired in the United Kingdom
, Portugal
, the Netherlands
and Germany
.
.
The contestants would be cheered on by a "positive" cast of characters consisting of people who wanted them to win as much money and prizes as possible; and opposed by a "negative" cast, which wanted contestants to lose. The notion of having people actively rooting against contestants was innovative for Spanish television, something that had never been tried before this show.
The "positive" cast usually consisted of the host of the show and a team of several beautiful girls who served as the host's assistants, called secretaries. The secretaries usually wore sexy uniforms or costumes that reflected the theme of the show (for instance, they might dress as cowgirls for a show about the "Far West"). No matter their costumes, the secretaries always wore glasses with large, round frames; this became one of the show's trademarks.
The "negative" cast consisted of characters from a fictional town called Tacañón del Todo (Full Miserer). As the name of the town suggests, they were miser
s and didn't want the contestants to earn any money. They also were puritan
ical and disapproved of the secretaries' sexy clothing. The most important of these characters were Don Cicuta (Mr. Cicuta) and las Tacañonas (the Miser Ladies).
Contestants could not repeat an answer that had already been given, and had to take turns answering. Additionally, the rules encouraged contestants to be as specific as possible (for instance, if a contestant answered "berries" to the above question, then they could not count more specific versions, such as "strawberry" or "blueberry" toward their answer total). Additional rules were added for some questions. When contestants gave a mistaken or repeated answer, a member of the negative cast stopped the clock immediately and the contestants' time was over. From the third season, the contestant who did not have the turn to answer could mime to help the other contestant if he or she got stuck. Contestants were given a certain amount of money for each correct answer.
There were three questions for each couple with an increasing level of difficulty. In the show's early seasons, answering the first question correctly gave the contestants 25 peseta
s for each correct answer. Then a machine gave a random amount that varied over time. Answering the second question correctly would give the contestants the amount won in the first question for each correct answer. Similarly, the third question's awards would build on the second. When all the questions were done, the couple with the most money became champions and returned the following week. The other two couples went on to the second part of the show.
The winning couple would go on the third part of the show. The other couple either went home only with the amount they had earned earlier in the show, or participated in a consolation game where they could win more money.
al sketch related to the topic of the week where the secretaries sang and performed different choreographed dances. There were also humour skits and performances by famous artists, as well as other surprises. After each performance was finished, an object related to the theme was taken to the table were the host and the contestants sat. Each object had a card attached to it, containing a prize that could be won, and a clue about what the prize was. The host would read the clue to the contestants, but not what the prize was. Though the host never lied about what was on the cards, he could attempt to deceive contestants by omitting context. The host often would say: "Yo nunca miento, pero no digo toda la verdad". ("I never lie, but I also don't say all the truth".)
This would continue until there were three objects on the table. But the contestants could only keep two, so they would have to discard one. When an item was discarded, the host would read the complete card, revealing the prize the contestants had passed up. The prizes ranged from cars, houses and trips to matches and bottles of laxative
. The show went on like that, discarding objects and losing prizes, until the show was over and there were three final objects on the table. The contestants then had to choose which object they wanted to keep and discard the other two, winning that final prize on the table.
Some cards could contain more than one prize, many times, a booby prize at the beginning followed by marvelous or even worse prizes. In those cases, the host could let the contestants keep the object after revealing the first booby prize to reject another prize on the table, in the hope that the following unknown prize would be good. An example of a card with this system is this one, from a 1991 show dedicated to the Stock exchange, found in a newspaper about the Great Crash: "In a program dedicated to the stock exchange, there could not fail to be a mention to the terrific fall of the american stock exchange in 1929, the famous Great Crash (Crack in Spanish) that sank economy in the United States...[end of clue]...The same way there had to be a reference to the Crash of 1929, in "Un, dos, tres", we are also forced to remember that in the past season, one of our puppets had exactly that name, El Crack... and there you've got it!...[pause]... El Crack was the negative puppet in our previous season. But, since in this season the symbol of negativity is monopolized by Ruperta, this Crack has no more mission than to serve as decoration in... This wonderful apartment!"
Sometimes, however, an object's card would contain another game. In those games, the contestants could win different amounts of money or other prizes. The host was forced to reveal when an object had a game attached to it, but the rules of the game remained secret, even when it was discarded, because some games were recycled for future programs.
Even when they had the last object on the table, the game was still not over. At that point, the game started that gave this segment its name: the auction. The host would begin to offer money to the contestants in exchange for the prize, raising the amount if the contestants said no, until they reached the top offer. When the host reached the top offer or the contestants decided to accept the money, the prize they had won or lost was revealed.
Any prize could appear on the show, but there was a prize that had to appear in at least one of the objects: the show's puppet. There were different puppets through different seasons, normally associated with a booby prize
. Sometimes, though, the puppet had extra prizes attached to it, so it was not always bad. There also were seasons where there were good and bad prizes associated with the puppets. In those seasons, winning the good puppet meant choosing any prize from that show, and winning the bad puppet meant going home only with the puppet. When there were a good and a bad puppet on the same season, only the presence of one of them was forced, but sometimes both could appear on the same show, and they could even appear as prizes inside a game.
Jordi and Miriam hosted the show together as a couple.
For this season, the secretaries were replaced with new actresses wearing a sexier uniform – this was possible because censorship had been eased and it was no longer necessary to measure the length of the girls' dresses, as had been done in the first season. The leader of the secretaries this season was a 16 year old Victoria Abril, who later became an international actress.
Don Cicuta bid farewell to the audience (Valentin Tornos was already very ill and would eventually die months later) and new characters took over his role. These new characters, named Tacañones, would not reach the same success Don Cicuta had. They were Professor Lápiz, Don Racano and Don Estrecho. Each of them had a part of Don Cicuta's character. The first one would be the cultural character, the second one would be the miser character, and the third one would be the puritan character.
This season introduced the show's puppet character. In the previous season there was a pumpkin to symbolize the worst prize the show awarded. The pumpkin became a cartoon who sang the show theme each week. This singing pumpkin was named Ruperta, and after Don Cicuta's disappearance, it became the most famous trademark in the history of the show, staying for years. Until summer of 1977, there still were four couples of contestants. It was in September, 1977 when the number was downed to three couples.
, who had already worked on the show the previous season as a comedian actress, replaced him.
Since a woman was the host and was joined by girls as secretaries, the director decided that the negative part should also include some women. He hired a trio of comic actresses who became Las Tacañonas. They were so successful in their parts that they stayed in the show until 1994, the longest of any of the show's actors.
In the middle of the season, there was a major change in show's format. On May 13, 1983, the show announced that it would replace all of the secretaries with new actresses who were able to dance choreographed pieces. The following week, a new puppet, Botilde the boot, replaced Ruperta, and the new secretaries also came on board. They danced to songs from Fame
and A Chorus Line
.
With the change of format, a new type of contestants was introduced, the suffering contestants. They were a couple, just like the others, but with a very different purpose. They were called the suffering contestants, because they were locked in a separated room decorated like a dungeon, and there they would watch the auction from a screen, while the secretaries gave them information written in signboards about where the best prizes were hiding (sometimes, subtitles on screen informed the viewers about what the suffering contestants were reading). At the end of the auction, the suffering contestants would earn exactly the same prize the contestants earned, and they had to see how some of the best prizes passed away without being able to do anything about it. The suffering contestants would be present on the show until the 8th season in 1993.
Botilde was also replaced by a positive puppet, El Chollo. He was symbolic of the show's best prize: choosing any prize the contestants wantd from the auction. But viewers missed having a negative puppet, and so a new one was introduced, El Antichollo.
Some changes were introduced in the rules of the question round. For the first time a random amount given by a machine would be given for each correct answer to the first question. This first question would be the same questions for the three couples, and would be based on the theme of the week. Couples would be introduced in the studio one by one, being locked away so that they could not hear the first question and answer in advantage. The second question would be a regular question like in previous seasons, and for the third question a new system was presented. Instead of a regular question, the host would read a statement, and then words that needed a match to be given, for example, if the statement was "Books and authors", the host said "El Quijote", and the contestants had to say "Cervantes", then the host said "Romeo and Juliet", and the contestants had to say "Shakespeare", and so on, until the contestants gave a wrong answer or the usual 45 seconds were over. This type of question was introduced from the British adaptation, 3-2-1
.
In this season, the secretaries started singing as well as dancing. From this season until the end of the show, new lyrics were composed for each theme song adapted to its choreography. Some examples of songs from the fourth season include "The Continental
" and "That's Entertainment!
".
After the suffering contestants had been introduced the previous season, this season introduced the "suffering contestant at home". Before each show, a notary randomly assigned a number to each of the prizes appearing on it, writing them to a list, and then selected a letter similar to the ones sent by suffering contestants at the studio. The difference was that in this letter, they had to include a number within a circle as well as their phone number. Moments before the end of the auction, when there were the three final objects on the table, a secretary would bring the selected letter and a telephone to the host, and she would phone the suffering contestant at home while the auction contestants and the public had to be quiet. The number in the circle from the letter would point to the number the notary assigned to one of the prizes of the list, and this prize would be automatically won by the suffering contestant at home. The host would announce the prize if it had already been lost by the contestants, but if it still was on the table, she asked the suffering contestant to watch the end of the show, until the prize was revealed when the contestants lost or won it. The suffering contestant at home figure would last until season 6th in 1988.
The fifth season was a continuation of the fourth. The only major change was to introduce a new secretary who was black. It was announced with great fanfare that this season would be the show's last.
In this season, the rules of the question round were brought back to the original ones from seasons 1 to 3, only with the difference of letting the contestants choose on the third question a specific topic among four, which were "Art & Litherature", "Geography & History", "Sports, Games, & Shows", and "Science & Nature", and the envelopes would be in four piles so that they could choose the envelope from the preferred topic. This was removed the following season to recover the original increasing difficulty three questions.
During this season, international stars started appearing on the show, including the Swedish
rock group Europe
, the British singer Samantha Fox
and the Italian singer Sabrina Salerno
, who caused a scandal when one of her breasts slipped out of her dress during the show's Christmas
special.
Again, it was announced that this season would be the show's last.
The new hosts were Jordi Estadella and Miriam Díaz Aroca. Jordi would host the question round and the auction, and Miriam would be the accountant in the question round, host the elimination round and the consolation game, and sing and dance with the secretaries in the auction.
The secretaries recovered their trademark glasses lost in 1983, but they still sung and danced choreographed dances. Thanks to much bigger budgets driven by much more interest from advertisers, these choreographed pieces were performed among large sets. Prizes were also increased, with the base money being ten times bigger than in previous seasons.
The season finale was a special feature dedicated to the show's 20th anniversary, lasting three and a half hours and featuring actors and actresses from all th previous seasons.
In this season, with the expansion of private channels, viewing figures slowly started declining.
A major change was made on the rules. There would be only two questions instead of three, with a much higher base money for them. Also, in this season there were no champions, and the winners of the question round would be granted the right to buy their presence in the auction with the money they had earned. In the eliminatory round, the other two couples would compete to get the consolation game, where they could increase the money won in the question round. At the end of the auction, the only offer the host would give was to give back the contestants the money earned in the question round in exchange of the final prize. All these changes would only last for this season.
The last week of the show was dedicated to "The big boom". In that show, the sets were all symbolically blown up, putting a definitive end to the show. With the audience rating falling down this end was considered final.
The show also featured a new negative portion that was no longer connected with Tacañon del Todo. The new negative characters – people who burned books – were inspired by Ray Bradbury
's book Fahrenheit 451
.
For the first time ever, couples of contestants could comprise two men or two women. In the past seasons, only couples consisting of a man and a woman were allowed.
A collection of the books that appeared on the show was launched. People had to buy the books, where they could find a booklet with information about the book, the author and the time it was written, and a coupon to participate in the show, either as regular contestants, or by telephone if their letter was selected. On each show, the host telephoned two people, asked them a question about the book and gave them 15 seconds to answer, to win 500 euros if they hit, an amount rose to 1000 euros in subsequent programs when difficulty of the questions was heavily increased (on the first programs, all the answers were in the booklet, but when the prize was rose, to really encourage people to read, only by actually reading the book people could find the answer).
The season started with ratings of nearly 40 percent, but by the end of the season they were down to 16 percent. For the first time ever, the show was canceled before its final show. So far, this has proven to be the show's last season.
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
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...
created by Narciso Ibáñez Serrador
Narciso Ibáñez Serrador
Narciso Ibáñez Serrador , also known as Chicho Ibáñez Serrador or Luis Peñafiel is a film, television and theater director, actor and screenwriter.He is the son of Narciso Ibáñez Menta.-Biography:...
. The show, which ran from 1972 to 2004 spanning ten seasons, became the most famous game show in the history of Spanish television. It also was the first television show exported outside of Spain, with versions aired in the United Kingdom
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...
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and Germany
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...
.
Structure
Serrador (alias Chicho) created the show as a mixture of different traditional game show formats. It included a quiz show section as the first round (called the question round), physical competitions as the second round (called the eliminatory round), and luck and psychological games as the third round (called the auction). The show derives its name from these three parts (un, dos, tres means "one, two, three"). Contestants consisted of three couples. Each show had a theme focused on a specific topic, such as the French RevolutionFrench Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
.
The contestants would be cheered on by a "positive" cast of characters consisting of people who wanted them to win as much money and prizes as possible; and opposed by a "negative" cast, which wanted contestants to lose. The notion of having people actively rooting against contestants was innovative for Spanish television, something that had never been tried before this show.
The "positive" cast usually consisted of the host of the show and a team of several beautiful girls who served as the host's assistants, called secretaries. The secretaries usually wore sexy uniforms or costumes that reflected the theme of the show (for instance, they might dress as cowgirls for a show about the "Far West"). No matter their costumes, the secretaries always wore glasses with large, round frames; this became one of the show's trademarks.
The "negative" cast consisted of characters from a fictional town called Tacañón del Todo (Full Miserer). As the name of the town suggests, they were miser
Miser
A miser, cheapskate, snipe-snout, penny pincher, piker, scrooge, skinflint or tightwad is a person who is reluctant to spend money, sometimes to the point of forgoing even basic comforts and some necessities...
s and didn't want the contestants to earn any money. They also were puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
ical and disapproved of the secretaries' sexy clothing. The most important of these characters were Don Cicuta (Mr. Cicuta) and las Tacañonas (the Miser Ladies).
The question round
In the first part of the show, a secretary would hand each team of contestants a tray full of envelopes. The contestants were to choose one and give it to the host. The envelope contained a multiple-answer question which the host read to the contestants and an sample (for example: "Name some fruits like, for example, an apple."). The contestants then, after the host said "Un, dos, tres... responda otra vez" ("One, two, three... respond again"), had to repeat the given example, and then give as many answers to this question as they could within 45 seconds.Contestants could not repeat an answer that had already been given, and had to take turns answering. Additionally, the rules encouraged contestants to be as specific as possible (for instance, if a contestant answered "berries" to the above question, then they could not count more specific versions, such as "strawberry" or "blueberry" toward their answer total). Additional rules were added for some questions. When contestants gave a mistaken or repeated answer, a member of the negative cast stopped the clock immediately and the contestants' time was over. From the third season, the contestant who did not have the turn to answer could mime to help the other contestant if he or she got stuck. Contestants were given a certain amount of money for each correct answer.
There were three questions for each couple with an increasing level of difficulty. In the show's early seasons, answering the first question correctly gave the contestants 25 peseta
Peseta
Peseta may refer to:*The Spanish peseta, the former currency of Spain*The Catalan peseta, the former currency of Catalonia*The Equatorial Guinean peseta, the former currency of Equatorial Guinea...
s for each correct answer. Then a machine gave a random amount that varied over time. Answering the second question correctly would give the contestants the amount won in the first question for each correct answer. Similarly, the third question's awards would build on the second. When all the questions were done, the couple with the most money became champions and returned the following week. The other two couples went on to the second part of the show.
The Elimination round
The elimination round was a physical test that changed each week according to that week's theme. For example, contestants might be required to fill wine glasses sitting on a tray and then slide down a slide. They would be judged by how much liquid they were still holding by the end.The winning couple would go on the third part of the show. The other couple either went home only with the amount they had earned earlier in the show, or participated in a consolation game where they could win more money.
The Auction
The longest and most well-known portion of the show was the auction. It began with a musicMusic
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
al sketch related to the topic of the week where the secretaries sang and performed different choreographed dances. There were also humour skits and performances by famous artists, as well as other surprises. After each performance was finished, an object related to the theme was taken to the table were the host and the contestants sat. Each object had a card attached to it, containing a prize that could be won, and a clue about what the prize was. The host would read the clue to the contestants, but not what the prize was. Though the host never lied about what was on the cards, he could attempt to deceive contestants by omitting context. The host often would say: "Yo nunca miento, pero no digo toda la verdad". ("I never lie, but I also don't say all the truth".)
This would continue until there were three objects on the table. But the contestants could only keep two, so they would have to discard one. When an item was discarded, the host would read the complete card, revealing the prize the contestants had passed up. The prizes ranged from cars, houses and trips to matches and bottles of laxative
Laxative
Laxatives are foods, compounds, or drugs taken to induce bowel movements or to loosen the stool, most often taken to treat constipation. Certain stimulant, lubricant, and saline laxatives are used to evacuate the colon for rectal and/or bowel examinations, and may be supplemented by enemas under...
. The show went on like that, discarding objects and losing prizes, until the show was over and there were three final objects on the table. The contestants then had to choose which object they wanted to keep and discard the other two, winning that final prize on the table.
Some cards could contain more than one prize, many times, a booby prize at the beginning followed by marvelous or even worse prizes. In those cases, the host could let the contestants keep the object after revealing the first booby prize to reject another prize on the table, in the hope that the following unknown prize would be good. An example of a card with this system is this one, from a 1991 show dedicated to the Stock exchange, found in a newspaper about the Great Crash: "In a program dedicated to the stock exchange, there could not fail to be a mention to the terrific fall of the american stock exchange in 1929, the famous Great Crash (Crack in Spanish) that sank economy in the United States...[end of clue]...The same way there had to be a reference to the Crash of 1929, in "Un, dos, tres", we are also forced to remember that in the past season, one of our puppets had exactly that name, El Crack... and there you've got it!...[pause]... El Crack was the negative puppet in our previous season. But, since in this season the symbol of negativity is monopolized by Ruperta, this Crack has no more mission than to serve as decoration in... This wonderful apartment!"
Sometimes, however, an object's card would contain another game. In those games, the contestants could win different amounts of money or other prizes. The host was forced to reveal when an object had a game attached to it, but the rules of the game remained secret, even when it was discarded, because some games were recycled for future programs.
Even when they had the last object on the table, the game was still not over. At that point, the game started that gave this segment its name: the auction. The host would begin to offer money to the contestants in exchange for the prize, raising the amount if the contestants said no, until they reached the top offer. When the host reached the top offer or the contestants decided to accept the money, the prize they had won or lost was revealed.
Any prize could appear on the show, but there was a prize that had to appear in at least one of the objects: the show's puppet. There were different puppets through different seasons, normally associated with a booby prize
Booby prize
A booby prize is a joke prize usually given in recognition of a terrible performance or last-place finish. A person who finishes last, for example, may get a booby prize such as a worthless coin. Booby prizes are sometimes humorously and jokingly coveted as an object of pride.Booby prizes, however,...
. Sometimes, though, the puppet had extra prizes attached to it, so it was not always bad. There also were seasons where there were good and bad prizes associated with the puppets. In those seasons, winning the good puppet meant choosing any prize from that show, and winning the bad puppet meant going home only with the puppet. When there were a good and a bad puppet on the same season, only the presence of one of them was forced, but sometimes both could appear on the same show, and they could even appear as prizes inside a game.
Hosts
The show had six different hosts, including:- Kiko Ledgard (1972–1973, 1976–1978)
- Mayra Gómez KempMayra Gómez KempMayra Gómez Kemp spent most of her teens in Miami, Florida where she learned to speak fluent English. There, while on University, she had her debut on screen, on the B-Series movie The Death Curse of Tartu , as Mayra Cristine...
(1982–1988) - Jordi EstadellaJordi EstadellaJordi Estadella was a Spanish voice actor, journalist, radio and television host and film dubber. Estadella's career spanned more than 40 years. He was best known to Spaniards as the host of the game show, Un, dos, tres.....
(1991–1993) - Miriam Díaz Aroca (1991–1993)
- Josep Maria Bachs (1993–1994)
- Luis Roderas (2004)
Jordi and Miriam hosted the show together as a couple.
Season 1 (1972–1973)
- Ana Ángeles García (accountant secretary)
- Maria Gustafson "Britt"
- Ágatha Lys
- Pilar Pérez
- Yolanda Ríos
- Marisa Hernández "Maxia"
- Cira Rodríguez
- María Salerno (as Marta Monterrey)
- Aurora Claramunt
- Blanca Aguete (as Silvana Sandoval)
- Blanca Estrada
Season 2 (1976–1978)
- Victoria AbrilVictoria AbrilVictoria Abril is a Spanish film actress. She is best known to international audiences for her performance in the movie ¡Átame! by director Pedro Almodóvar....
(accountant secretary) - María CasalMaría CasalMaría Consuelo Casal Mínguez is a Spanish actress. The daughter of actor Antonio Casal, she is perhaps the best known as secretary in Un, dos, tres... responda otra vez and for her roles in television series Hospital Central and Física o Química.- Personal life :Casal was born María Consuelo Casal...
- María Duran
- Beatriz Escudero
- Raquel Torrent
- Meggy Schmidt
- Marian Flores
- Mª Teresa Villar
- Úrsula Grin
- Marta del Pino
- María Escudero
- Isabel Escudero
- Ivonne Gil
- Cristina Brodín
- Pilar Medina
- Silvia Aguilar
- June English
- Luisa Fernanda
- Patricia Solís
Season 3, Part 1 (1982–1983)
- Patricia Solís (accountant secretary)
- Irene Foster
- Alejandra Grepi
- Françoise Lacroix
- Rosalía Turnero
- Kim Marías
- Concha Lobón
Season 3, Part 2 (1983–1984)
- Silvia MarsóSílvia MarsóSílvia Marsó is a Spanish film, stage and televisión actress.She started in the TVE game show Un, dos, tres...responda otra vez.- Television:* 1983/1984: Un, dos, tres...responda otra vez ....
(accountant secretary) - Kim Manning
- Gloria Fernández
- Frances OndivielaFrances OndivielaFrances Ondiviela is a Spanish actress. One of her best known roles was in Acorralada.Ondiviela was born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. She studied theatre and acting in Spain and Mexico...
(as Pat Ondiviela) - Maite de Castro
- Ivanka Marfil
Season 4 (1984–1985)
- Lydia Bosch (accountant secretary)
- Kim Manning
- Gloria Fernández
- Naomi Unwing
- Mari Luz Lence
Season 5 (1985–1986)
- Lydia Bosch (accountant secretary)
- Kim Manning
- Gloria Fernández
- Naomi Unwing
- Nuria Carreras
Season 6 (1987–1988)
- Silvia Marsó (accountant secretary)
- Kim Manning (became accountant secretary after Silvia's departure)
- Victoria Vivas
- Isabel Serrano
- Jenny Hill
- Beverly Owen
- Nina AgustíNina (singer)Nina, is a Spanish musical actress and singer.She started in the 1980s with bands like "Costa Brava" or "Xavier Cugat"...
- Gloria Fernández
- Esther del Prado
- Ana Fernández
Season 7 (1991–1992)
- Miriam Díaz Aroca (host/accountant)
- María AbradeloMaría AbradeloMaría Abradelo is a Spanish actress, and daughter of singer Elizabeth Patton....
- Marta de Pablo
- Carolina Rodríguez
- Patricia Alcocer
- Elsa Berardengo
- Belén Ledesma
- Tiffany Smith
- Patricia López
- Margarita Hervás
Season 8 (1992–1993)
- Miriam Díaz Aroca (host/accountant)
- María AbradeloMaría AbradeloMaría Abradelo is a Spanish actress, and daughter of singer Elizabeth Patton....
- Marta de Pablo
- Carolina Rodríguez
- Mayte Navarrete
- Lucy Lovick
- Alejandra Cano
- Tiffany Smith
- Laura Yamaguchi
- Nieves Aparicio
- Gemma Balbás
- Patricia Rivas
Season 9 (1993–1994)
- Mayte Navarrete (accountant secretary)
- Diana Lázaro (accountant secretary)
- Carolina Rodríguez
- Alejandra Cano
- Lucy Lovick
- Nieves Aparicio
- Paula Vázquez
Season 10 (2004)
- Laura de la Calle (accountant secretary in EuroEuroThe euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
s) - Yolanda Aracil (accountant secretary in pesetas)
- Gloria Mezcúa
- Raquel Oliván
- Victoria Ampudia
- Nieves Aparicio
- Marta García
- Esther Sánchez
- Madga Aizpurua
1972–1973
- Don Cicuta: Valentín Tornos
- Arnaldo Cicutilla: Javier Pajares
- Remigio Cicutilla: Ignacio Pérez
1976–1978
- Professor Lápiz: Pedro Sempson
- Don Rácano: Francisco Cecilio
- Don Estrecho: Juan TamarizJuan TamarizJuan Tamariz-Martel Negrón is a Spanish magician.He is an experienced cardician, a magician specializing in magic with playing cards, and well respected by his peers as an authority in the field of misdirection...
- Don Justo Rajatabla: Blaki
- Don Menudillo: Luis Lorenzo
1982–1988
- La Viuda de Poco: Paloma Hurtado
- La Seño: Teresa Hurtado
- Mari Puri: Fernanda Hurtado
- Eugenia Enchufols Deltot: Eugenia Roca
1991–1994
- Las Derrochonas: Las Hermanas Hurtado
- Tía Virtudes: Mercé Comes
- Tía Mª de la Purificación: Vicky Plana
2004
- Coronel McPhantom: Miguel Mugni
- Sargento Kowalski: Esteban Allares / Rubén Espino
- General Antilivroff: Alberto Papa-Fragomen
- Dimitri: Roberto Mosca
Puppets
- Ruperta, the Pumpkin (1976–1983, 1991–2004)
- Botilde, the Boot (1983–1984)
- El Chollo and El Antichollo (1984–1986)
- El Boom and El Crack (1987–1988)
Season 1 (April 24, 1972–April 30, 1973)
The first season was the only one broadcast in black and white; TVE began broadcasting in colour one year later. The first season, which aired on Monday nights, lasted a full year. The director, who had achieved some acclaim with horror shows, decided to remove his name from the credits during the first 15 weeks, fearing that his reputation would be ruined by being associated with a game show. But when the show became a success, he began listing his name. In this season there were four couples of contestants instad of three, including the champions.Season 2 (March 19, 1976–January 27, 1978)
The second season was the first recorded and broadcast in colour. Also it was the first season to be broadcast on Fridays, a tradition that continued until the show went off the air (with the exception of the sixth season).For this season, the secretaries were replaced with new actresses wearing a sexier uniform – this was possible because censorship had been eased and it was no longer necessary to measure the length of the girls' dresses, as had been done in the first season. The leader of the secretaries this season was a 16 year old Victoria Abril, who later became an international actress.
Don Cicuta bid farewell to the audience (Valentin Tornos was already very ill and would eventually die months later) and new characters took over his role. These new characters, named Tacañones, would not reach the same success Don Cicuta had. They were Professor Lápiz, Don Racano and Don Estrecho. Each of them had a part of Don Cicuta's character. The first one would be the cultural character, the second one would be the miser character, and the third one would be the puritan character.
This season introduced the show's puppet character. In the previous season there was a pumpkin to symbolize the worst prize the show awarded. The pumpkin became a cartoon who sang the show theme each week. This singing pumpkin was named Ruperta, and after Don Cicuta's disappearance, it became the most famous trademark in the history of the show, staying for years. Until summer of 1977, there still were four couples of contestants. It was in September, 1977 when the number was downed to three couples.
Season 3 (August 20, 1982–April 13, 1984)
There was a four-year gap between the end of the second season and the beginning of the third. In 1980, the show's host, Kiko Ledgard, had near-lethal accident, and though he survived, the brain damage he sustained spelled the end of his entertainment career. Mayra Gómez KempMayra Gómez Kemp
Mayra Gómez Kemp spent most of her teens in Miami, Florida where she learned to speak fluent English. There, while on University, she had her debut on screen, on the B-Series movie The Death Curse of Tartu , as Mayra Cristine...
, who had already worked on the show the previous season as a comedian actress, replaced him.
Since a woman was the host and was joined by girls as secretaries, the director decided that the negative part should also include some women. He hired a trio of comic actresses who became Las Tacañonas. They were so successful in their parts that they stayed in the show until 1994, the longest of any of the show's actors.
In the middle of the season, there was a major change in show's format. On May 13, 1983, the show announced that it would replace all of the secretaries with new actresses who were able to dance choreographed pieces. The following week, a new puppet, Botilde the boot, replaced Ruperta, and the new secretaries also came on board. They danced to songs from Fame
Fame: The Musical
Fame: The Musical is a singing and dance contest in Ireland, produced by Screentime ShinAwiL for RTÉ. The audition and Fame Bootcamp stages were filmed around Ireland and in London....
and A Chorus Line
A Chorus Line
A Chorus Line is a 1975 musical about Broadway dancers auditioning for spots on a chorus line. The book was authored by James Kirkwood, Jr. and Nicholas Dante, lyrics were written by Edward Kleban, and music was composed by Marvin Hamlisch....
.
With the change of format, a new type of contestants was introduced, the suffering contestants. They were a couple, just like the others, but with a very different purpose. They were called the suffering contestants, because they were locked in a separated room decorated like a dungeon, and there they would watch the auction from a screen, while the secretaries gave them information written in signboards about where the best prizes were hiding (sometimes, subtitles on screen informed the viewers about what the suffering contestants were reading). At the end of the auction, the suffering contestants would earn exactly the same prize the contestants earned, and they had to see how some of the best prizes passed away without being able to do anything about it. The suffering contestants would be present on the show until the 8th season in 1993.
Seasons 4 and 5 (November 9, 1984–May 3, 1985; October 4, 1985–March 28, 1986)
The fourth season would begin a few months after the end of the previous season. From this point on, a season would least only a few months, instead of years as had previously been the case. For the first time, the secretaries from the previous season were carried over into the new season.Botilde was also replaced by a positive puppet, El Chollo. He was symbolic of the show's best prize: choosing any prize the contestants wantd from the auction. But viewers missed having a negative puppet, and so a new one was introduced, El Antichollo.
Some changes were introduced in the rules of the question round. For the first time a random amount given by a machine would be given for each correct answer to the first question. This first question would be the same questions for the three couples, and would be based on the theme of the week. Couples would be introduced in the studio one by one, being locked away so that they could not hear the first question and answer in advantage. The second question would be a regular question like in previous seasons, and for the third question a new system was presented. Instead of a regular question, the host would read a statement, and then words that needed a match to be given, for example, if the statement was "Books and authors", the host said "El Quijote", and the contestants had to say "Cervantes", then the host said "Romeo and Juliet", and the contestants had to say "Shakespeare", and so on, until the contestants gave a wrong answer or the usual 45 seconds were over. This type of question was introduced from the British adaptation, 3-2-1
3-2-1
3–2–1 was a popular British game show that was made by Yorkshire Television for ITV. It ran for ten years, between 29 July 1978 and 24 December 1988. Throughout its run, the show was hosted by former Butlins Redcoat Ted Rogers. It was based on a Spanish gameshow called Un, dos, tres.....
.
In this season, the secretaries started singing as well as dancing. From this season until the end of the show, new lyrics were composed for each theme song adapted to its choreography. Some examples of songs from the fourth season include "The Continental
The Continental (song)
"The Continental" is a song written by Con Conrad with lyrics by Herb Magidson, and was introduced by Ginger Rogers in the 1934 film, The Gay Divorcee. "The Continental" won the first Academy Award for Best Original Song to be awarded. Major record hits at the time of introduction included Jolly...
" and "That's Entertainment!
That's Entertainment! (song)
"That's Entertainment!" is a popular song with music written by Arthur Schwartz and lyrics by Howard Dietz. The song was published in 1952 and was written especially for the 1953 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical film The Band Wagon...
".
After the suffering contestants had been introduced the previous season, this season introduced the "suffering contestant at home". Before each show, a notary randomly assigned a number to each of the prizes appearing on it, writing them to a list, and then selected a letter similar to the ones sent by suffering contestants at the studio. The difference was that in this letter, they had to include a number within a circle as well as their phone number. Moments before the end of the auction, when there were the three final objects on the table, a secretary would bring the selected letter and a telephone to the host, and she would phone the suffering contestant at home while the auction contestants and the public had to be quiet. The number in the circle from the letter would point to the number the notary assigned to one of the prizes of the list, and this prize would be automatically won by the suffering contestant at home. The host would announce the prize if it had already been lost by the contestants, but if it still was on the table, she asked the suffering contestant to watch the end of the show, until the prize was revealed when the contestants lost or won it. The suffering contestant at home figure would last until season 6th in 1988.
The fifth season was a continuation of the fourth. The only major change was to introduce a new secretary who was black. It was announced with great fanfare that this season would be the show's last.
Season 6 (April 6, 1987–January 8, 1988)
Even though the show was supposed to be over, the director was asked to do another season. New puppets were introduced for this season, El Boom and El Crack, with identical functions as their predecessors, El Chollo & El Antichollo. This season the show returned to Mondays, and achieved the highest ratings it had to date with nearly 25 million viewers, more than half of the Spanish population.In this season, the rules of the question round were brought back to the original ones from seasons 1 to 3, only with the difference of letting the contestants choose on the third question a specific topic among four, which were "Art & Litherature", "Geography & History", "Sports, Games, & Shows", and "Science & Nature", and the envelopes would be in four piles so that they could choose the envelope from the preferred topic. This was removed the following season to recover the original increasing difficulty three questions.
During this season, international stars started appearing on the show, including the Swedish
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....
rock group Europe
Europe (band)
Europe is a Swedish rock band formed in Upplands Väsby in 1979 under the name Force by vocalist Joey Tempest, guitarist John Norum and drummer Tony Reno. Although widely associated with glam metal, the band's sound incorporates heavy metal and hard rock elements...
, the British singer Samantha Fox
Samantha Fox
Samantha Karen "Sam" Fox is an English dance-pop singer, actress, and former glamour model. In 1983, at the age of 16, she began her topless modeling career on Page Three of The Sun, and went on to become a popular pin-up girl...
and the Italian singer Sabrina Salerno
Sabrina Salerno
Sabrina Salerno , also known in her singing career as Sabrina, is an Italian singer, television hostess, model, actress and record producer...
, who caused a scandal when one of her breasts slipped out of her dress during the show's Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
special.
Again, it was announced that this season would be the show's last.
Season 7 (September 13, 1991–April 10, 1992)
After four years, the director was asked again to resurrect the show, and he agreed. He brought back Ruperta the pumpkin as the puppet of the show, as well as Las Hurtado, but with new characters called Las Derrochonas, the Squander Girls, nieces of the characters from the previous seasons.The new hosts were Jordi Estadella and Miriam Díaz Aroca. Jordi would host the question round and the auction, and Miriam would be the accountant in the question round, host the elimination round and the consolation game, and sing and dance with the secretaries in the auction.
The secretaries recovered their trademark glasses lost in 1983, but they still sung and danced choreographed dances. Thanks to much bigger budgets driven by much more interest from advertisers, these choreographed pieces were performed among large sets. Prizes were also increased, with the base money being ten times bigger than in previous seasons.
The season finale was a special feature dedicated to the show's 20th anniversary, lasting three and a half hours and featuring actors and actresses from all th previous seasons.
Season 8 (October 2, 1992–July 9, 1993)
The eighth season was a continuation of the seventh. The same hosts and many of the secretaries returned. Las Hurtado also returned, but in 1993, with an economic crisis gripping the country, they became "Miser Ladies."In this season, with the expansion of private channels, viewing figures slowly started declining.
Season 9 (November 19, 1993–April 8, 1994)
The ninth season started a few months later. A new host, Josep Maria Bachs, replaced Jordi and Miriam. One of Las Hurtado, Paloma, could not join the cast on the first months because she had been accidentally shot in the face weeks before the launch of the season and was recovering from the surgery. She was replaced by two actresses, Merce Comes and Vicky Plana, who joined the remaining Hurtado sisters, until Paloma returned in January, 1994, with great fanfare and the applause of all the public and members of the cast.A major change was made on the rules. There would be only two questions instead of three, with a much higher base money for them. Also, in this season there were no champions, and the winners of the question round would be granted the right to buy their presence in the auction with the money they had earned. In the eliminatory round, the other two couples would compete to get the consolation game, where they could increase the money won in the question round. At the end of the auction, the only offer the host would give was to give back the contestants the money earned in the question round in exchange of the final prize. All these changes would only last for this season.
The last week of the show was dedicated to "The big boom". In that show, the sets were all symbolically blown up, putting a definitive end to the show. With the audience rating falling down this end was considered final.
Season 10 (January 9– June 11, 2004)
After more than a decade in hiatus, the show was again resurrected in 2004, but featured big changes, including all new sets and better decorations. A new team of young secretaries and a new host, Luis Roderas, appeared in this season. But the biggest change was the title, which was changed to "Un, dos, tres... a leer esta vez", ("One, two, three, reading this time"). This was done because each week's theme was changed to correspond to a book. The intent was to encourage viewers to read more; contestants had to read the book that was their show's theme in order to be able to answer questions properly. The eliminatory round was no longer a physical game, but a new question round, with more questions about the book. The musical numbers and sets were all dedicated to the book as well, and in the auction, on the first two programs, each object had a question about the book that had to be answered to keep the object on the table, or dismiss it if they failed.The show also featured a new negative portion that was no longer connected with Tacañon del Todo. The new negative characters – people who burned books – were inspired by Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
's book Fahrenheit 451
Fahrenheit 451
Fahrenheit 451 is a 1953 dystopian novel by Ray Bradbury. The novel presents a future American society where reading is outlawed and firemen start fires to burn books...
.
For the first time ever, couples of contestants could comprise two men or two women. In the past seasons, only couples consisting of a man and a woman were allowed.
A collection of the books that appeared on the show was launched. People had to buy the books, where they could find a booklet with information about the book, the author and the time it was written, and a coupon to participate in the show, either as regular contestants, or by telephone if their letter was selected. On each show, the host telephoned two people, asked them a question about the book and gave them 15 seconds to answer, to win 500 euros if they hit, an amount rose to 1000 euros in subsequent programs when difficulty of the questions was heavily increased (on the first programs, all the answers were in the booklet, but when the prize was rose, to really encourage people to read, only by actually reading the book people could find the answer).
The season started with ratings of nearly 40 percent, but by the end of the season they were down to 16 percent. For the first time ever, the show was canceled before its final show. So far, this has proven to be the show's last season.
International versions
- United KingdomUnited KingdomThe 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...
: 3-2-13-2-13–2–1 was a popular British game show that was made by Yorkshire Television for ITV. It ran for ten years, between 29 July 1978 and 24 December 1988. Throughout its run, the show was hosted by former Butlins Redcoat Ted Rogers. It was based on a Spanish gameshow called Un, dos, tres.....
hosted by Ted RogersTed RogersTed Rogers was a fast-talking English comedian and light entertainer who started his career as a Redcoat entertainer and is best remembered as the only host in the original series of the Yorkshire Television gameshow 3-2-1.... - PortugalPortugalPortugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
: Um, dois, tres hosted by Carlos CruzCarlos Cruz (television presenter)Carlos Cruz GCIH is a Portuguese former television presenter who has been convicted on charges of child sexual abuse.-Biography:Carlos Cruz was born in 1942 in Torres Novas...
and later by Teresa Guilherme - GermanyGermanyGermany , 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...
: Die verflixte sieben hosted by Rudi Carell - NetherlandsNetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
: De 1-2-3 show hosted by Ted de Braak