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111-406: University Challenge is a British television quiz programme which first aired in 1962. University Challenge aired for 913 episodes on ITV from 21 September 1962 to 31 December 1987, presented by quizmaster Bamber Gascoigne . The BBC revived the programme on 21 September 1994, the programme's 32nd anniversary, with Jeremy Paxman as the quizmaster. Paxman relinquished his role as host following

222-636: A Left Alliance ticket. Aaranovitch began his media career in the early 1980s as a television researcher and later producer for the ITV programme Weekend World . In 1988, he began working at the BBC as founding editor of the political current affairs programme On the Record . He moved to print journalism in 1995, working for The Independent and The Independent on Sunday as chief leader writer, television critic, parliamentary sketch writer, and columnist until

333-583: A visually impaired student, Rachael Neiman, and the picture rounds in episodes involving the team were word puzzles for which she was provided with Braille transcriptions. Pieces of music played for the music round may be classical or popular – for example, on 25 July 2011, the pieces played were winners of the Eurovision Song Contest . Occasionally, audio clips other than music (e.g. speech, animal sounds or other field recordings) are used. The pace of questioning gradually increases through

444-583: A 1975 protest, in which a team from the University of Manchester (which included David Aaronovitch ) came second to Downing College, Cambridge , when they started a round by answering every question " Che Guevara ", " Marx ", " Trotsky " or " Lenin ", in the hope of making the resulting show unbroadcastable. It was, however, broadcast, although only portions of the episode still exist in the Granada Television archives. Granada subsequently banned

555-536: A 2008–09 quarter-final against Corpus Christi, Oxford , whose team captain Gail Trimble amassed 15 correct starter questions. However, the Corpus Christi team were later disqualified from the competition after it was found that team member Sam Kay had been ineligible for the last three matches. Therefore, the second lowest score officially achieved against eligible opponents under quizmaster Jeremy Paxman

666-538: A bonus round usually varies from the standard game play of the front game, and there are often borrowed or related elements of the main game in the bonus round to ensure the entire show has a unified premise. Though some end games are referred to as "bonus rounds", many are not specifically referred to as such in games but fit the same general role. There is no one formula for the format of a bonus round. There are differences in almost every bonus round, though there are many recurring elements from show to show. The bonus round

777-465: A certain amount of money or a limit on how many episodes, usually five, on which a player could appear on a show. The introduction of syndicated games, particularly in the 1980s, eventually allowed for more valuable prizes and extended runs on a particular show. British television was under even stricter regulations on prizes until the 1990s, seriously restricting the value of prizes that could be given and disallowing games of chance to have an influence on

888-502: A connection with the preceding starter question, except when they are bonuses following a picture or music question. Generally, there are three separate bonus questions worth five points each, but occasionally a bonus will require the enumeration of a given list with five, ten or fifteen points given for correctly giving a certain number of items from the list (for example, "there are seven fundamental SI units . Give five for five points, six for ten points or all seven for fifteen points"). It

999-401: A game show receives a subsidy from an advertiser in return for awarding that manufacturer's product as a prize or consolation prize . Some products supplied by manufacturers may not be intended to be awarded and are instead just used as part of the gameplay such as the low-priced items used in several The Price is Right pricing games . Although in this show the smaller items (sometimes even in

1110-432: A given environment. Several game shows returned to daytime in syndication during this time as well, such as Family Feud , Hollywood Squares , and Millionaire . Wheel of Fortune , Jeopardy! and Family Feud have continued in syndication. To keep pace with the prime-time quiz shows, Jeopardy! doubled its question values in 2001 and lifted its winnings limit in 2003, which one year later allowed Ken Jennings to become

1221-448: A heavy emphasis on comedy, leaving the points as mere formalities. The focus on quick-witted comedians has resulted in strong ratings, which, combined with low costs of production, have only spurred growth in the UK panel show phenomenon. Game shows remained a fixture of US daytime television through the 1960s after the quiz show scandals. Lower-stakes games made a slight comeback in daytime in

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1332-462: A low score was also achieved by Victoria University of Manchester in their first round match in 1975 when, for much of the recording, they answered only with the names of Marxists as a protest against the Oxford and Cambridge colleges being able to enter separate teams. Under Jeremy Paxman, the lowest score achieved by a student team is also 10 which, coincidentally, was also achieved by a team from

1443-403: A modernized revival of Jeopardy! to syndication in 1983 and 1984, respectively, was and remains highly successful; the two are, to this day, fixtures in the prime time "access period". During this "access" period, a contestant named Mark Anthony DiBello became and is still known to be the only person to win automobiles on two of the most popular game shows The Wheel of Fortune and The Price

1554-522: A number of original game concepts that appeared near the same time, including Awake , Deal or No Deal (which originally aired in 2005), Child Support , Hollywood Game Night , 1 vs. 100 , Minute to Win It (which originally aired in 2010), The Wall , and a string of music-themed games such as Don't Forget the Lyrics! , The Singing Bee , and Beat Shazam . The popularity of game shows in

1665-434: A question. The ending of the programme is usually signified with the quizmaster saying, "It's goodbye from ([name of losing team], who say goodbye), it's goodbye from ([name of winning team], likewise), and it's goodbye from me: goodbye!" Afterwards, during the closing credits Amol Rajan routinely walks over and confers with the losing team. While the starter questions are being read out, the teams are shown on screen one above

1776-484: A spin-off, Family Feud , on ABC in 1976. The $ 10,000 Pyramid and its numerous higher-stakes derivatives also debuted in 1973, while the 1970s also saw the return of formerly disgraced producer and game show host Jack Barry , who debuted The Joker's Wild and a clean version of the previously rigged Tic-Tac-Dough in the 1970s. Wheel of Fortune debuted on NBC in 1975. The Prime Time Access Rule , which took effect in 1971, barred networks from broadcasting in

1887-405: A student when the show was filmed. Kay, who had completed a chemistry degree the previous summer, had been planning to go on to study for a Doctor of Philosophy , but dropped out as he did not have sufficient funding. He then became an accountant . The team, whose captain Gail Trimble was dubbed the "human Google ", won the competition but was subsequently disqualified and the trophy awarded to

1998-508: A team of undergraduate engineering students from Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology (NSIT), Delhi, beat a team of management students from the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode . The Indian winners of the 2003–2004 season went on to beat the finalists from the UK show, Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge . UC India is produced by BBC World India, and Synergy Communications, co-owned by Siddhartha Basu , who also hosted

2109-413: A traditional solo bonus round in 1978, but this version was not a success and the round was replaced by the original Final Jeopardy! when the show returned in 1984. The Price Is Right uses a knockout tournament format, in which the six contestants to make it onstage are narrowed to two in a "Showcase Showdown;" these two winners then move on to the final Showcase round to determine the day's winner. Until

2220-479: A week, twice a day. Game shows were the lowest priority of television networks and were rotated out every thirteen weeks if unsuccessful. Most tapes were wiped until the early 1980s. Over the course of the 1980s and early 1990s, as fewer new hits (e.g. Press Your Luck , Sale of the Century , and Card Sharks ) were produced, game shows lost their permanent place in the daytime lineup. ABC transitioned out of

2331-543: Is Right , hosted by the longest-tenured American game show hosts, Pat Sajak and Bob Barker , respectively. Cable television also allowed for the debut of game shows such as Supermarket Sweep and Debt (Lifetime), Trivial Pursuit and Family Challenge (Family Channel), and Double Dare (Nickelodeon). It also opened up a previously underdeveloped market for game show reruns. General interest networks such as CBN Cable Network (forerunner to Freeform ) and USA Network had popular blocks for game show reruns from

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2442-544: Is an "honorary associate" of its publisher, the Rationalist Association . Aaronovitch also presents or contributes to radio and television programmes, including the BBC's Have I Got News for You and BBC News 24 . In 2004 he presented The Norman Way , a three-part BBC Radio 4 documentary looking at régime change in 1066 . Aaronovitch also hosted the BBC series The Blair Years (2007), which examined

2553-425: Is not a presence at all, he is an absence" and "is neither hunter nor prey, he is scavenger. He is a political vulture." During 2013, though Aaronovitch had vigorously supported the bombing campaigns against Iraq, Libya, and Syria, he became the chairman of the human rights organisation Index on Censorship , succeeding Jonathan Dimbleby in the role. In May 2014, he criticised Glenn Greenwald 's involvement in

2664-400: Is often played for the show's top prize. It is almost always played without an opponent; two notable exceptions to this are Jeopardy! and the current version of The Price Is Right . On Jeopardy! , the final round involves all remaining contestants with a positive score wagering strategically to win the game and be invited back the next day; Jeopardy! attempted to replace this round with

2775-447: Is the team captain's responsibility to give the answer to the bonus questions unless another member of the team is specified with the phrase "Nominate [name]". The team member so named may then give the answer instead. In the course of a game there are two picture rounds (occurring roughly one quarter and three-quarters of the way through) and one music round (at the halfway point), where the subsequent bonuses are connected thematically to

2886-511: The 1950s quiz show scandals and ratings declines led to most of the primetime games being canceled. An early variant of the game show, the panel show , survived the quiz show scandals. On shows like What's My Line? , I've Got a Secret , and To Tell the Truth , panels of celebrities would interview a guest in an effort to determine some fact about them; in others, celebrities would answer questions. Panel games had success in primetime until

2997-463: The ABC from 1987 until 1989. In the 1988 series, the University of New South Wales defeated the University of Melbourne in the final by 245 points to 175. University Challenge India started in summer 2003, with the season culminating in the finals of March 2004 where Sardar Patel College of Engineering (SPCE), Mumbai, beat Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad. The 2004–2005 season finale saw

3108-489: The Edward Snowden NSA revelations, and characterised Greenwald as "a stilted writer of overlong, dishonest and repetitive polemics." In response to Aaronovitch's article in an interview with Media Lens Greenwald commented on "the hilarious, inane irony of having someone who publicly cheered for the worst political crime of this generation – the attack on Iraq – trying to deny other people “journalist” status on

3219-623: The Orwell Prize for political journalism in 2001, and the What the Papers Say "Columnist of the Year" award in 2003. He previously wrote for The Independent and The Guardian . Aaronovitch is the son of communist intellectual and economist Sam Aaronovitch , and brother of actor Owen Aaronovitch and author and screenwriter Ben Aaronovitch . His parents were atheists whose "faith

3330-447: The University of Reading . The show was a cult favourite with a small but loyal core audience, and was one of a select few ITV programmes that was transmitted without any advertising breaks. Originally, the series started off in many areas, being broadcast at peak times or just after the nightly news around 22:30; by the early 1970s, the series was relegated to irregular timeslots by the various ITV regional companies, with some broadcasting

3441-558: The Victoria University of Manchester , graduating in 1978 with a 2:1 BA (Hons) in history. While at Manchester, Aaronovitch was a member of the 1975 University Challenge team that lost in the first round after answering most questions with the name of a Marxist (" Trotsky ", " Lenin ", " Karl Marx " or " Che Guevara "). The tactics were a protest against the fact that the University of Oxford and Cambridge University were allowed to enter each of their colleges into

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3552-434: The prime ministership of Tony Blair . Some journalists were unimpressed with Aaronovitch or dismissed the series. Aaronovitch said the case had "been made" for the 2003 invasion of Iraq and that he "reluctantly support[ed] military action," his "biggest reason" being "the failure of "vigilant containment" to help the people of Iraq." Since the invasion he maintains the view that it liberated Iraqis , and has played down

3663-520: The 1960s, most game shows did not offer a bonus round. In traditional two-player formats, the winner – if a game show's rules provided for this – became the champion and simply played a new challenger either on the next show or after the commercial break. One of the earliest forms of bonus rounds was the Jackpot Round of the original series Beat the Clock . After two rounds of performing stunts,

3774-401: The 1990s was a major factor in the explosion of high-stakes game shows in the later part of that decade in both the U.S. and Britain and, subsequently, around the world. A bonus round (also known as a bonus game or an end game) usually follows a main game as a bonus to the winner of that game. In the bonus round, the stakes are higher and the game is considered to be tougher. The game play of

3885-457: The 1990s, allowing for higher-stakes games to be played. After the popularity of game shows hit a nadir in the mid-1990s United States (at which point The Price Is Right was the only game show still on daytime network television and numerous game shows designed for cable television were canceled), the British game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? began distribution around the globe. Upon

3996-554: The 2006 film based on it starring James McAvoy . An incorrect interruption of a starter question incurs a five-point penalty; during the ITV series this took the form of five points being awarded to the opposing team, whereas in the BBC series five points are deducted from the interrupting team. The team answering a starter correctly gets a set of three bonus questions worth a potential fifteen points, for which they can confer. Sets of bonus questions are thematically linked. They rarely share

4107-471: The 23 June referendum. Aaronovitch later said that Brexit would eventually be reversed as the number of older voters, who typically voted for Britain to leave the European Union , gradually die. On 1 July 2024, Aaronovitch sparked controversy after tweeting on X , "If I were Biden, I'd hurry up and have Trump murdered on the basis that he is a threat to America's security #SCOTUS". Donald Trump

4218-427: The 7–8 p.m. time slot immediately preceding prime time , opening up time slots for syndicated programming. Most of the syndicated programs were "nighttime" adaptations of network daytime game shows. These game shows originally aired once a week, but by the late 1970s and early 1980s most of the games had transitioned to five days a week. Many people were amazed at this and in the late 2000s, gameshows were aired 7 times

4329-505: The BBC unveiled a new set and title card, which debuted on Rajan's first episode, which aired on 17 July 2023. Since its revival in 1994, the programme has featured a number of teams of postgraduate and mature students , whose participation has been criticised. The Open University won the 1999 series with a team with an average age of 46. In the quarter-final, they narrowly beat a slightly younger team from part-time and mature student specialist Birkbeck, University of London . Birkbeck won

4440-805: The Jeremy Paxman era, the team from Open University scored the highest score, 415, in the semi-final in 1997 against Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School . Some information from this table was obtained from the web pages listed in "Special Series" . Sean Blanchflower . Retrieved 26 February 2008 . The producers of the programme have taken the more recent inclusion of mature students to its logical conclusion by making two series without any student participants: University Challenge Reunited (2002) brought former teams back together, while University Challenge: The Professionals (from 2003) matched occupational groups such as civil servants, architects and doctors against each other. In 2003,

4551-595: The United States was closely paralleled around the world. Reg Grundy Organisation , for instance, would buy the international rights for American game shows and reproduce them in other countries, especially in Grundy's native Australia . Dutch producer Endemol ( later purchased by American companies Disney and Apollo Global Management , then resold to French company Banijay ) has created and released numerous game shows and reality television formats popular around

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4662-490: The University of Manchester for several years. University Challenge was revived by the BBC in 1994, although still produced by Granada Television (branded since 2009 as ITV Studios), using the original format, with minor differences, and presented by Jeremy Paxman . During the show's hiatus, a special edition of the show was made by the BBC, as part of a themed evening of programmes dedicated to Granada Television. It

4773-413: The University of Sussex, in the first round of the 2021–22 series when they faced the University of Birmingham who scored 245. In the same series, the lowest winning score for a student team was achieved, by Emmanuel College, Cambridge , who scored 85 in a quarter final against King's College London who scored 80. The second lowest losing score is 15, which was achieved by the University of Exeter in

4884-481: The article "lamebrains". He remains a strong supporter of former Prime Minister Tony Blair . In late 2005, Aaronovitch was co-author, with Oliver Kamm and journalist Francis Wheen , of a complaint to The Guardian, after it published an apology to Noam Chomsky for an interview by Emma Brockes , in which she asserted that Chomsky had denied the Srebrenica massacre . A Guardian readers' editor found that

4995-402: The beginning when they introduce themselves with their full names, where they are from and what they are studying. The teams generally consist of mixed genders, mostly young adults but with some mature students also appearing. The current tournament format used for each series is that of a direct knockout tournament starting with 28 teams. The fourteen first-round winners progress directly to

5106-649: The cast of Red Dwarf challenged a team of their "ultimate fans" to celebrate Red Dwarf' s 10th anniversary on the air. The cast was Chris Barrie (captain), Danny John-Jules , Robert Llewellyn , Chloë Annett and Craig Charles . The cast, who at times seemed amazed at the fans' knowledge, lost, but by only 15 points, 280–295. Sixth Form Challenge , hosted by Chris Kelly , appeared briefly between 1965 and 1967. The sixth form contestants represented leading public schools and grammar schools . An untelevised version, Schools' Challenge , continues to run at junior and senior secondary school levels. Challenging Times

5217-596: The college level may enter independent teams. The competing teams each year are selected by the show's producers, based both on scores from a general trivia quiz and the producers' judging of the suitability of the teams for television. Oxford and Cambridge ("Oxbridge") colleges are prevalent in the competition: for instance, of the Christmas series between 2011 and 2022, Oxbridge colleges represented one-quarter of teams and three-quarters of winners. The contestants are identified by their surnames during gameplay, apart from at

5328-469: The competition in 2003, also with a substantially mature team. Host Jeremy Paxman said that the Open University team was "not in the spirit" of the competition. The team publicly replied by challenging him to specify in what way this was "contrary to the spirit of the quiz – or of the university". In 2009, Sam Kay , part of the team from Corpus Christi College, Oxford , was accused of not being

5439-567: The concept eventually became Family Feud , as whose inaugural host Dawson was hired. David Aaronovitch David Morris Aaronovitch (born 8 July 1954) is an English journalist, television presenter and author. He was a regular columnist for The Times and the author of Paddling to Jerusalem: An Aquatic Tour of Our Small Country (2000), Voodoo Histories: the role of Conspiracy Theory in Modern History (2009) and Party Animals: My Family and Other Communists (2016). He won

5550-401: The conclusion of the 52nd series in 2023, after which he was succeeded by Amol Rajan . The current title holders are Imperial College London , who won a record fifth title in the final of the 2023-24 series on 8 April 2024. On 21 April 2023, the BBC unveiled a new set and title card, which debuted on Rajan's first episode, which aired on 17 July 2023. The show has always been produced by

5661-520: The contest as a separate team, even though the colleges were not universities in themselves. Aaronovitch was initially a Eurocommunist and was active in the National Union of Students (NUS). There he got to know the president at the time, Charles Clarke , who later became Home Secretary . Aaronovitch himself succeeded Trevor Phillips as president of the NUS from 1980 to 1982. He was elected on

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5772-424: The daytime game show format in the mid-1980s (briefly returning to the format for one season in 1990 with a Match Game revival). NBC's game block also lasted until 1991, but the network attempted to bring them back in 1993 before cancelling its game show block again in 1994. CBS phased out most of its game shows, except for The Price Is Right , by 1993. To the benefit of the genre, the moves of Wheel of Fortune and

5883-493: The discontinuation of The Price Is Right $ 1,000,000 Spectacular series of prime-time specials. In April 2008, three of the contestants on The Price Is Right $ 1,000,000 Spectacular won the top prize in a five-episode span after fifteen episodes without a winner, due in large part to a change in the rules. The insurance companies had made it extremely difficult to get further insurance for the remaining episodes. A network or syndicator may also opt to distribute large cash prizes in

5994-403: The early 1960s; examples include Jeopardy! which began in 1964 and the original version of The Match Game first aired in 1962. Let's Make a Deal began in 1963 and the 1960s also marked the debut of Hollywood Squares , Password , The Dating Game , and The Newlywed Game . Though CBS gave up on daytime game shows in 1968, the other networks did not follow suit. Color television

6105-459: The end of 2002. He began contributing to The Guardian and The Observer in 2003 as a columnist and feature writer. Aaronovitch's columns appeared in The Guardian ' s G2 section. His desire for his pieces to appear on the main comment pages, according to Peter Wilby , was reportedly vetoed by the section editor, Seumas Milne , although Aaronovitch himself does not know if Milne

6216-484: The first black woman to host a prime time game show, Pay It Off . The rise of digital television in the United States opened up a large market for rerun programs. Buzzr was established by Fremantle , owners of numerous classic U.S. game shows, as a broadcast outlet for its archived holdings in June 2015. There was also a rise of live game shows at festivals and public venues, where the general audience could participate in

6327-400: The first to be regularly scheduled. The first episode of each aired in 1941 as an experimental broadcast. Over the course of the 1950s, as television began to pervade the popular culture, game shows quickly became a fixture. Daytime game shows would be played for lower stakes to target stay-at-home housewives. Higher-stakes programs would air in prime time . (One particular exception in this era

6438-400: The following year. Notable contestants in the regular student competition. Special Celebrity Christmas editions, where all competitors are distinguished, are excluded. The University of Manchester and Magdalen College, Oxford have both enjoyed four wins each, with Imperial College London having won a record five times. The University of Manchester and Magdalen College, Oxford are also

6549-406: The form of an annuity , spreading the cost of the prize out over several years or decades. From about 1960 through the rest of the 20th century, American networks placed restrictions on the amount of money that could be given away on a game show, in an effort to avoid a repeat of the scandals of the 1950s. This usually took the form of an earnings cap that forced a player to retire once they had won

6660-804: The former was won by the 1979 team from Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge , the latter by a team from the Inland Revenue . The 2004 Professionals series was won by the British Library , and the 2005 series by the Privy Council Office . In 2006, Professionals was won by staff of the Bodleian Library of the University of Oxford. The show has seen numerous specials, including those for specific professions and celebrity editions, such as Universe Challenge , presented by former host and Red Dwarf fan, Bamber Gascoigne, where

6771-658: The ground that they seek to “change the world” rather than simply report." In August 2014, Aaronovitch was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in September's referendum on that issue . In 2016, he endorsed the United Kingdom's continued membership of the European Union in

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6882-422: The imitator million-dollar shows were canceled (one of those exceptions was Winning Lines , which continued to air in the United Kingdom until 2004 even though it was canceled in the United States in early 2000); these higher stakes contests nevertheless opened the door to reality television contests such as Survivor and Big Brother , in which contestants win large sums of money for outlasting their peers in

6993-409: The impetus for a completely new game show. The first part of Match Game ' s "Super-Match" bonus round, called the "Audience Match", asked contestants to guess how a studio audience responded to a question. In 1975, with then regular panelist Richard Dawson becoming restless and progressively less cooperative, Goodson decided that this line of questioning would make a good game show of its own, and

7104-706: The last sixteen. Two repechage matches, involving the four highest scoring losing teams from the first round, whose losing scores often exceed winning scores in other first-round matches, fill the remaining places in the last sixteen. Teams in the quarter-final round (last eight teams) have to win two matches in the round to progress to the semi-finals. Equally, teams must lose two quarter-final matches in order to be eliminated from that round. The pairings for matches are often chosen in order to keep stronger teams apart. Starter questions are answered individually and are worth ten points. The catchphrase "your starter for ten" inspired David Nicholls ' 2003 novel Starter for Ten and

7215-410: The late 1930s. The first television game show, Spelling Bee , as well as the first radio game show, Information Please , were both broadcast in 1938; the first major success in the game show genre was Dr. I.Q. , a radio quiz show that began in 1939. Truth or Consequences was the first game show to air on commercially licensed television; CBS Television Quiz followed shortly thereafter as

7326-466: The late 1960s, when they were collectively dropped from television because of their perceived low budget nature. Panel games made a comeback in American daytime television (where the lower budgets were tolerated) in the 1970s through comedy-driven shows such as Match Game and Hollywood Squares . In the UK, commercial demographic pressures were not as prominent, and restrictions on game shows made in

7437-633: The long-running Definition ). Unlike reality television franchises, international game show franchises generally only see Canadian adaptations in a series of specials, based heavily on the American versions but usually with a Canadian host to allow for Canadian content credits (one of those exceptions was Le Banquier , a Quebec French-language version of Deal or No Deal which aired on TVA from 2008 to 2015). The smaller markets and lower revenue opportunities for Canadian shows in general also affect game shows there, with Canadian games (especially Quebecois ones) often having very low budgets for prizes, unless

7548-533: The mid-1980s to the mid-'90s before that niche market was overtaken by Game Show Network in 1994. In the United Kingdom , game shows have had a more steady and permanent place in the television lineup and never lost popularity in the 1990s as they did in the United States, due in part to the fact that game shows were highly regulated by the Independent Broadcasting Authority in the 1980s and that those restrictions were lifted in

7659-463: The mid-2010s. In 2016, ABC packaged the existing Celebrity Family Feud , which had returned in 2015, with new versions of To Tell the Truth , The $ 100,000 Pyramid , and Match Game in 2016; new versions of Press Your Luck and Card Sharks would follow in 2019. TBS launched a cannabis -themed revival of The Joker's Wild , hosted by Snoop Dogg , in October 2017. This is in addition to

7770-507: The most successful game show contestants in America would likely never be cast in a British or Australian game show for fear of having them dominate the game, according to Mark Labbett , who appeared in all three countries on the game show The Chase . The Japanese game show is a distinct format, borrowing heavily from variety formats, physical stunts and athletic competitions. The Japanese style has been adapted overseas (and at one point

7881-413: The new networked time did little to save the series from the axe. The last ITV series was broadcast in 1987. The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge could each enter up to five of their constituent colleges as separate teams, which are not themselves universities: they have far fewer students – numbering in the hundreds rather than thousands – than most universities. This was one ostensible inspiration for

7992-714: The newspaper had misrepresented Chomsky's position on the Srebrenica massacre, and that judgement was upheld in May 2006 by an external ombudsman, John Willis. In his column of 5 September 2013, Aaronovitch criticized the Labour leader Ed Miliband for allegedly providing no alternative to military intervention in Syria, after the use of chemical weapons in the Ghouta attacks of 21 August 2013. For Aaronovitch, "politically [Miliband]

8103-472: The only teams to successfully defend the title the year after their win (Manchester's 2009 win came only after the original winner was disqualified). Trinity College, Cambridge and Durham University hold three titles, and a further six institutions have two titles: Sussex, the Open University, Sidney Sussex–Cambridge, Keble–Oxford, University–Oxford and Warwick. At the time of Magdalen College, Oxford's third win in 2004, no other institution had won more than twice;

8214-415: The other by means of a split-screen effect. When a player buzzes in, the shot zooms in to that player, accompanied by a voiceover identifying the player by team and surname, for example "Nottingham, Munro". The voiceovers are performed live in the studio by Roger Tilling and become more energetic towards the end of the programme. The 1986 series experimented with an actual two-tier set, which was discontinued

8325-447: The programme in the United States and liked the format. It was decided that Granada would produce a similar programme with competing teams from universities across the United Kingdom. From its inception in 1962, University Challenge was hosted by Bamber Gascoigne , who died in 2022. The programme's first match was a match between the University of Leeds (featuring a pre-famed Ian Channell, better known as The Wizard of New Zealand ) and

8436-496: The results of the game. (Thus, the British version of The Price Is Right at first did not include the American version's "Showcase Showdown", in which contestants spun a large wheel to determine who would advance to the Showcase bonus round.) In Canada, prizes were limited not by bureaucracy but necessity, as the much smaller population limited the audience of shows marketed toward that country. The lifting of these restrictions in

8547-453: The runners-up, the University of Manchester. A few days later, it was also revealed that Charles Markland, a member of the 2008 winning team from Christ Church, Oxford , had transferred his studies to Balliol College halfway through the series. He said that his team captain had contacted a researcher concerning the situation, and had been told that this was not a problem and that the same team should be maintained for continuity purposes. It

8658-656: The same company (originally named Granada Television , renamed ITV Studios in 2009 and renamed again Lifted Entertainment in 2021), under licence from Richard Reid Productions and the College Bowl Company. It was recorded at Granada Studios in Manchester from its inception until the studios closed in 2013; it is now recorded at Dock10 studios in Salford . Despite periodic changes to

8769-483: The series is made for export. Canadian contestants are generally allowed to participate on American game shows, and there have been at least three Canadian game show hosts – Howie Mandel , Monty Hall and Alex Trebek – who have gone on to long careers hosting American series, while Jim Perry , an American host, was prominent as a host of Canadian shows. American game shows have a tendency to hire stronger contestants than their British or Australian counterparts. Many of

8880-431: The series was achieved in the final of the 2017 Christmas series, when Keble College, Oxford , beat the University of Reading 240–0. The previous year's Christmas series saw the lowest winning score of all time, 75, scored by the University of Nottingham , who defeated their opponents, the University of Bristol , by just five points. University College, Oxford , scored 520 points in the final ITV season in 1987. In

8991-437: The sets, studio layout, and presentation, University Challenge has preserved a high level of continuity from 1962 to the present. Some commentators have cited this as an essential element of its success. Elements of this continuity include: The programme had its beginnings in an American television quiz show called College Bowl . Cecil Bernstein, brother of Sidney Bernstein who founded Granada Television in 1954, had seen

9102-525: The show during daytime, at weekends or late at night. In the absence of a regular networked slot, audience figures would often fall, leading the producers to make changes to the long-standing format of the programme. LWT stopped broadcasting the show in October 1983, with Thames following suit shortly afterwards. The programme was not broadcast in 1985 and returned in April 1986, when it was finally networked by ITV and broadcast at 15:00 on weekdays. The gameplay

9213-413: The show is broadcast. Teams consist of four members and most represent a single university . The exceptions to this are colleges of the University of Oxford , the University of Cambridge , the University of London and formerly the University of Wales which enter independent teams. While a number of other British universities have constituent colleges, only those where some teaching is undertaken at

9324-550: The show's American debut in 1999, it was a hit and became a regular part of ABC's primetime lineup until 2002; that show would eventually air in syndication for seventeen years afterward. Several shorter-lived high-stakes games were attempted around the time of the millennium , both in the United States and the United Kingdom, such as Winning Lines , The Chair , Greed , Paranoia , and Shafted , leading to some dubbing this period as "The Million-Dollar Game Show Craze". The boom quickly went bust, as by July 2000, almost all of

9435-487: The show's first multi-million dollar winner; it has also increased the stakes of its tournaments and put a larger focus on contestants with strong personalities. The show has since produced four more millionaires: tournament winner Brad Rutter and recent champions James Holzhauer , Matt Amodio , and Amy Schneider . Family Feud revived in popularity with a change in tone under host Steve Harvey to include more ribaldry . In 2009, actress and comedienne Kim Coles became

9546-593: The show's history. Bamber Gascoigne's final appearance as host was in Universe Challenge in 1998 (see below). Paxman relinquished his role as host following the conclusion of the 52nd series in 2023, after which he was succeeded by Amol Rajan . In October 2022, an ITV documentary, Paxman: Putting Up With Parkinson's , explored how Parkinson's disease has impacted him and revealed that Paxman recorded his last episode of University Challenge on 15 October 2022, which aired on 29 May 2023. On 21 April 2023,

9657-651: The show, such as the science-inspired Geek Out Game Show or the Yuck Show . Since the early 2000s, several game shows were conducted in a tournament format; examples included History IQ , Grand Slam , PokerFace (which never aired in North America), Duel , The Million Second Quiz , 500 Questions , The American Bible Challenge , and Mental Samurai . Most game shows conducted in this manner only lasted for one season. A boom in prime time revivals of classic daytime game shows began to emerge in

9768-524: The show. University Challenge inspired the format of two Dutch-language shows: Universiteitsstrijd (the Netherlands), which ran for one season in 2016 on NTR , and De Campus Cup  [ nl ] (Belgium), which ran since 2019 on Canvas . Game show On most game shows, contestants answer questions or solve puzzles, and win prizes such as cash, trips and goods and services . Game shows began to appear on radio and television in

9879-448: The show. The sound of a gong signals the end of the game. At this point, the game immediately ends, even if the quizmaster is halfway through asking a question. In the event of a tied score at the sound of the gong, a sudden death question is asked, the first team to answer correctly being deemed the winner; this is repeated until a team either gives a correct answer to a question or is deducted five points for an incorrect interruption to

9990-463: The significance of Iraq 's putative weapons of mass destruction . However, he wrote in 2003: "If nothing is eventually found, I – as a supporter of the war – will never believe another thing that I am told by our government, or that of the US ever again. And, more to the point, neither will anyone else. Those weapons had better be there somewhere." On 7 September 2018, he labelled people who ask him about

10101-408: The single digits of dollars) are awarded as well when the price is correctly guessed, even when a contestant loses the major prize they were playing for. For high-stakes games, a network may purchase prize indemnity insurance to avoid paying the cost of a rare but expensive prize out of pocket. If the said prize is won too often, the insurance company may refuse to insure a show; this was a factor in

10212-406: The starter; if a picture or music starter is not correctly answered, the accompanying bonus questions are held back until a normal starter is correctly answered. Usually, in the recent contests, the first picture round focuses on science and technology, geography, and languages, while the second picture round focuses on art, film, television, and literature. The 2010 Manchester University team included

10323-542: The team who won the most money answering one final question for a jackpot which started at $ 1,000 and increased $ 500 each week until won. Another early example was the Lightning Round on the word game Password , starting in 1961. The contestant who won the front game played a quick-fire series of passwords within 60 seconds, netting $ 50 per correctly guessed word, for a maximum bonus prize of $ 250. The bonus round came about after game show producer Mark Goodson

10434-509: The trophy in use since 1994 was given to the college in perpetuity and a new once created for use from 2005. Information in these tables obtained from Blanchflower – University Challenge Series Champions. Little is known about the lowest scores from the Bamber Gascoigne series, except that the lowest score ever was in the 1971–72 season, when the University of Sussex , fresh from two series wins, managed only 10 points. However,

10545-459: The wake of the scandals limited the style of games that could be played and the amount of money that could be awarded. Panel shows there were kept in primetime and have continued to thrive; they have transformed into showcases for the nation's top stand-up comedians on shows such as Have I Got News for You , Would I Lie to You? , Mock the Week , QI , and 8 Out of 10 Cats , all of which put

10656-422: The wife of the contestant couple would perform at a jackpot board for a prize. The contestant was shown a famous quotation or common phrase, and the words were scrambled. To win the announced bonus, the contestant had to unscramble the words within 20 seconds. The contestant received a consolation gift worth over $ 200 if she was unsuccessful. Another early bonus round ended each episode of You Bet Your Life with

10767-587: The world. Most game show formats that are popular in one country are franchised to others. Game shows have had an inconsistent place in television in Canada , with most homegrown game shows there being made for the French-speaking Quebec market and the majority of English-language game shows in the country being rebroadcast from, or made with the express intent of export to, the United States. There have been exceptions to this (see, for instance,

10878-449: Was You Bet Your Life , ostensibly a game show, but the game show concept was largely a framework for a talk show moderated by its host, Groucho Marx .) During the late 1950s, high-stakes games such as Twenty-One and The $ 64,000 Question began a rapid rise in popularity. However, the rise of quiz shows proved to be short-lived. In 1959, many of the higher stakes game shows were exposed as being either biased or outright scripted in

10989-523: Was Marxism ", according to Aaronovitch, and he is ethnically half Jewish and half Irish. He has written that he was brought up "to react to wealth with a puritanical pout". Aaronovitch attended Gospel Oak Primary School until 1965, Holloway County Comprehensive (now Holloway School ) until 1968, and William Ellis School from 1968 to 1972, all in London. He studied modern history at Balliol College, Oxford . Aaronovitch completed his education at

11100-536: Was 35, reached by New Hall, Cambridge , 1997. This score would have been lower if all deductions for incorrect interruptions had been applied. The lowest score during the Professionals series was achieved by the House of Commons team, who scored 25 in 2003. In the 2014 Christmas University Challenge series, a team of alumni from Newcastle University also finished with 25. An all-time record low score for

11211-573: Was a quiz show for teams representing higher education institutes in Ireland, televised by RTÉ from 1991 to 2001. University Challenge ran in New Zealand for 14 seasons, from 1976 until 1989, with international series held between the previous years' British and New Zealand champions in both 1986 and 1987. It originally aired on TVNZ 1 and was hosted by Peter Sinclair from 1976 to 1977 and again from 1980 to 1989. From 1978 to 1979, Sinclair

11322-583: Was also revealed that Freya McClements, captain of the 2004 winning team from Magdalen College, Oxford , was at the time studying at Trinity College, Dublin . Although it was mentioned in a BBC news story at the time, no action was taken because the BBC stated that the facts had not been brought to their attention. In 2016, at the Henley Literary Festival , Jeremy Paxman said that, when students were unable to answer several consecutive starter questions, those questions were often deleted before

11433-562: Was briefly dropped from the show and was replaced by University of Otago lecturer Charles Higham, Sinclair returned in 1980 and from 1981 to 1982, the show briefly moved to TVNZ 2 , it moved back to TV1 in 1983 and remained on the network until the series original conclusion in 1989. The series was revived in 2014 by Cue TV and aired on Prime with Cue TV owner Tom Conroy as host and ran until its second conclusion in 2017. University Challenge , hosted by Magnus Clarke, ran in Australia on

11544-401: Was by Lincoln College, Oxford , who totalled 30 in a semi-final against the eventual series champions the University of Manchester , in an episode televised on 9 February 2009, just two weeks after the Corpus Christi vs Exeter match. This was also matched in the grand final by St John's College, Oxford , against Peterhouse, Cambridge , on 18 April 2016. Before these matches, the lowest score

11655-517: Was first presented Password , contending that it was not enough to merely guess passwords during the show. "We needed something more, and that's how the Lightning Round was invited," said Howard Felsher , who produced Password and Family Feud . "From that point on every game show had to have an end round. You'd bring a show to a network and they'd say, 'What's the endgame?' as if they had thought of it themselves." The end game of Match Game , hosted for most of its run by Gene Rayburn , served as

11766-478: Was introduced to the game show genre in the late 1960s on all three networks. The 1970s saw a renaissance of the game show as new games and massive upgrades to existing games made debuts on the major networks. The New Price Is Right , an update of the 1950s-era game show The Price Is Right , debuted in 1972 and marked CBS's return to the game show format in its rural purge . The Match Game became "Big Money" Match Game 73 , which proved popular enough to prompt

11877-618: Was involved in the decision. Since June 2005, he has written a regular column for The Times that he set to depart from in March 2023 following an announcement he made in January 2023 on Twitter. He has also been a columnist for The Jewish Chronicle . In addition, Aaronovitch has written for a variety of other major British news and opinion publications, such as the New Statesman . In addition, he has written for New Humanist , and

11988-432: Was parodied with an American reality competition, I Survived a Japanese Game Show , which used a fake Japanese game show as its central conceit). Many of the prizes awarded on game shows are provided through product placement , but in some cases they are provided by private organizations or purchased at either the full price or at a discount by the show. There is the widespread use of "promotional consideration", in which

12099-416: Was presented by Bamber Gascoigne and broadcast on BBC2 on 28 December 1992. The teams included one of students from Keble College, Oxford , which had fielded the winning team in the final 1987 season, and a graduates team of celebrity alumni who had previously appeared on the programme as students, including journalist John Simpson and actor Stephen Fry . This show was preceded by a short documentary about

12210-411: Was revised, initial games were staged over two legs; the first in the classic format and the second played as a relay, where contestants selected questions from specific categories such as sport, literature and science, passing a baton between players whenever a "lap" of two correct answers was scored. The final series was also networked, but broadcast around 11:00 during the summer holiday period. Even so,

12321-532: Was the subject of an assassination attempt just 11 days later. Aaronovitch alleged that his call to murder Trump was "plainly a satire". Aaronovitch lives in London with his wife and three daughters. In 2011, Aaronovitch was the victim of a "medical accident" following routine surgery. He survived sepsis thanks to antibiotics , a treatment that was not available to his grandmother, who died of an infection following an insect bite in 1930. This experience led him to become an advocate for Antibiotic Research UK and

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