Dog Eat Dog (game show)
| Dog Eat Dog | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Game show |
| Created by | David Young |
| Presented by | Ulrika Jonsson |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 4 |
| No. of episodes | 30 |
| Production | |
| Running time |
45 minutes (Series 1) 35 minutes (Series 2-4) |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC One |
| Picture format | 16:9 |
| Original release | 14 April 2001 – 2 November 2002 |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Dog Eat Dog (U.S. version) |
Dog Eat Dog is a Saturday night British game show on BBC One hosted by Ulrika Jonsson, which ran from 14 April 2001 to 2 November 2002. It was devised by David Young, then a BBC producer (and later founder of game show production company 12 Yard). The programme started off by showing the six contestants at a training day where they underwent various tests to assess their strengths and weaknesses. The contestants talked about themselves and their fellow competitors.
Format
In the studio, the contestants voted on who they thought would fail a given challenge, which would either be a mental or physical one. The contestant who received the most votes would have to attempt the challenge. If they failed, they went to the "Loser's Bench", and if they won, they got to choose who went to that area of the studio, before reentering the game. They could only chose someone who voted for them to do the challenge.
In the case of a tied ballot; the person who was sent to the Loser's Bench at the end of the previous challenge gets the tie break vote, and chooses between the tied contestants. If the tied vote happens on the opening round, then a contestant is selected at random; and that person gets to vote between the tied players. A player may not vote for themselves, unless they are the random tie-breaker in a tie and are part of that tie.
The last remaining contestant had the chance of winning the £10,000 prize, but had to face a general knowledge round against the other five competitors. If they could predict which three would get their questions wrong, they won the money; however, if the losers got three of their questions right, they split the prize between them, i.e. £2,000 each, and the overall winner of the show went home with nothing. The format was licensed internationally by BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC.
Stunts
Some of the one-player stunts featured on various versions of the show were:
| Stunt | Definition |
|---|---|
| 360 degree Ladder | Crawl around a circular ladder hanging in the air in a limited amount of time and capture the flag. |
| Earthquake Island | Climb up a ladder mounted on a tilting island-with rain. |
| Flag Capture | Climb a net and get the greatest number of flags in a limited amount of time. |
| He or She | Given a panel of about six subjects, guess which one was the female (or male) out of the group. This normally involved having five cross-dressing men and one female, with the contestant having to guess which one of them was the female. |
| Little Genius | Play a trivia game against a child prodigy. |
| Strip Games | The contestant was required to perform a feat of skill of some sort; every time the player made a mistake, he or she was required to remove one article of clothing. If the feat was accomplished before the player missed the attempt completely naked, the mission was completed. Some of the stripping stunts included throwing a beanbag or a football into a target, making a hole-in-one on a miniature golf hole (with each removed article of clothing allowing the player to move closer to the hole), darts (where the contestant had to forfeit an article of clothing in exchange for a dart), and hangman (with each missed letter costing an article of clothing). |
| Water Walk | Walk on a platform while being hit by water. |
| Out on a Limb | Player is enclosed in a large, X-Shaped figure, in which he or she must collect 4 red flags and 4 blue flags within the time limit, completing all of one color first, followed by the other. |
| Treadmill Trivia | Walk/run on a treadmill trying to answer ten questions right before falling off the treadmill from fatigue and into a giant swimming pool. Every time a question is answered wrong, the speed on the treadmill increases. A variation of this game was used in which the contestant was required to walk/run on a large wheel, which arbitrarily sped up throughout the round. |
| Ladder Wheel | Climb a full 360 degrees around a circular-shaped ladder-like structure. |
| Pandora's Box | Grab floating water markers and bring them to a box submerged underwater. |
Some of the head-to-head competitions included:
| Competition | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Fish Throwing | Used only once, two professional fish throwers threw fish at each of the 2 contestants. After two minutes, whoever caught the most won. | |
| Rainstorm Hanging | The remaining two contestants hang on a bar with just their hands in pouring rain; the first to fall loses. | |
| Rainstorm Pedestal | Contestants stand on a small pedestal mounted atop a long pole in the pool; the first person to fall off the pedestal loses. After five minutes, the rain machines are turned on; if both contestants last ten minutes, the intensity of the rain is increased.
Starting in the second season, the rain begins after two minutes. | |
| Wall Climbing | Contestants would climb up a wall holding a key which they would use to unlock a box at the top. They would jump down and take a second key to the top and put it in the keyhole they had previously unlocked. The first person to do this would dump 400 gallons of water on to the other person, and would send the other person to the dog pound. | |
| Upside down Trapeze | Used only once, two players hang upside down on trapeze bars; the first person to fall in the pool loses. If both contestants are there after one minute, it starts to rain. After two minutes, another surprise will occur to the players (the trapeze bars will slightly drop) and the intensity of the rain will increase. | |
| Paddle Wheel | Both contestants must run on a paddle wheel above the pool, and the wheel will get faster as they go. The first one to fall out loses. | |
| Pool Tile Trivia | Brooke asks both contestants a trivia question, they must find the answer on the tiles in the pool. Whoever comes up with a tile of the correct answer first get a point. First to three points is the winner. |
Transmissions
| Series | Start date | End date | Episodes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14 April 2001[1] | 2 June 2001[2] | 8 |
| 2 | 8 September 2001[3] | 20 October 2001[4] | 7 |
| 3 | 26 January 2002[5] | 23 March 2002[6] | 8 |
| 4 | 14 September 2002[7] | 2 November 2002[8] | 7 |
Other countries
| Country | Local Name | Host | Network | Year Aired | Top Prize |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Australia |
Dog Eat Dog | Simone Kessell | Seven Network | 2002 | $50,000 |
 Dubai |
Dubai TV | 2004 | Dhs 50,000 | ||
 Germany |
Auge um Auge | Kai Böcking | ZDF | 2002 | €20.000 |
 Poland |
Oko za Oko | Jarosław Ostaszkiewicz | TVN | 2002 | 20,000 zł |
 Singapore |
Show Me Your Power | Guo Liang | Channel U | 2003 | |
 United States |
Dog Eat Dog | Brooke Burns | NBC | 2002-2003 | $25,000 |
An Australian version hosted by Simone Kessell was briefly aired in 2002 on the Seven Network, but cancelled after receiving dismal ratings. The top prize was $50,000. The show gained more notoriety after it was axed than before it due to a number of tabloid stories regarding contestants who had won money on the show but not received it because the episode they participated in never went to air.
A version made in Dubai by Dubai TV was syndicated across the Arabic-speaking world and each episode featured contestants from different countries in that region.
A German version hosted by Kai Böcking aired on ZDF in 2002. The show's format was generally the same as the other versions, except that the game started with five players instead of six.
The Singapore version of the show was hosted by Guo Liang under the name Show Me Your Power was aired in 2003 over Channel U as Dog Eat Dog was considered an inappropriate title.
The U.S. version was hosted by Brooke Burns from 2002 to 2003 on NBC and reruns were picked up by the Game Show Network.
In Poland the station TVN broadcast a version of the show in 2002 under the name Oko za oko (literally "eye for eye"). The host was Jarosław Ostaszkiewicz who had previously voiced the Big Brother in the reality show of the same name, the Polish version of which was also broadcast by TVN.
BBC Worldwide also licensed the format to a broadcaster in Sweden.
References
- ↑ "Dog Eat Dog - BBC One London - 14 April 2001". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
- ↑ "Dog Eat Dog - BBC One London - 2 June 2001". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
- ↑ "Dog Eat Dog - BBC One London - 8 September 2001". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
- ↑ "Dog Eat Dog - BBC One London - 20 October 2001". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
- ↑ "Dog Eat Dog - BBC One London - 26 January 2002". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
- ↑ "Dog Eat Dog - BBC One London - 23 March 2002". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
- ↑ "Dog Eat Dog - BBC One London - 14 September 2002". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
- ↑ "Dog Eat Dog - BBC One London - 2 November 2002". BBC Genome Project. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
External links
- Dog Eat Dog at the Internet Movie Database
- Dog Eat Dog at BFI
- Dog Eat Dog at UKGameshows.com