Weaver's Week 2025-01-12
The Week of the Year 2024 | Weaver's Week Index | Next week
Happy new year. This column bets that we can write a review of an ITV challenge show, write lots of obituaries, recap the Christmas schedules, and give an exit poll almost as accurate as Graham Pyatt. Who? Exactly!
Contents |
You Bet!
Rollercoaster Television (part of ITV Studios) for ITV, 7 and 22 December 2024
A little bit of history is needed. You Bet! originally ran on ITV from 1988 to 1997. Bruce Forsyth hosted the first three series, and in retrospect he wasn't the right choice – Bruce was a massive character, we'd watch the show for him, and really we needed to watch for the stunts.
When Bruce returned to the BBC, Matthew Kelly took over You Bet!, and the show gently evolved – there were scrolls and medals for the people doing the stunts, the worst celebrity on the panel had to do a forfeit, and Matthew really got into the challenges and brought out the stories of the challengers. But Matthew tootled off to do Stars in Their Eyes, and was replaced by Darren Day, who was stiff and wooden and not as good. The show came off air to be replaced by Don't Try This at Home!, a much more extreme version.
You Bet! was based on a German format, which is shown live and fills a whole evening. Like most German formats the original is a mixture of chat and musical guests and product placement and adverts and eventually they might deign to get round to some stunts, but not before they've explained the Schleiswig-Holstein problem in excruciating detail, and most of the viewers would have tuned over to something more interesting, but it's this or a six-hour panel discussion on the philosophy of die Testkarte. But we digress.
After more than a quarter of a century on the sidelines, ITV have revived You Bet!. They've picked the later Matthew Kelly years as their starting point, which is as good a place as any. The worst-scoring member of the panel will have to do a forfeit, and they'll have to do it live in the studio. The best-scoring panellist wins a guaranteed £10,000 for a charity of their choice, presumably as a "top prize" of £418 sounds really small in this day and age.
The panel has divided opinions: Rob Beckett and Harry Redknapp say yes, Alison Hammond and Rosie Ramsey say no. (Rollercoaster)
The host isn't Matthew Kelly, but ITV's second-biggest presenting duo: Stephen Mulhern and Holly Willoughby. Maybe you know them from Dancing on Ice, or remember them from Ministry of Mayhem, or know them from their individual work on This Morning and Catchphrase. If you watch ITV, you'll surely have come across Mulhern and Willoughby. They are familiar faces help viewers to find their feet: the format might be novel, but the host is a friend viewers know and respect. And we have to remember that the original You Bet! was often a double-hander, showbiz bloke and competent woman: Bruce and Ellis Ward, Darren Day and Sarah Matravers.
The basic format of the show is that we get an introduction video of the contestant, which quickly establishes the challenge and lets us meet the contestant. Exactly what we'd expect: such video packages are part of the basic television grammar these days, and You Bet! doesn't need to confuse viewers by doing the basics differently.
This contender bets she can reach the top of a car park faster than a car, and by climbing up the walls. (Rollercoaster)
At the end of the video, the contestant (or contestants, couples can play too) makes a bet. "I bet that I can identify our goats just from close-up pictures." What are they betting? Nothing tangible, just their reputation on network television, as the best goat-herd since we last saw The Sound of Music.
In the studio, Holly and Stephen recap the challenge, and ask the studio panel what they think. The panel – expect the likes of Rob Beckett, Alison Hammond, Olly Murs, and sports personality Mary Earps – give their opinion as to the contestant's chances, and eventually decide YES or NO. The studio audience then votes on electronic keypads as to whether the challenge will be met, or not.
We know it's part of the format, but this bit of the process has always struck us as rather backwards. Surely the audience is going to be influenced by the panel's discussion, swayed by a line of "Yes! Yes! Yes!" from the front row. And the scoring has always struck us as backwards: if 22% of the audience thinks "No" is the right answer, then celebs who correctly pick "No" will get 22 points. Surely it could be the other way round, and an unpopular but correct opinion is rewarded with lots of points. Still, if you guess wrong, you get nothing, which is the way it should be.
Anyway. After all this hoopla, our contestants walk into the studio, and the challenge takes place. Pictures are selected, the players come into the studio, and are asked to get four out of five right. Name that goat!
Naughty producers. Autocomplete pictures of goats use masses of electricity and water. A much funnier option: get the panel to draw a bad picture of a goat and laugh at them. (Rollercoaster)
Yeah, we're watching people name their pet goats on network television. Will they get the right animal, or will they be got by their own goats? It's played seriously, there are no re-takes, no mulligans, what happens in the studio will go out on the show. Properly tense, in a way we don't usually associate with Stephen Mulhern – until we remember his work on Ant Versus Dec.
Soon enough, the results are known, points are awarded. And if this challenge bores you, stick with the show, because something very different will come up after the break. These first two shows followed a very similar template: a big studio challenge involving motor vehicles to start the show, then a smaller one involving plants or animals. There was a filmed report on person versus technology, and a somewhat bizarre studio challenge to close the scoring.
After the filmed report – but before the final studio challenge – came four Quick Bets, challenges complete in 20 seconds of playing time, and no time for the panel to hum and haw about their decisions. Don't recall this feature from previous editions, and it ensures that the points rack up quickly.
By placing these Quick Bets before the final studio challenge, it can mean that the winner and loser are known before the final challenge, which makes the whole segment entirely irrelevant to the result. It's also irrelevant to play challenges where all the panel agree, as it won't alter the relative scores, and we're not converting points to pounds. Maybe Quick Bets needs to be the last action we see.
This man reckons he can identify the one real Wimpy burger from 49 supplied by lesser cooks. (Rollercoaster)
Once the winner has been declared, and the loser told that they're going to sing with the cast of a West End musical right here on stage, there's one final item of business to do. For no obvious reason, the audience votes amongst the four major challengers, and the most popular one wins £10,000 prize money. The rest walk away with nothing.
We're really not sure about this prize vote: the challenge is for super people to do super things, and it would be enough for challengers to take a scroll / medal / unique You Bet! trophy as a memento. And it's very possible for someone who didn't complete their challenge to walk off with the dosh, which just strikes us as wrong. No, if they're going to give away another £10,000, why not give it to the audience member(s) who get all eight predictions right – or to a charity nominated by those clever people.
To be fair, this vote is about the only thing they've got markedly wrong, though a couple of other negatives do spring to mind. There's a suggestion that the producers recruited challengers to meet the ideas they had in mind, based on what worked on the German show – we'll live with that for a pilot, but a full series would need organic homegrown ideas.
And they'll need to make the final forfeits something other than than "mildly embarrass yourself by singing with the cast of Back to the Future or whatever". We don't want to see show loser Rob Beckett blown to bits, but we do want him to be visibly frightened.
Like all television shows, an episode of You Bet! needs a climax. We could have a climax by declaring the winners from the panel and the audience, but they've chosen a different way. Forfeit challenges are a climax, however irrelevant and bolted on to the rest of the programme.
So here's a thought: losing player is put in some embarrassing or mildly perilous situation where there is a way to fail. The show winner (whether that be the celebrity, or someone from the audience) bets on whether the loser will achieve their task, with an extra reward if their prediction is right.
Holly and Stephen are in their element: they know how to work the celebrity panel, they are convincingly boggled by the prospect of someone delivering food faster by bike than by drone, and know when to dial down their act because the stunts are the focus of the show. Some of the guests on the panel might take note: we're here to watch ordinary people do extraordinary things, we're not here to watch the panel pontificate.
Ultimately, You Bet! stands and falls on the strength of its challenges. The first show was a bit wobbly (people guessing cactuses by touching them with their tongues? Does not make for interesting television), they'd visibly got into their stride for the second pilot. The full show is never going to live long in the memory, but the challenges really ought to provide great clips for ITV's internet presence – full bits on Youtube, sharp edits on Ticktock, Holly's reactions are tailor-made for Vine.
Would we commission a full series? Not a full thirteen-week order, but a month of specials in the 7pm hour next September – before Strictly restarts – could be in order.
Exit Poll of the Year
If you're reading this column on the Sunday it's published, you've just enough time to vote in the Bother's Bar / UKGameshows Poll of the Year 2024. As is traditional, we're after the best new formats, the worst new formats, and the best shows of all.
Here's how this column voted: we are but one voice amongst many.
Best New Show
Dubhlain DIY is frustrating and heart-warming: a show to test relationships and raise a smile. Gladiators is skilful and superb entertainment. Josh Must Win was clever and educational. Style It Out was educational and inspirational. Wing It is the funniest new radio comedy we've heard in years.
Worst New Show
One Person Found This Helpful was old men grouching on the radio, we get enough of that on PM Reports. On the telly, Out of Order felt like normal people being bossed about by celebs, and we'd seen the idea before. Wheel of Fortune was wrong in so many ways.
We'd also like to have voted for Dating Naked and Love is Blind, but this category is restricted to broadcast television, and streaming shows aren't eligible.
We're going to pass on Streaming shows, as we don't get streaming – there's still enough going on on linear channels.
Golden Five
One might expect that Bridge of Lies and House of Games are running out of ideas. Far from it: both have been brimming with bright questions to invite discussion in the studio and for viewers at home. Only Connect remains the pinnacle of cleverclogs quizzes, gradually ramping up from "difficult" to "how does anyone know this"? Gladiators was close enough to light entertainment perfection, a warm and welcoming revival. And The Traitors had everyone on tenterhooks right up to the final minutes – surely the ending will be a common Golden Moment.
The Vivienne
The Vivienne, winner of the first series of Drag Race on BBC3, has died. The Vivienne was born in a small town in North Wales, then came out to Liverpool, where they became a make-up artist. The name came from their love of Vivienne Westwood's clothes and style. In 2015, they earned the title of RuPaul’s Drag Race Ambassador after beating 21 other queens in a day-long competition hosted by RuPaul. Four years later, The Vivienne won the inaugural season of RuPaul's Drag Race. "I'm made up; I've just won the first ever season of Drag Race UK – this is nuts! That crown is going to look gorgeous, I can see me there washing the dishes in it!”
She became a regular on television, fronting the BBC documentary series The Vivienne Takes On Hollywood, dropping into Sewing Bee, The Weakest Link, glitzing up Celebrity Mastermind, and the Christmas ep of Blankety Blank. They performed on Dancing on Ice, went back for Drag Race All Stars, performed as The Wicked Witch of the West in Wicked, toured theatres as The Childcatcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. She also spoke honestly and openly about her various addictions.
A statement from RuPaul's Drag Race said, “We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of The Vivienne. Her talent, humour, and dedication to the art of drag was an inspiration. She will be dearly missed, but her legacy will live on as a beacon of creativity and authenticity – she embodied what it means to be a true champion. Our hearts go out to her family and fans during this difficult time." Many other Drag Race alumni paid tribute; we were particularly touched by Jinkx Monsoon's comment: “She has made her mark in our hearts and on her stages. It’s too soon for a curtain call but I know it’s a standing ovation.”
The Vivienne married their longtime partner, David Ludford, in 2019; they separated in 2023. The Vivienne was 32.
In other news
Britt Allcroft died over the festive period. Best known for adapting Thomas the Tank Engine for television, her early work included bizarre show Moon Clue Game.
Roger Lambert has died, aged 96. He was the advertising guru who dreamed up Captain Birdseye, had the account for Pal dog food and Kellogg's cereals. His son Stephen founded Studio Lambert (of The Traitors and Gogglebox), replicating Roger's neon pink logo.
What else filled our festive season? BBC2 tried a two-hour quiz block every night, which is fine on Monday nights, but becomes a bit of a chore when it's every night for a fortnight. We were pleased to see Abby Cook win on Celebrity Mastermind, she's just as indomitable on Blue Peter; and we absolutely loved Kate Butch's subdued and restrained costume.
Only Connect (2) had a run of specials, highlights include a sequence round on the lyric from "The One Show" theme, a sounds special where almost every question was a music question, and this column feeling chuffed because we've managed to get a question right in the Champion of Champions special (Thrifters beat Strigiformes by one point). University Challenge held its annual celebrity alumni tournament, a sequence of low-scoring games was won by the women of Durham on an improbable comeback – from 40 behind to 5 ahead in the last couple of minutes.
Enjoyed the St Stephen's Day quizzes on RTÉ Radio: sport on Radio 1, pop culture on 2fm, both were barely-restrained anarchy with points flying about like leaves in the wind. The 1% Club on ITV might be nearing over-exposure – stripping it across a week just before Christmas meant the festive ep was much less of a special occasion.
We are fumming! A change on Joel Dommett's Mask Singer, where they have stopped revealing the eliminated singer at the end of one show, and leave viewers hanging to the start of the next show to find that Warm Towel was played by Joe Smothers (or whoever it was). This is literally the whole point of the show! It is not a singing contest, it is a guessing game, and the point of a guessing game is that we find out the correct answer as soon as the game is over!
Maybe this is a bad habit they've picked up from the minority internet stations which trick viewers into watching two minutes of the next episode – but ITV forget that "the next episode" is a week away, and we'll have forgotten all about Warm Towel by then. Whoever he was.
Also fumm-worthy: ITV's promotion of Limitless Win. Ant and Dec's version of Numberwang came back last weekend, and ITV promoted it on a pro-fascist website, which is bad enough. They also used a very low-quality graphic, showing amounts from £1,000,000 up to £1,750,000, and then the prize becomes """""""""".
A prize of """"""""""""? Is the next reward to be immortalised in a Peanuts comic strip? Has ITV's art department has been lazy and used low-quality images? Didn't they do exactly the same thing in You Bet!?
We're not impressed, ITV, we're seriously not impressed. Limitless Win is one of your premium quizzes, it's hosted by your biggest entertainment stars, and deserves to be treated with some respect.
Quizzy Mondays
Tea Totallers completed the quarter-final line up on Only Connect, defeating Too Many Cookes by 27-23. As so often seems to be the case, the key came in the Sequences round: TMC dropped a question on clockface numbers, TT picked it up for a bonus, then scored three on their own question.
Darwin Cambridge won University Challenge, beating Edinburgh 155-125 in an edition as frustrating as the celebrity series. None of the bonus sets was answered perfectly – in fairness, no set was all wrong. Neither side was able to get any substantial lead, or any momentum. Key difference seemed to be Edinburgh's weakness on science questions, they leave having answered 33% of sciencey questions right, the four quarter-finalists have averaged 55%.
Thanks to Ginger James and Friz Frizzle for ideas this week.
A new run of Dancing on Ice begins (VM1 and ITV, Sun), hosted by one of television's most brilliant presenters and also Stephen Mulhern. Love Island All Stars is also back (VM1 and ITV2, from Mon), and The Satellite Channel offers A League of Their Own (Thu).
Civilian quizzes continue, and we get to play Popmaster TV (More4, Tue) and Beat the Chasers (ITV, Thu). Síorstil (TG4, Wed) turns discarded fabric into new clothes. Last Bite Hotel (Food Network, Tue) gives its cooks some ingredients, and never replaces them. Next Saturday brings us Gladiators (BBC1),
To have Weaver's Week emailed to you on publication day, receive our exclusive TV roundup of the game shows in the week ahead, and chat to other ukgameshows.com readers, sign up to our Google Group.