Duel (U.S. game show)
Encyclopedia
Duel is an American
game show hosted by Mike Greenberg that first aired from December 17 to December 23, 2007 on ABC
. The show aired as a week-long six-episode tournament at 8:00 PM (7:00 Central) from Monday through Friday with the finale on Sunday.
The show's website described the program as a cross between Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
and the World Series of Poker
. The game was played in a head-to-head format in which contestants answered general trivia questions, with wrong answers contributing to a growing jackpot. The winner of the Duel jackpot of $1,720,000 was Ashlee Register, whose grand total was nearly $1.8 million when combined with previous winnings, making her the highest female game show money winner in the US at the time.
The second season aired in a weekly format with modified rules from April 4 to July 25, 2008 at 9:00 PM (8:00 Central).
, each worth $5,000. Before each question was asked, a screen rose between the contestants to hide their answers from each other. The duel always began with the catchphrase "Let's Duel!" before the question was heard. Each question was multiple choice
with four choices. The question was read by the host while the contestants used their chips to cover choices, one chip per choice. They were allowed to cover any number of choices, provided they had enough chips. After both players had locked in their answers, the screen was lowered so contestants could see each others' choices, and the correct answer was then revealed. All chips placed on wrong answers were collected and their value was added to a jackpot.
While there was normally no time limit for locking choices in, contestants could "press" each other to impose a seven-second time limit, after which their opponent's answers were locked in automatically. Each contestant had two presses per duel.
The duel continued until at least one contestant failed to cover the correct answer to a question. If only one contestant failed to answer correctly, that contestant was eliminated; any chips the contestant had not played were not added to the jackpot, though any played on wrong answers were still added. The winning contestant became champion and won the value of any chips they still possessed, including the one covering the correct answer. That money was theirs to keep, regardless of the outcome of future duels.
If neither player covered the correct answer, however, the duel went to a sudden death "shootout". For the shootout, there were no presses and each player received four new chips with no cash value. If only one player answered correctly, that player won the duel and became champion, but won no money. If both players answered correctly, the player who covered fewer choices won. (It is unknown what would have happened in any other situation, as no such situation ever aired.)
The champion then chose a new challenger from a randomly-selected group of three from the remaining members of the "Players Gallery" (those in the contestant pool who had not yet participated), based on a small amount of information revealed about each potential contestant. Contestants who had dueled were ranked by number of duels won, and then by cash winnings as a tiebreaker; After five nights, the four top contestants competed for the jackpot on the finale.
During the finale, the top-seeded player was given the choice of which other finalist he wanted to face in the first semifinal duel, leaving the two other finalists to play in the second. The winners of each semifinal advanced to the final duel to play for the entire jackpot. The final round duels played the same as the qualifying duels, with lost chips continuing to add to the jackpot, and any winnings kept. The winner of the final duel claimed the jackpot, as well as all earnings accumulated in previous duels.
For the weekly series, a bonus round was added after each duel. The winner was asked a single "Max Question", for which they got one chip and seven seconds. A correct answer doubled the contestant's winnings from the just-played duel, for a potential maximum of $100,000. There was no penalty for a wrong answer.
Winning contestants then had the option to take their winnings and leave, or to risk them to play another duel against their choice of three contestants. If they lost in their second or third duels, they forfeited all their winnings, while a loss in their fourth or fifth duel cut their winnings in half. A contestant who won five duels in a row won a total of $500,000. When a contestant chose to leave or won the jackpot, the next two contestants to play were the ones not chosen by the champion for the previous duel.
If both contestants missed a question, the value of the duel was frozen at the previous value; the format of the "shootout" used to determine the winner was identical to the tournament format.
On Friday, May 2, 2008, Gabriel Reilich, an unemployed 24-year-old from Los Angeles, California
, and founding member of The Hot Press won 5 duels to claim the $500,000 prize (he had won $75,000 in his four previous duels). Gabriel won on the question, "What Rolling Stone was a student at the London School of Economics
?" The four choices were Keith Richards
, Charlie Watts
, Robert Plant
, and Mick Jagger
.
Gabriel had only one chip remaining while his opponent, Jennifer Smith, a 23-year old executive assistant from Huntington, West Virginia, had three chips remaining. Gabriel used his one chip to cover Jagger, while Jennifer used hers to cover the other three answers. Jagger was indeed the correct answer, giving Gabriel his fifth duel win. He was the only person to win 5 duels (plus all 4 Max Questions) in a row in this season.
and Gail Berman
, both former network executives.
The series first aired from December 17 to December 23, 2007 on ABC
at 8:00 PM (7:00 Central) from Monday through Friday and its finale on Sunday; for its first four nights, it was up against Clash of the Choirs
on NBC.
Initial reviews were mixed; some praised the show for bringing something different and original to American television, while others derided Greenberg's hosting on the first night and the amount of "padding" the first episode (which was 90 minutes in length) seemed to have. Several critics derided the show for giving contestants "stereotypical" titles, such as "The Fire Captain" and "The Alligator Wrestler".
As the series progressed, however, critics began noticing how several contestants were chosen at random several times in a row, yet were never picked by the on-stage contestant; three contestants didn't play in the tournament at all.
The question of the final duel between Ashlee Register and Robert Elswick for $1.72 million was:
While Register covered all four answers on her side (later stating that she "didn't want to take a gamble on the first question"), Elswick covered all except the correct answer; when Greenberg asked him about his logic, Elswick eventually realized that oil floats on water and hence is lighter than water, so A was correct.
's Clash of the Choirs
.
' The Price Is Right $1,000,000 Spectacular, which aired at the same time. Also since the season premiere, the show was standing and lagging at sixth place behind The CW's second hour of WWE Friday Night SmackDown and the Univision
telenovela Pasíon
.
. It is hosted by István Vágó
. It runs on weekdays from 19:05 to 20:15. After each duel, the winner it is given a bonus question with 3 tokens to use. Winnings are determined by the number of duels won and the number of tokens used in the bonus question (as long as the correct answer is chosen). The highest prize is possible after winning 5 duels and its value is 25 million forint
s. Players have 2 accelerators per duel. The phrase at the beginning of each duel is "En garde!".
A web version of the game is available on TV2's official website.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
game show hosted by Mike Greenberg that first aired from December 17 to December 23, 2007 on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
. The show aired as a week-long six-episode tournament at 8:00 PM (7:00 Central) from Monday through Friday with the finale on Sunday.
The show's website described the program as a cross between Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is a television game show which offers large cash prizes for correctly answering a series of multiple-choice questions of increasing difficulty. The format is owned and licensed by Sony Pictures Television International. The maximum cash prize is one million pounds...
and the World Series of Poker
World Series of Poker
The World Series of Poker is a world-renowned series of poker tournaments held annually in Las Vegas and, since 2005, sponsored by Harrah's Entertainment...
. The game was played in a head-to-head format in which contestants answered general trivia questions, with wrong answers contributing to a growing jackpot. The winner of the Duel jackpot of $1,720,000 was Ashlee Register, whose grand total was nearly $1.8 million when combined with previous winnings, making her the highest female game show money winner in the US at the time.
The second season aired in a weekly format with modified rules from April 4 to July 25, 2008 at 9:00 PM (8:00 Central).
Season 1
Each player began a duel with ten chipsCasino token
Casino tokens are small discs used in lieu of currency in casinos. Colored metal, injection molded plastic or compression molded clay tokens of various denominations are used primarily in table games, as opposed to metal token coins, used primarily in slot machines...
, each worth $5,000. Before each question was asked, a screen rose between the contestants to hide their answers from each other. The duel always began with the catchphrase "Let's Duel!" before the question was heard. Each question was multiple choice
Multiple choice
Multiple choice is a form of assessment in which respondents are asked to select the best possible answer out of the choices from a list. The multiple choice format is most frequently used in educational testing, in market research, and in elections-- when a person chooses between multiple...
with four choices. The question was read by the host while the contestants used their chips to cover choices, one chip per choice. They were allowed to cover any number of choices, provided they had enough chips. After both players had locked in their answers, the screen was lowered so contestants could see each others' choices, and the correct answer was then revealed. All chips placed on wrong answers were collected and their value was added to a jackpot.
While there was normally no time limit for locking choices in, contestants could "press" each other to impose a seven-second time limit, after which their opponent's answers were locked in automatically. Each contestant had two presses per duel.
The duel continued until at least one contestant failed to cover the correct answer to a question. If only one contestant failed to answer correctly, that contestant was eliminated; any chips the contestant had not played were not added to the jackpot, though any played on wrong answers were still added. The winning contestant became champion and won the value of any chips they still possessed, including the one covering the correct answer. That money was theirs to keep, regardless of the outcome of future duels.
If neither player covered the correct answer, however, the duel went to a sudden death "shootout". For the shootout, there were no presses and each player received four new chips with no cash value. If only one player answered correctly, that player won the duel and became champion, but won no money. If both players answered correctly, the player who covered fewer choices won. (It is unknown what would have happened in any other situation, as no such situation ever aired.)
The champion then chose a new challenger from a randomly-selected group of three from the remaining members of the "Players Gallery" (those in the contestant pool who had not yet participated), based on a small amount of information revealed about each potential contestant. Contestants who had dueled were ranked by number of duels won, and then by cash winnings as a tiebreaker; After five nights, the four top contestants competed for the jackpot on the finale.
During the finale, the top-seeded player was given the choice of which other finalist he wanted to face in the first semifinal duel, leaving the two other finalists to play in the second. The winners of each semifinal advanced to the final duel to play for the entire jackpot. The final round duels played the same as the qualifying duels, with lost chips continuing to add to the jackpot, and any winnings kept. The winner of the final duel claimed the jackpot, as well as all earnings accumulated in previous duels.
Results
The finals consisted of the top four players overall during the first five nights, ranked first by the number of duels won, then by total winnings. In the final round, the contestants played for a jackpot totaling $1,720,000. Ashlee Register's winnings totaled $1,795,000 (she had earned $75,000 in previous duels).Season 2
The way questions were played remained the same, but the producers changed the format to accommodate a continuing weekly format. First, each contestant received one press per game rather than two. Second, the chips had no monetary value; instead, the prize value of a duel was determined by its length. Thus, unlike the first season's tournament, the potential prize, which was revealed after the catchphrase "Let's Duel!" (which started the game immediately), increased as a duel progressed:| Questions asked | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winnings | $1,000 | $2,500 | $5,000 | $10,000 | $15,000 | $20,000 | $25,000 | $30,000 | $40,000 | $50,000 |
For the weekly series, a bonus round was added after each duel. The winner was asked a single "Max Question", for which they got one chip and seven seconds. A correct answer doubled the contestant's winnings from the just-played duel, for a potential maximum of $100,000. There was no penalty for a wrong answer.
Winning contestants then had the option to take their winnings and leave, or to risk them to play another duel against their choice of three contestants. If they lost in their second or third duels, they forfeited all their winnings, while a loss in their fourth or fifth duel cut their winnings in half. A contestant who won five duels in a row won a total of $500,000. When a contestant chose to leave or won the jackpot, the next two contestants to play were the ones not chosen by the champion for the previous duel.
If both contestants missed a question, the value of the duel was frozen at the previous value; the format of the "shootout" used to determine the winner was identical to the tournament format.
On Friday, May 2, 2008, Gabriel Reilich, an unemployed 24-year-old from Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, and founding member of The Hot Press won 5 duels to claim the $500,000 prize (he had won $75,000 in his four previous duels). Gabriel won on the question, "What Rolling Stone was a student at the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
?" The four choices were Keith Richards
Keith Richards
Keith Richards is an English musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine said Richards had created "rock's greatest single body of riffs", and placed him as the "10th greatest guitarist of all time." Fourteen songs written by Richards and songwriting...
, Charlie Watts
Charlie Watts
Charles Robert "Charlie" Watts is an English drummer, best known as a member of The Rolling Stones. He is also the leader of a jazz band, a record producer, commercial artist, and horse breeder.-Early life:...
, Robert Plant
Robert Plant
Robert Anthony Plant, CBE is an English singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. He has also had a successful solo career...
, and Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
.
Gabriel had only one chip remaining while his opponent, Jennifer Smith, a 23-year old executive assistant from Huntington, West Virginia, had three chips remaining. Gabriel used his one chip to cover Jagger, while Jennifer used hers to cover the other three answers. Jagger was indeed the correct answer, giving Gabriel his fifth duel win. He was the only person to win 5 duels (plus all 4 Max Questions) in a row in this season.
Broadcast history
Duel was created by the Francophone production house FrenchTV, with BermanBraun being the U.S. production firm. It is headed by Lloyd BraunLloyd Braun (media executive)
Lloyd Braun is a television and Internet media executive who currently runs the entertainment firm BermanBraun.-Early life and career:Braun earned his B.A. from Vassar College in 1980, and his law degree from Hastings College of the Law in 1983...
and Gail Berman
Gail Berman
Gail Berman is the former president of entertainment at Fox Broadcasting Company and the former president of Viacom's Paramount Pictures.She graduated from the University of Maryland in 1978...
, both former network executives.
The series first aired from December 17 to December 23, 2007 on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
at 8:00 PM (7:00 Central) from Monday through Friday and its finale on Sunday; for its first four nights, it was up against Clash of the Choirs
Clash of the Choirs
Clash of the Choirs is a reality talent contest miniseries that debuted on NBC in the United States on December 17, 2007. There were four episodes scheduled in the “quick competition”...
on NBC.
Initial reviews were mixed; some praised the show for bringing something different and original to American television, while others derided Greenberg's hosting on the first night and the amount of "padding" the first episode (which was 90 minutes in length) seemed to have. Several critics derided the show for giving contestants "stereotypical" titles, such as "The Fire Captain" and "The Alligator Wrestler".
As the series progressed, however, critics began noticing how several contestants were chosen at random several times in a row, yet were never picked by the on-stage contestant; three contestants didn't play in the tournament at all.
The question of the final duel between Ashlee Register and Robert Elswick for $1.72 million was:
- "Which of these weighs more?" Gallon of water Gallon of crude oil Gallon of vegetable oil They all weigh the same
While Register covered all four answers on her side (later stating that she "didn't want to take a gamble on the first question"), Elswick covered all except the correct answer; when Greenberg asked him about his logic, Elswick eventually realized that oil floats on water and hence is lighter than water, so A was correct.
Season 1
Duels ratings were not as good as its opponent for its first four shows, NBCNBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's Clash of the Choirs
Clash of the Choirs
Clash of the Choirs is a reality talent contest miniseries that debuted on NBC in the United States on December 17, 2007. There were four episodes scheduled in the “quick competition”...
.
| # | Air Date | Viewers (millions) |
Households | Adults 18-49 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rating | Share | Rating | Share | |||
| 1 | December 17, 2007 | 7.68 | 5.0 | 8 | 2.5 | 7 |
| 2 | December 18, 2007 | 7.31 | 4.5 | 7 | 2.4 | 7 |
| 3 | December 19, 2007 | 7.42 | 4.9 | 8 | 2.2 | 6 |
| 4 | December 20, 2007 | 6.45 | 4.2 | 7 | 1.9 | 6 |
| 5 | December 21, 2007 | 6.70 | 4.4 | 8 | 1.7 | 6 |
| 6 | December 23, 2007 | 6.15 | 3.8 | 7 | 1.6 | 4 |
Season 2
Season Two aired on Friday nights at 9:00 PM (8:00 Central). The first two episodes had to compete with CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
' The Price Is Right $1,000,000 Spectacular, which aired at the same time. Also since the season premiere, the show was standing and lagging at sixth place behind The CW's second hour of WWE Friday Night SmackDown and the Univision
Univision
Univision is a Spanish-language television network in the United States. It has the largest audience of Spanish language television viewers according to Nielsen ratings. Randy Falco, COO, has been in charge of the company since the departure of Univision Communications president and CEO Joe Uva...
telenovela Pasíon
Pasion
Pasion was an ancient Greek slave from the 4th century BC. He was owned by the bankers Antisthenes and Archestratus, located at Piraeus, the harbor five miles out of Athens. During his slavery, he quickly rose to chief clerk in charge of a money-changing table at the port , and proved so valuable...
.
| # | Air Date | Viewers (millions) |
Households | Adults 18-49 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rating | Share | Rating | Share | |||
| 7 | April 4, 2008 | 3.93 | 2.5 | 3 | 1.2 | 4 |
| 8 | April 11, 2008 | 3.99 | 2.6 | 5 | 1.2 | 4 |
| 9 | April 18, 2008 | 3.29 | 2.1 | 4 | 0.9 | 3 |
| 10 | April 25, 2008 | 3.73 | 2.4 | 4 | 1.0 | 3 |
| 11 | May 2, 2008 | 3.86 | 2.6 | 5 | 1.0 | 3 |
| 12 | June 27, 2008 | 3.27 | 1.0 | 4 | ||
| 13 | July 4, 2008 | |||||
| 14 | July 11, 2008 | 3.56 | 0.8 | 3 | ||
| 15 | July 18, 2008 | |||||
| 16 | July 25, 2008 | |||||
Hungarian version
The game is produced in Hungary titled Párbaj (Hungarian for Duel), starting on 31 Aug 2009 on TV2TV2 (Hungary)
TV2 is a Hungarian commercial television channel operating since 1997, providing a large variety of programming. It is owned by ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG...
. It is hosted by István Vágó
István Vágó
István Vágó is a Hungarian television host for the Budapest-based TV2, best known as the host of "Legyen ön is Milliomos" the Hungarian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.-Life:...
. It runs on weekdays from 19:05 to 20:15. After each duel, the winner it is given a bonus question with 3 tokens to use. Winnings are determined by the number of duels won and the number of tokens used in the bonus question (as long as the correct answer is chosen). The highest prize is possible after winning 5 duels and its value is 25 million forint
Hungarian forint
The forint is the currency of Hungary. It is divided into 100 fillér, although fillér coins are no longer in circulation. The introduction of the forint on 1 August 1946 was a crucial step of the post-WWII stabilization of the Hungarian economy, and the currency remained relatively stable until...
s. Players have 2 accelerators per duel. The phrase at the beginning of each duel is "En garde!".
A web version of the game is available on TV2's official website.