Maailman ympäri
Encyclopedia
Maailman ympäri was a Finnish
quiz show
shown on YLE TV1
from 2000 to 2004.
The show was hosted by Finnish TV presenter Simo Frangén
and had a geography
theme. The main prize was a trip around the world (hence the name). The second prize was a luxury week-end trip in a randomly-selected Europe
an country. Prizes below this level were much cheaper.
Maailman ympäri had four contestants. Usually, two were men and two were women, and likewise two were celebrities and two were ordinary people. (The sex division and the celebrity division only very rarely correlated.)
, the second from America (comprising both North and South America), the third from Africa
and the fourth from Asia
(also encompassing Australia
and Oceania
).
Frangén asked a question with a numerical answer (for example "How much...?") about each country in turn, and each contestant made a guess. The contestant whose guess was the closest got half a point. Upon reaching a full point, the contestant moved to round two.
When only one contestant was left in round one, he/she dropped out, and round one was over.
Frangén again randomly selected one country from each of the four continents. Each contestant picked one country. (One country was left over.)
In turn, each contestant picked an empty square and Frangén asked him/her a true-or-false question about that particular aspect of his/her chosen country. If the answer was right, the contestant got an X in the square and got to try another question. If the answer was wrong, the contestant got an O in the square and the turn passed on to the next contestant.
Having three Xs in a row got the contestant to round three. Having three Os in a row, or being the last one left, dropped the contestant out of the game.
Frangén went through all four countries in turn, giving both contestants still left five clues about it, starting difficult with five points and then becoming easier and worth less points. Contestants wrote their guesses at each clue down in a list.
After the fifth clue, the country's name was revealed, and both contestants scored for every right guess as many points as the clue's level indicated. After the fourth country, the contestant with more points got to round four.
Round four was timed with a one-minute time limit. Frangén began at the bottom of the stack, asking a multiple-choice question with three choices about the country. A right answer moved up the stack, a wrong answer moved down the stack.
Getting the Africa question right allowed the contestant two possible routes: Continue as normal or try a "one-shot" question. If the contestant chose the one-shot option, the time limit was abandoned, and Frangén asked a multiple-choice question with two choices about the Asian country. Getting the answer wrong dropped the contestant out straight away, instead of moving down the stack.
Getting the Asia question right earned the contestant the main prize of a trip around the world. Getting the "one-shot" question wrong or exceeding the time limit earned him/her a second prize of a week-end trip to a randomly selected European country.
s in the show. Their form was always the same but the details varied.
Some of the running gags included:
At the end of the show, Frangén always finished with these exact words: "Minä olen teidän matkaoppaanne Simo Frangén, ja minä en lähde matkalle maailman ympäri. Minä lähden Tampereelle! Moi!" ("I am your travel guide Simo Frangén, and I am not going on a trip around the world. I am going to Tampere! Bye!"). This is funny because Tampere is Frangén's hometown (not native, but he has lived there for many years), and everyone in Finland knows this.
. The object of the game, which was entirely a game of chance, was to guess the numbers of the countries chosen on the show.
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
quiz show
Quiz Show
Quiz Show is a 1994 American historical drama film produced and directed by Robert Redford. Adapted by Paul Attanasio from Richard Goodwin's memoir Remembering America, the film is based upon the Twenty One quiz show scandal of the 1950s...
shown on YLE TV1
YLE TV1
YLE TV1 is a Finnish television channel owned and operated by Finnish public broadcaster Yleisradio. It is the first and oldest Television channel in Finland. More than 70% of channel's programs are documentaries, news or educative programmes...
from 2000 to 2004.
The show was hosted by Finnish TV presenter Simo Frangén
Simo Frangén
Simo Juhani Frangén is a Finnish TV presenter and humourist, living in Tampere.- History :Frangén matriculated in 1982 and graduated as a Master of Social Sciences at the University of Tampere in 1990...
and had a geography
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
theme. The main prize was a trip around the world (hence the name). The second prize was a luxury week-end trip in a randomly-selected Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an country. Prizes below this level were much cheaper.
Maailman ympäri had four contestants. Usually, two were men and two were women, and likewise two were celebrities and two were ordinary people. (The sex division and the celebrity division only very rarely correlated.)
Rules
Maailman ympäri consisted of four rounds, during each of which one contestant was dropped out.Round one
Round one had numerical questions. There were four questions, each one about a different country. The countries were randomly selected with the first being from EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, the second from America (comprising both North and South America), the third from Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
and the fourth from Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
(also encompassing Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and Oceania
Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
).
Frangén asked a question with a numerical answer (for example "How much...?") about each country in turn, and each contestant made a guess. The contestant whose guess was the closest got half a point. Upon reaching a full point, the contestant moved to round two.
When only one contestant was left in round one, he/she dropped out, and round one was over.
Round two
Round two was a game of noughts and crosses. All three contestants had a 3-by-3 grid of squares, initially empty. The squares were labelled with different aspects of a country.Frangén again randomly selected one country from each of the four continents. Each contestant picked one country. (One country was left over.)
In turn, each contestant picked an empty square and Frangén asked him/her a true-or-false question about that particular aspect of his/her chosen country. If the answer was right, the contestant got an X in the square and got to try another question. If the answer was wrong, the contestant got an O in the square and the turn passed on to the next contestant.
Having three Xs in a row got the contestant to round three. Having three Os in a row, or being the last one left, dropped the contestant out of the game.
Round three
In round three, Frangén also randomly selected one country from each continent, but this time did not reveal their names. The object of round three was to guess the names of the countries.Frangén went through all four countries in turn, giving both contestants still left five clues about it, starting difficult with five points and then becoming easier and worth less points. Contestants wrote their guesses at each clue down in a list.
After the fifth clue, the country's name was revealed, and both contestants scored for every right guess as many points as the clue's level indicated. After the fourth country, the contestant with more points got to round four.
Round four
In round four, Frangén also randomly selected one country from each continent. The countries were placed in a stack with Europe lowest and Asia highest.Round four was timed with a one-minute time limit. Frangén began at the bottom of the stack, asking a multiple-choice question with three choices about the country. A right answer moved up the stack, a wrong answer moved down the stack.
Getting the Africa question right allowed the contestant two possible routes: Continue as normal or try a "one-shot" question. If the contestant chose the one-shot option, the time limit was abandoned, and Frangén asked a multiple-choice question with two choices about the Asian country. Getting the answer wrong dropped the contestant out straight away, instead of moving down the stack.
Getting the Asia question right earned the contestant the main prize of a trip around the world. Getting the "one-shot" question wrong or exceeding the time limit earned him/her a second prize of a week-end trip to a randomly selected European country.
Jokes and catchphrases
Frangén employed a series of running gagRunning gag
A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling....
s in the show. Their form was always the same but the details varied.
Some of the running gags included:
- When introducing the second round, Frangén generally said: "In the second round, we play noughts & crosses. Because everyone knows the rules, I have time left to...", following with a varying activity, which lasted for a minute or so.
- When introducing the third round, Frangén generally said: "In the third round, the question is", followed by a question that had nothing whatsoever to do with the third round, or the entire game show, for that matter. Frangén then looked smug for a second or two, then became all apologetic, saying: "No, sorry! I meant that the question is, which countries are we talking about?"
- Finnish state law requires an official supervisor to be present at the actual draw event of a lottery game. Many shows had these prominently present, but Maailman ympäri was the only show where the interaction between the host and the supervisor went beyond a nominal "Hello" or "Good evening". Frangén proposed some crazy alternative way to handle the draw, which the supervisor refused. Frangén then offered a "compromise", which meant handling the draw as normal. This the supervisor accepted.
- In the last episode of the show, the supervisor actually accepted Frangén's crazy idea. Frangén then chickened out and refused to put his own idea to action, instead doing the draw the same way he had always done.
At the end of the show, Frangén always finished with these exact words: "Minä olen teidän matkaoppaanne Simo Frangén, ja minä en lähde matkalle maailman ympäri. Minä lähden Tampereelle! Moi!" ("I am your travel guide Simo Frangén, and I am not going on a trip around the world. I am going to Tampere! Bye!"). This is funny because Tampere is Frangén's hometown (not native, but he has lived there for many years), and everyone in Finland knows this.
Lottery game
The show was accompanied by a lottery game with the same name in co-operation with VeikkausVeikkaus
Veikkaus Oy is the Finnish national betting agency. It is entirely owned by the Finnish government and has a legal betting license on lotteries and sports betting in Finland. Veikkaus is managed by the Finnish Ministry of Education. Ministry of Education share money earned by Veikkaus with various...
. The object of the game, which was entirely a game of chance, was to guess the numbers of the countries chosen on the show.