The Challengers (game show)

The Challengers
The Challengers opening logo.
Genre	Game show
Created by	Ron Greenberg
Directed by	Morris Abraham, Chris Darley[1]
Presented by	Dick Clark
Judges	Gary Johnson[1]
Narrated by	Don Morrow Bob Hilton (substitute)
Composer(s)	Joel Hirschhorn Al Kasha Michael Lloyd[1]
Country of origin	United States
Production
Location(s)	Hollywood Center Studios Hollywood, California
Running time	approx. 22-24 minutes
Production company(s)	Ron Greenberg Productions Dick Clark Productions
Distributor	Buena Vista Television
Release
Original network	Syndicated
Original release	September 3, 1990 – August 30, 1991

The Challengers is an American game show that aired in syndication from September 3, 1990 until August 30, 1991. The show remained in production for its entire run on the air, differing from most syndicated game shows which usually wrapped in the early summer.

The series was created by Ron Greenberg and was based largely on his 1969 production, The Who, What, or Where Game. Dick Clark presided over the show with Don Morrow announcing. The Challengers was a joint production of Ron Greenberg Productions and Dick Clark Productions, with Buena Vista Television as distributor.

Gameplay

Three contestants, one a returning champion, competed.

Challengers Sprint Round

The players were each spotted $200 to start the round, and Clark asked a series of toss-up questions for which players had to buzz in. Correct answers added $100 to a player's score, while incorrect answers deducted $100 and took the question out of play for the other two players.

In early episodes, the rules were slightly different; players were not given any money at the outset, and if one player missed a question, either opponent could buzz in to answer it.

The round ended after 60 seconds, and the player in the lead gained initial control for the first round. If two players were tied, one final Sprint question was asked, with a correct answer or an incorrect answer by an opponent gaining control.

This round was briefly removed partway through the run in favor of a single toss-up question, with the contestant who answered correctly scoring $100 and control of the Round 1 board. However, after only a short time with this format, the Sprint later returned.

Round 1

Six categories, each containing three questions, were displayed on a video wall. The contestant in the lead after the Challengers Sprint (or the one who answered the single toss-up correctly when the Sprint was not in use) chose one to begin the round. The contestants were then given clues to the subjects of the three questions, valued at $150, $200, and $250 in order of increasing difficulty (later reduced to $100, $150, and $200). Correct answers added the value of the question to the contestant's score, while incorrect answers subtracted the same value.

Each contestant secretly chose one of the three questions using buttons on their podiums, and their choices affected the gameplay as follows:

• Each contestant chose a different question. The three questions were asked in increasing order of value, with each contestant answering his/her own question.
• Two contestants chose one question; the third contestant chose a different one. The two questions were asked in increasing order of value. The solo contestant had to answer his/her own question, while the two who chose the same question used their buzzers. If the first contestant of the two who chose the same question answered incorrectly, the other could either pass or try to answer.
• All three contestants chose the same question. All three question values were immediately doubled, and the chosen question was asked as a toss-up open to all three contestants. The same toss-up rules as above applied. A contestant who answered correctly could either end the category or attempt either of the remaining two questions unopposed. Correctly answering this second question again gave the contestant the option to stop or try the third question. An incorrect answer on either the second or third question subtracted its doubled value from the contestant's score and ended the category.

In each case, the category was eliminated from play and the last contestant to give a correct answer chose the next one. Play continued until all six categories were played or time ran out.

Round 2

Six new categories were introduced and play continued as described above, with all question values doubled ($300/$400/$500, later $200/$300/$400).

As in Round One, play continued until all six categories were played or time ran out. Any players who finished the round with a zero or negative score were eliminated from the game.

Final Challenge

One final category was presented, with three questions. The difficulty of the individual questions determined the payout odds for that question. The easiest question paid off at even odds, the harder question paid off at 2:1 and the hardest paid off at 3:1. The players were then given fifteen seconds to choose a question and decide how much of their score they wanted to wager. As before, if all three players chose different questions, each player got a chance to play their own question. However, if two or all three players chose the same question, only the player with the highest wager got to answer it. Correctly answering won the value of the wager multiplied by the odds, while an incorrect answer only deducted the value of the wager.

In the event that only one player was left to play the Final Challenge, he/she could either play the round or skip it entirely. If the player decided to play the round, he/she chose one of the three questions and wagered a portion of his/her score. A correct answer paid off the wager at the appropriate odds, and the player could then stop or continue with a different questions. Play continued in this fashion until the player either chose to stop, answered all three questions, or gave an incorrect answer to any question.

The player in the lead after this round won the game and returned as champion the next day, although all contestants kept what they had earned. Each contestant had a Citibank Visa account (later, they could choose a MasterCard) opened in their name before the show started and any money they won was deposited into that account. Contestants could also choose to receive their winnings in cash rather than open the account.^[2]

Champions remained on the show until they were defeated.

Ultimate Challenge

The Challengers featured a bonus round in which champions could win thousands of dollars. This round, the Ultimate Challenge, was played in two different formats during the show's run.

Format #1

When the Ultimate Challenge was introduced, it was a game played for an accumulating cash jackpot.

The champion had to qualify for the round by winning three consecutive matches, and would them play the round at the start of the next program. A choice of two categories was available, each containing three questions. The questions each focused on a different subject within the category and were arranged in order of increasing difficulty.

After the champion chose a category, Clark would inform him/her of the subjects of the questions and would ask them one at a time. Following each question, the champion was given five seconds to think before responding. Giving an incorrect answer at any point ended the round, while correctly answering all three questions won the jackpot.

Initially, the jackpot began at $50,000 and was to increase by $5,000 every time a champion played for it and did not win. The champion on the pilot episode, Doak Fairey, was allowed to play the Ultimate Challenge; this was the only instance of a champion not needing three victories to qualify. Fairey failed to win, resulting in the jackpot increasing to $55,000 for the show's official debut. He was defeated before he could win a third game and re-qualify, and no champion won three games during the first two weeks of episodes. Beginning with the week of September 17, 1990, the rules were modified to increase the jackpot by $1,000 per day it went unclaimed and to reset it to $25,000 after it was won. Larry Caplan became the first Ultimate Challenge winner on September 24, collecting a $60,000 jackpot.

When an Ultimate Challenge was played, the first round of that episode was shortened to end after three of its six categories had been played.

Format #2

Beginning with the November 21 episode, the Ultimate Challenge was reworked into a daily bonus round played for an additional $10,000 in cash.

This time, the champion did not have a choice of categories to start the round. Instead, a predetermined category was played and the champion was asked one question in that category. The question could, and often did, feature multiple answers and the champion had to answer all parts of the question correctly in order to win the money.

The Ultimate Challenge was eventually done away with, with the round scrapped sometime in either February or March 1991.^[3]

Tournaments

Tournament of Champions

For the first two months that The Challengers was on the air, contestants were not only competing to win money but were also trying to earn spots in the show's Tournament of Champions. The tournament was conducted the week of November 12, 1990.

The field for the tournament was set at nine, with the highest money winners over the first two months invited to compete. One of the spots was given to Stanley Newman, who had been the show's champion for two days at the time the tournament began; his total winnings in his two victories were enough to make him the final qualifier.

The tournament structure was similar to the one employed by Jeopardy! during tournaments. The nine players faced off on the first three days of the tournament, with the three winners playing a two-day cumulative score final. All three players kept whatever they earned in the two games, with the tournament winner earning an additional $25,000.

Newman won the tournament and over $40,000. When regular play resumed on November 19, Newman recorded his third consecutive victory and played for a $31,000 Ultimate Challenge the next day. By winning that, he became the all-time top winning contestant in the series and also topped $100,000 in winnings. By the time he was defeated, Newman had won $112,480 in cash. He was the only champion to reach six figures.

Teachers Tournament

Nine teachers competed, using the same format as the Tournament of Champions; $10,000 was awarded to the winner.

Invitational Tournament

The Challengers invited nine more champions back for a second tournament of champions, which was held the week of March 18, 1991. The Challengers Invitational Tournament was conducted the same way that the Tournament of Champions was, with a two-day cumulative score final determining the champion and a cash bonus of $10,000 awarded to the winner on top of what they had earned in the two-day final. Lorin Burt won the Tournament by recording a total of $34,600 in the final, and with the $10,000 bonus added to that and the $46,075 he won in his reign as champion, he finished with over $90,000 in cash.

Questions

Many questions were related to current events, an aspect that the producers saw as a selling point.^[4] Episodes were taped shortly before their airdate, which was prominently displayed in the opening and on a screen behind Clark; generally, a week of episodes were taped on the Friday of the previous week, which allowed such categories as "This Week On TV" and "Today At The Movies" to be used frequently.

Most of the current event questions and answers were taken from, or verified by, Newsweek; this was announced on-air at the midpoint of each episode.

The series was also unique in its payout structure: contestants received their winnings on a Citibank Mastercard or Visa credit card, although Dick referenced in some episodes that contestants had the option of converting the balance to cash.

References

External links

• The Challengers at the Internet Movie Database