De zwakste schakel (Belgium)

Belgium (Flanders)
Name	De zwakste schakel
Host	Goedele Liekens
TV station	VTM
Top prize	2,000,000BEF
First air date	August 29, 2001
Final air date	c. December 2001
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	14
Episode duration	approx. 45 minutes
Broadcast format	576i SDTV
Air schedule	E1 - Wednesday at 9:00 PM CET E2-14 - Wednesdays at 9:15 PM CET
Catchphrase	Jij bent de zwakste schakel. Salut! (You are the weakest link. Bye!)
Language	Flemish

De zwakste schakel (translated: The Weakest Link) was the Belgium-Flemish version of The Weakest Link based on the original British format. It was presented by Goedele Liekens and aired for one series on VTM from August 29 until c. December 2001. The top prize was 2,000,000 Belgian francs.

Money chain

Question	Price (fr.)
	Series 1
8	250 000
7	150 000
6	100 000
5	50 000
4	20 000
3	10 000
2	5 000
1	2 000

Rules of the format

The rules did not differ from the original British format.

Each game begins with eight players who just met; they must answer enough questions correctly to reach each round's target of 250,000 Belgian francs within the time limit.

The fastest method was to create a chain of eight correct answers. If a player fails to answer a question by giving a wrong answer, passing, etc., the chain will start over. If a player says "bank" before their question is asked, the prize money, which increases with each correct answer, is added to the round's bank, and the chain begins again. The final round's prize will be equal to the total amount of money banked in each round.

The first round lasted for 2 and a half minutes; the following rounds were shortened by ten seconds until two players remained. The penultimate round before the final gave the two players one minute and thirty seconds for double the stakes of 500,000 Belgian francs.

The first question is directed to the player whose name appears first in the Belgian alphabet. In the following rounds, the first question is directed to the player who statistically performed the best in the previous round as "the strongest link."

At the end of each round, the team votes to determine who to remove as "the weakest link," which is then revealed by flipping their boards in the following order. The player who holds the majority of votes will be subsequently voted off; if there is a tie, the player who was statistically "the strongest link" that round will cast the final vote in the tiebreaker.

In the final round, the strongest link from the previous round will determine the direction of the first question, and each player will be asked five questions until a winner is determined. If there is a tie, the game moves to a sudden death round, in which contestants are given questions in pairs, and the first to correctly answer a question over their opponent's incorrect answer wins.

On-screen graphics

• The production company for the Belgian-Flemish version used the on-screen graphics provided by JUMP in partnership with BBC Studios Entertainment Productions and from scratch.

Opening titles

Money chain

Total prize

Final round

Closing credits

Closing titles

Soundtrack

The soundtrack did not differ much from the original British format.

• Each segment of an episode preceding a commercial break ended with the main sting, since the original format did not have commercial breaks.

• When a winner is determined, the general bed is followed, not the winner's theme.

• A short sting is used when the presenter turns to face the camera just before ending the show.

Catchphrases

• Welkom bij de zwakste schakel! (Welcome to the Weakest Link!)
• We spelen de zwakste schakel! (We are playing the weakest link!)
• Wie is de zwakste schakel! (Who is the weakest link!)
• Jij bent de zwakste schakel. Salut! (You are the weakest link. Bye!)
• En volgende week is er opnieuw een aflevering van de zwakste schakel, salut! (And next week there is another episode of the weakest link, bye!)

Trivia

• To boost ratings, the producers decided to have Goedele wear glasses in later shows. When asked what she thought about wearing glasses on set, Goedele, who does not wear glasses, said that it was difficult for her to read the screen while wearing glasses and had to read under her glasses instead.

• The Belgium-Flemish version is the second format to be distributed in Dutch and was released three months after RTL 4 released De zwakste schakel in the Netherlands.

• The first series ended after 14 episodes in 2001, but it was not renewed for a second season due to a steady decline in ratings, and the host resigned. Goedele later said that she was not happy while presenting the show and decided to pursue other projects.

Gallery

(September 2001)

Episode 2 (September 2001)

(October 2001)