De zwakste schakel (Netherlands, 2001—04)

Netherlands
Name	De zwakste schakel
Host	Chazia Mourali
TV station	RTL 4
Top prize	€10,000
First air date	May 6, 2001
Final air date	May 7, 2004
No. of series	6
No. of episodes	139 (List of Episodes)
Episode duration	approx. 45 minutes
Broadcast format	576i SDTV
Air schedule	Fridays and Sundays at 8—10:00 PM CEST
Catchphrase	Jij bent de zwakste schakel. Tot ziens!
Language	Dutch

De zwakste schakel (translated: The Weakest Link) was the Dutch version of The Weakest Link based on the original British format. It was presented by Chazia Mourali and aired for six series on RTL 4 from May 6, 2001 until May 7, 2004. The top prize was 10,000 euros.

Episodes

Series	No. of episodes	Original broadcast	Timeslot
1	16	May 6 — June 29, 2001	Fridays and Sundays at 10:00 PM CEST
2	34	September 1 — December 30, 2001	Fridays and Sundays at 8:00 PM CEST
3	34	February 8 — June 28, 2002	Fridays and Sundays at 9:30 PM CEST
4	~34	September 1 — c. December 2002	Fridays and Sundays at 9:30 PM CEST (September — c. November 2002) Sundays at 9:30 PM CEST (c. November — December 2002)
5	~14	c. February — c. March 2003	Sundays at c. 8:00 PM CEST
6	7	March 19 — May 7, 2004	Fridays at 9:30 PM CEST

• After the fifth series ended in early 2003, repeats of episodes from series 4 and 5 aired in the summer of 2003. After the sixth series concluded in May 2004, episodes from series 4 through 6 were repeated on a daily basis throughout the summer of 2004 until the final broadcast on August 27, 2004.

Money chain

Question	Prize (Euro, Series 1—6)
	Rounds 1—8 (Series 1—6)	Round 7 (Series 2)
9	1 000	4 000
8	800	3 200
7	600	2 400
6	450	1 800
5	300	1 200
4	200	800
3	100	400
2	50	200
1	20	80

• During the second series, the show briefly changed the rules by eliminating the eighth round and inserting the penultimate round into round seven, and a new money chain was created to quadruple the stakes of 4,000 euros.

Rules of the format

The rules did not differ from the original British format.

Each game begins with nine players who just met; they must answer enough questions correctly to reach each round's target of 1,000 euros within the time limit.

The fastest method was to create a chain of nine 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 3 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 triple the stakes of 3,000 euros.

The first question is directed to the player whose name appears first alphabetically. 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.

During the later series in 2002, when the scores are tied in the final round, new questions are added in pairs until a winner is found, effectively eliminating sudden death.

During the second series, the format's rules were briefly changed in September 2001, when production removed the eighth round from the game, making the seventh round the penultimate round. This gave the final three contestants two minutes to quadruple their stakes of 4,000 euros. Following the final vote, the last two contestants advance directly to the final round. After three shows, the show reversed the rule change at the request of the BBC.

On-screen graphics

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

• Throughout the show's run, the full opening titles were not used; by the second series, it had been cut down to just five seconds of screen time.

• By the fifth show, producers altered the layout of the money chain graphic due to the TV station logo blocking the €1,000 graphic on the top left corner of the screen.

• In the second series, the green room segment during the introduction changed the color filter from black and white to blue.

• In the second series, the physical backdrop during the contestants' interview segments was replaced with a digital backdrop via green screen.

Opening titles

Original money chain

Money chain

Money chain (3-player penultimate round)

Post-game interview (series 2)

Post-game interview (series 4)

Total prize

Final round (series 1—2)

Final round (series 3—6)

Sudden death (final round)

Closing credits (Series 1)

Closing titles (series 1)

Closing titles (series 2)

Closing credits (series 3—5)

Closing titles (series 3)

Closing titles (series 6)

Closing titles (series 6)

Soundtrack

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

• When a winner is determined, the end credits soundtrack is followed, not the winner's theme.

• By the second series, the Walk of Shame soundtrack plays during the closing credits, after the host closes the game.

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. Tot ziens! (You are the weakest link. See you later!)
• Tot de volgende keer, met de zwakste schakel. Tot ziens! (Until next time, The Weakest Link. See you later!)

Trivia

• Before the euro became the nation's official currency in 2002, a contestant's winnings were also listed in guilder equivalents.