Weakest Link (Australia, 2021—22)

Australia
Name	Weakest Link
Host	Magda Szubanski
TV station	Nine Network TVNZ 1 (New Zealand)
Top prize	$250,000
First air date	May 25, 2021
Final air date	February 1, 2022
No. of series	2 1 series special
No. of episodes	14 (list of episodes) 4 specials
Episode duration	approx. 45 minutes
Broadcast format	1080i HDTV
Air schedule	Tuesdays at 9:00-9:20 PM AEST (E01–05, E06–E07) Tuesdays at 8:40-8:50 PM AEST (E08–E10)
Catchphrase	You are the Weakest Link, goodbye!
Language	English

Weakest Link was the Australian revival version of The Weakest Link, based on the revival format. It was presented by Magda Szubanski and aired for two series on Channel 9 from May 25, 2021, until February 1, 2022. The top prize was 250,000 Australian dollars.

Money Chain

Question Number	Round Number
	1	2	3	4	5	6
8	$10,000	$15,000	$20,000	$30,000	$75,000	$100,000
7	$5,000	$7,500	$10,000	$15,000	$50,000	$75,000
6	$3,000	$5,000	$7,500	$10,000	$25,000	$50,000
5	$1,500	$3,000	$5,000	$7,500	$15,000	$25,000
4	$750	$1,500	$2,500	$5,000	$7,500	$10,000
3	$500	$1,000	$1,500	$2,500	$5,000	$5,000
2	$250	$500	$700	$1,000	$1,500	$2,500
1	$100	$200	$250	$500	$750	$1,000

Rules of the format

The rules did not differ from the revival format.

Each game begins with eight players who just met; they must answer enough questions correctly to reach each round's target within the time limit, ranging from 10,000 to 100,000 Australian dollars.

The fastest method was to create a chain of eight correct answers. If a player presses their button and 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 three players remained. The penultimate round before the final gave the three players one minute and forty seconds for the stakes of 100,000 Australian dollars.

The first question is directed to the player in the first position. 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 pressing their buttons 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 Australian revival version used the on-screen graphics provided by BBC Studios and from scratch.

Opening titles

Alternate titles

Money chain (round one)

Money chain (round two)

Money chain (round three)

Money chain (round four)

Money chain (round five)

Money chain (round six)

Visual question

Walk of shame

Total prize

Final round

Grand prize

Closing credits

Closing titles

Soundtrack

The Australian revival had several soundtrack variations created for the majority of the revival format soundtrack.

Catchphrases

During the first series, when Magda said "the weakest link," an echo effect was used; this was later removed in the second series, most likely due to complaints.

• Welcome to the Weakest Link!
• It's time to play the Weakest Link!
• It's time to vote off the Weakest Link!
• You are the Weakest Link! Goodbye!

Trivia

• The series was the first to feature a host sitting in a seat while hosting the game.

• Weeks before the series' premiere, host Magda Szubanski spoke out on television about her controversial tweet about Jenny Morrison, the wife of then Prime Minister Scott Morrison. This incident may have contributed to the show's three-week delay from originally premiering on May 4th, 2021.

• The late Cornelia Frances' son slammed the revival for making such a horrible comparison. I recall: "My mum would be rolling her eyes from heaven; it will never be the same."