Critical Log 1 1 Anne van Zantwijk

The Weakest Link BBC Two

Episode: 18th February 2013

Backstage video footage of nine contestants getting to know each other: that is what we see in the black-and-white introduction video of the game show The Weakest Link. According to the male voice-over the contestants prepare for todays show, where only one of them will win up to ten thousand pounds. They have to work as a team to earn money by answering general knowledge questions in a short period of time. When each round ends, they have to vote which player is the weakest link and has to leave the team. At first sight, this looks like a regular game show. But there is one aspect that is not very common in the average game show and makes The Weakest Link special, and that is the role of the hostess. The position she has in the game and her way of interacting with the contestants are worth a close analysis. The nine participants of todays show stand in a circle, each of them standing behind an allocated desk with their name on it. They all surround their host, adjudicator and master: Anne Robinson. She is standing on a platform, able to keep an eye on every single one of the contestants. There is no studio audience: it is just Robinson and the nine unfortunates. This is the only interaction possible in de studio during the whole game: they are at the mercy of their host. Robinson lets the contestants introduces themselves, standing in a blue spotlight that matches the cold, blue lighting colours of the whole set. After that, the game begins. It is all about making a chain of right answers in only one minute and thirty seconds, and the contestants have to bank as much money as possible. If they dont succeed, they will certainly hear it from their master. Robinson asks them about their job again (which indicates that she did not pay any attention to the introduction talks at the beginning), and begins to disparage the one who had the most questions wrong in a very belittling way. Where contestants in other game shows receive a warm welcome from a supporting and friendly host, these nine people are worth nothing in the eyes of Robinson. She is standing in the middle, giving a cold and ruthless impression from the first time the viewer sees her on the screen. Her appearance is fierce and makes sure she comes across as strict and intimidating, made strong by her black garment, her short red hair, her school-teacher-like glasses and dark

red lipstick. She is doing everything she can to make the contestants uncomfortable, to say the least. In her article Whats my line?, Rosalind Blunt is talking about the way gender is presented in game shows (1984). Shes focussing on the game show Whats my line? that had a revival in the 1980s, so her analysis is not fully applicable on the present-day show The Weakest Link. But she does recognise that gender has a proper place to where a show always returns (Blunt n.pag). For example, women are always the ones to make sexist jokes about. In The Weakest Link, a very strong woman is taking over control, in a very serious and unstoppable way. Nobody is seeing her as a typical dumb or charming female stereotype. Robinson is in charge, which is recognisable in Bill Lewis text TV Games: People as Performers (1984). Hes talking about hierarchical structures in game shows, and about how the physical positioning of the participants indicates elements of control (Lewis n.pag). She is standing on a platform in the middle of the set, has access to all the questions and answers and plays for jury when she decides whether a question is answered correctly or not. She is presented as the omniscient leader, both in doing and in physical presence. This is in conflict with Lewis analysis that game shows adopt and confirm societys sexual myths that the female host always has some kind of assisting and subordinate role, whereas the white male is the real leader of the game (Lewis n.pag). Anne Robinson is the one who makes The Weakest Link different from all the other game shows that are broadcasted. She makes sure that the vibe in the studio is tense. Without her (or without the character she is playing), The Weakest Link would not have the power it has now. Not the winning contestant is the one who is the strongest link in the game, the host is.

Critical Log 1 3 Anne van Zantwijk

Reference List Blunt, R. Whats My Line? in Masterman, L. (ed.) Television Mythologies. Comedia. 1984. Lewis, B. TV Games: People as Performers, Masterman, L. (ed.) Television Mythologies. Comedia. 1984. The Weakest Link. 18/02/2013. BBC One. 20 February 2013.