She plays rough

Anne Robinson disses and dismisses the contestants on the British version of The Weakest Link. Now NBC is bringing the show, and her, to the U.S. Will her style prove too intense for American audiences?

By ERIC DEGGANS

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 15, 2001

[Photo: NBC] Columnist and consumer reporter Anne Robinson is the taskmaster of all she surveys as host on NBC’s new show The Weakest Link.

Believe the acres of promotional ads NBC has aired for its newest foray into game show/reality TV, The Weakest Link, and you might think host Anne Robinson is more likely to be roasting dogs alive than caring for them.

So it's surprising to note the vociferous participation of Robinson's two English setters in a recent interview, prompting their owner to take a brief break and let them back inside her home in Gloucestershire, England, to quiet the din.

Indeed, the 56-year-old newspaper columnist and former TV consumer reporter cuts a different figure in person than the patrician, bespectacled taskmaster shown in NBC's deluge of advertisements.

She won't even admit to insulting contestants during her show.

"I take issue with (the word) "insulting'," says Robinson, who once told a player, "You are quite honestly the most stupid person I have ever met," according to NBC's Web site.

"It's like anyone sitting at home shouting at the television . . . encouraging (contestants) . . . giving them the benefit of their wisdom," she adds. "(Viewers are) sitting at home saying, "You must know the capital of Italy if you're a geography teacher.' I just do it on the viewers' behalf."

Um, right. One suspects Robinson has her game face on for the TV critics she's schmoozing before The Weakest Link's Monday premiere.

For those who've somehow remained uninformed, The Weakest Link is the latest game show to travel across the pond from England, where Robinson is already a bona fide media star.

It's a TV executive's dream: a game show formatted like Who Wants to be a Millionaire that includes Survivor's taste for backstabbing and intrigue.

During a series of fast-paced quiz rounds, nine players answer the trivia questions Robinson poses, with each correct answer boosting the winnings pot. There are eight rounds, worth a maximum of $125,000 each, which means winnings could reach that magic $1-million total.

But an incorrect answer reduces the round's dollar amount to zero (unless a player yells "bank" before the question is completed). Contestants must eject one person each round.

Of course, Robinson heaps "encouragement" on the players who did badly: "Is there no end to your ignorance?" she asked one contestant. To another, she said, "This is a general knowledge game, not a home for the bewildered."

Once ousted, the ejected ones must amble down a "Walk of Shame" -- a lighted catwalk leading to a TV camera, where they deliver post-mortem comments along the lines of Survivor's exit interviews. Robinson dismisses each player with the curt catchphrase, "You are the weakest link. Goodbye."

It's a formula that has made The Weakest Link the top challenger to Millionaire's ratings crown in Britain. But even though this show has all the elements of TV success -- charismatic host, tight formula, British pedigree -- one question remains.

Will American TV audiences get it?

"I think it's quite socky at times, ironic and sardonic," Robinson says. "American audiences strike me as being more articulate and far less reserved than in Britain. So I'm looking forward to that."

But that difference between America and Britain could signal Link's downfall. As some experts point out, the English seem to have a different relationship from Americans to stern authority.

"In England, they're used to getting on their knees to authority, while we rebel," says Stuart Fischoff, a professor of media psychology at California State University. "The show seems to have a dominatrix kind of quality to it. She really is sadistic . . . and her words are her lashes."

It's all part of network television's reality TV escalation, where new shows get more intense to hook viewers weaned on Survivor and Temptation Island.

"It's going to be more sexual, sadistic or outgoing . . . whatever appeals to people's prurient interests," Fischoff adds. "You can only take so much Eco-Challenge and Survivor, then people go back to the lurid."

When producers decided to import Millionaire from Britain, they kept its formula intact -- right down to the sweeping lights and ominous background music.

But they made one significant change: English host Chris Tarrant, known for needling contestants, was replaced by cheerleader Regis Philbin -- who was on his best behavior when the show made its debut in 1999.

"We've proven, through our loyalty to Survivor, that we can accept mean people as contestants," notes Steve Beverly, a professor of broadcasting at Union University in Jackson, Tenn., and an expert on game shows. "But when the hook is to see how much abuse the contestants can take and still win $1-million? I don't think our culture will accept that."

The show's 13-episode run has more at stake than filling a spot on NBC's Monday night schedule. With Hollywood growing more certain that writers and actors will strike this summer, a strong performance by Weakest Link offers one more series that can produce new episodes even if the unions walk.

All the advertisements NBC aired during blockbuster shows such as The West Wing, Frasier and ER virtually guarantee big ratings for the debut. But the true test will come in the weeks that follow.

Robinson -- who will take a break from her consumer TV show Watchdog and a side job as a columnist for the Times of London to record Weakest Link shows for both America and Britain -- is confident of success.

And even though Survivor winner Richard Hatch auditioned to host a syndicated version of Weakest Link, she says NBC never considered hiring anyone but her to do the prime time version -- making her the first woman to host a network game show in quite a long time.

"Perhaps the things I say come better out of a female mouth," said Robinson, noting she will retain her trademark, severe black pantsuits and what she calls "non-assisted" red hair (which, combined with big eyeglasses, make her a dead ringer for trash talk host Sally Jessy Raphael).

Assuming it lasts long enough for NBC to develop a celebrity edition Weakest Link, who would Robinson like a chance to insult? "I'd very much like the entire cast of The West Wing (Robinson shows her savvy by naming only NBC series stars, of course) . . . or perhaps Hillary and Bill Clinton or Bush Jr.," she says. "I think that would be good if we had Clinton and Bush, don't you think?"

While your mind reels at that possibility, she recalls one of the show's biggest scandals: when a contestant claiming to be a housewife and media consultant was unmasked as a high-priced call girl.

"Since there aren't enough media studies jobs to go around, I suppose it's quite encouraging she found other work," Robinson notes, loosing an impish cackle you're not likely to hear on The Weakest Link anytime soon. "Shows our education system here in England is still working, I suppose."

TV PREVIEW:

The Weakest Link premieres Monday on WFLA-Ch. 8, 8-9 p.m., and continues on Tuesday, 9:30-10:30 p.m., and Wednesday, 10-11 p.m.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.