Set Report: “Who’s Still Standing” Largely Unchanged from Israeli Version

UPDATES: We got some corrected game play information from someone in the audience.  The basic idea is the same.  There are just a few minor things that were messed up in the first version.  The Hero, the central player, gets three Passes to start.  You’ll get a fourth Pass after beating five of the ten other players.  The Hero cannot walk with his or her money until beating five people still.  If any of the ten people beat the Hero, he or she will receive $10,000.  After the Hero loses the remaining contestants play a speed round.  Each attempts to answer a question.  $2,000 is added to the bank for each right answer, but a wrong answer makes you drop.  It goes around the circle until one is left and takes the entire bank.  If it reaches $50,000 the bank is split between the remaining contestants.

Also, the ten values held by the contestants that the Hero wins by beating them may be altered, but they will add up to $100,000 each time.  So it appears that if you want to win anything more than five figures you’re going to have to play until the end.

Set news website Hollywood Junket was recently in the studio for some episodes of NBC’s upcoming Who’s Still Standing.  We’ve posted some videos of the original Israeli version, and we’ve come to learn it’s a fast paced quiz show pitting one person against ten others, all standing on trap doors which open on wrong answers.  Again, it’s nothing personal, but in the past decade or so America hasn’t really been known as a haven for fast paced quizzes.  I’m shocked and somewhat happy to learn that the show has basically stayed the same.

According to HJ, there’s one person dubbed the “Hero” against ten others.  In this version each of the ten people are dressed in costume possibly pertaining to their career.  The Hero must choose any of the ten people to face off against based on their appearance and way they present themselves.  They can be bluffing, though.  The chosen person faces off against the Hero.  Each go back-and-forth answering trivia questions with 20 seconds for each.  The Hero has two passes to use all game if they aren’t sure of the right answer.  However, a wrong answer drops the loser through a hole in the floor.

If the Hero wins, the Hero captures whatever amount of money that challenger had.  It ranges somewhere from $1,000 to $20,000.  After the Hero beats five players, host Ben Bailey will offer to let the contestant leave the game or they can keep playing and get a new pass, plus the ability to learn some facts about any of the contestants.  After that, once the Hero leaves, he or she gets to keep all the money in the jackpot.  However, if the Hero can beat all ten, the Hero wins $1,000,000.

What happens if the Hero loses?  All the  money goes to.  The surviving contestants get to play a speed round next.  They will go around the circle with each player getting 10 seconds to answer a question to add $1,000 to a jackpot.  If you miss you drop.  The single surviving contestant wins the jackpot.  Not bad.

HJ says that Ben Bailey did good, and I can see that.  He does a good job on Cash Cab and really, on something like this, he just needs to fade in the background since there are so many contestants.  That won’t be an issue.  I’m happy they are actually keeping the very fast quiz, which is somewhat shocking for America.  Really, again, the only issue I have is that this has the potential of being very boring for a while.  If the Israeli version is anything to reference, it tends to just drag on occasionally with little excitement, and that shouldn’t happen when the floor is about to fall out from under you.  The reason the comparable drop show, Russian Roulette, was so exciting was because of the randomness.  The revolver stage was one of the most tense things I’ve ever seen in game shows.  This doesn’t seem like the excitement will get going until you get to the final few contestants, and given how game shows work that won’t happen often.

And I think this leads us to, honestly, my biggest complaint.  But it’s not the fault of the American producers or anyone.  It’s the way the show is made.  If you take out the drop, it’s a largely forgettable against-the-clock quiz show.  The drop seems like it was thrown in as an afterthought.  I’m sure it’s scary for the contestant, but we don’t get that feeling watching.  It’s just sort of there.  The game would really lose nothing if contestants just walked off stage.

However, that’s really my only big complaint.  It seems like a fun, quick, tough, and entertaining quiz shows.  We don’t get those very often so I’m looking forward to it.  I’m a sucker for shows with some physicality (that take you from behind the podium) so that’s something also.  Ben sounds good, the game works, it’s got an interesting gimmick, good money, and now we know that the other 10 people don’t get screwed like so many Mob members did on 1 VS 100.  It’s sounding good to me.