Unlike the hugely popular series hosted by Anne Robinson this version is yet another celebrity quiz show. Many of the usual suspects will be taking part including Gemma Collins, Christopher Biggins, Richard Coles, Clara Amfo, Kay Burley, Chris Packham, Vanessa Feltz, Russell Kane and Anton Du Beke, all trying to win up to £50,000 for charity.
Since making its debut in 2000, Weakest Link went on to become one of the BBC’s most successful international franchises, with versions of the show airing in over 100 countries across the globe. The UK version last aired in 2017, with a special charity episode in aid of Children In Need.
Romesh Ranganathan says: “It’s an honour to be asked to bring what is basically a TV institution back to our screens. Anne was an amazing host and to step into her shoes is an anxiety inducing privilege.” It was Robinson’s sarcastic and somewhat brusque interrogation of contestants that made the show so popular. Many contestants took part knowing that they would be ridiculed. Ranganathan added, “I’m hoping we’ve found a way to make both the fans of the show happy as well as bringing a new audience to it. If not, accept this as my apology.”
In an interview with BBC News online Ranganathan said:
“You have eight celebrities every show, and you don’t know how people are going to react to a competitive situation until they’re in it,” says Ranganathan. “There were a lot of surprises in terms of how competitive certain people were, and how upset certain people were with not doing as well as they thought they were going to do.
“I loved watching the celebs interact with each other, and also seeing how affronted some of them were at getting voted for when they felt like they hadn’t done much wrong, it’s so good. The problem is, they’re really competitive but they’re also on a TV show, so they don’t want the mask to slip.”
As always with these celebrity quiz and panel shows everything depends on the blend of personalities in each episode. Let’s hope the BBC have got it right.
The first episode will air on 18th December on BBC One