Winsanity

Winsanity is an American television game show broadcast by Game Show Network (GSN). The series, hosted by Donald Faison, premiered June 9, 2016.

Winsanity
GenreGame show
Created by
  • Cleve Keller
  • Dave Noll
Directed byHal Grant
Presented byDonald Faison
Narrated byKira Soltanovich
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes80
Production
Executive producers
Production locationsRed Studios[1]
Los Angeles, California, United States
Running time20−22 minutes
Production companies
  • Electus
  • Barracuda Television Productions, Inc. (Season 1)
Release
Original networkGame Show Network
Original releaseJune 9, 2016 (2016-06-09) –
May 24, 2018 (2018-05-24)
External links
Website

Gameplay

First format

The game begins with contestants being chosen directly from the audience. As part of attending a taping, every person is given a "Winwatch" (a glowing wristband) to participate as a would-be contestant. To start the show, Faison will hit the "Winsanity" button on the stage to lock in on a random contestant by turning their Winwatch green. Once that contestant is chosen, they will join Faison on the stage and will become a contestant. After a brief introduction about the contestant, the game begins.

The end goal of the game is to arrange ten numerical facts in order of largest to smallest based on the quantifier desired (e.g. the number of marriages each year in the US, or the number of President Barack Obama's Twitter followers).[2] Each round builds upon the previously placed facts with the last round touted as the hardest of them all.

At the start of each round, Soltanovich will start the selector to choose additional audience members. The contestant will hit the Winsanity button on stage to randomly choose a select number of members of the studio audience. (In Round 4, there is only one contestant chosen in the audience.) Soltanovich will announce a prize that can be won by both the on-stage contestant and the randomly selected contestants in the studio. Faison will then announce how many members of the audience were selected. Soltanovich will announce the topic for the round. From here, Faison will announce what the items that need to be sorted are and play starts from here.

Round Items to place Special Notes
1 4 items Guaranteed prize awarded this round
2 3 items
3 2 items
4 1 item $5000 for the sole audience member
$5000 for the on-stage contestant
  • If a contestant can go through all four rounds and place all the items correctly, in addition to winning the $10,000 cash prize, both they and the audience member chosen for that round will win an extravagant prize announced at the start of the show (most times a car).

If a contestant is incorrect at any point with their placement, their game ends and a new contestant will try to complete the remaining spots on the corrected tree from where the last contestant left off. All prizes that were won are lost except for the guaranteed prize from the first round. The show concludes when all four rounds are played. In later episodes of Season 1, Faison offered the contestant an opportunity to walk away with the prizes won if they answered Questions 1, 2, and 3 correctly.[3]

Second format

In season 2, two contestants compete against each other. The contestants play for a color-coded section of the audience (purple and gold), with each section splitting the same amount of money won by the contestants.

Round 1

In the first round, a numerical fact is placed on the board with its number revealed. Then four more facts are given. The contestants take turns placing each fact. Correct answers are worth $100 on the first turn and $200 on the second turn. Incorrect answers earn no money.

Round 2

In the second round, four more facts are given in addition to the five facts from the first round. Correct answers are worth $300 on the first turn and $400 on the second turn.

Round 3

In the third round, a new list is given with two facts and their numbers revealed. Then four more facts are given one by one. The contestants can choose whether to play each fact or pass it to their opponent. A correct answer earns that player money while an incorrect answer gives the money to the opponent. The first fact is worth $500, the second is worth $600, the third is worth $700, and the final is worth $1,750. The contestant with the most money at the end of the round wins the game, keeps their money, and moves on to the bonus round. The most money the contestant can win and the audience members to split is $4,550.

Bonus Round: The Final Five

In the bonus round, called the "Final Five", the winning contestant is shown five facts and five numbers. The contestant must match each fact to its corresponding number in 45 seconds with two chances to do so (the clock stops when the contestant locks in their answers the first time). Each correctly placed fact is worth an additional $500 and if the contestant places all five facts correctly, their winnings are augmented to $10,000 plus the $4,550 from the main game for a total of $14,550.

Production

The series was officially green-lit on November 18, 2015,[4] and premiered on June 9, 2016.[5] GSN also produced an online version of the game, which can be played on their website.[6]

On March 14, 2017, GSN announced that Winsanity would return for a second season, but with a new head-to-head format.[7] The second season was originally to have premiered on November 27, 2017,[8][9] however, it was later pulled from GSN's schedule without explanation.[10] The new episodes eventually appeared beginning on April 2, 2018.[11]

Reception

The premiere episodes performed relatively well by GSN standards, garnering 501,000 and 416,000 viewers for the two episodes airing on June 9.[12] A combined total of 13.5 million viewers watched the series during its 40-episode first season.[9]

International versions

In Greece, a version titled Pano Kato (English: "Up and down") premiered on September 16, 2019. Hosted by Christos Ferentinos, it is broadcast on Alpha TV daily at 5:50 p.m.[13]

References
  1. "Winsanity". On-Camera Audiences. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
  2. "GSN's Innovative New Original Game Show Series Winsanity, Hosted by Donald Faison Premieres Thursday, June 9 at 9PM ET/PT" (Press release). GSN Corporate. May 12, 2016. Retrieved March 18, 2017.
  3. "WinSanity". WinSanity. Season 1. Episode 40. Game Show Network.
  4. Pedersen, Erik (November 18, 2015). "GSN Will Play Winsanity With Host Donald Fasion". Deadline.com. PMC. Retrieved March 18, 2017.
  5. "GSN'S Innovative New Original Game Show Series Winsanity, Hosted by Donald Faison Premieres Thursdate, June 9 at 9PM ET/PT" (Press release). GSN Corporate. May 12, 2016. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  6. "Winsanity: The Game that Stacks the Facts". GSNTV. Retrieved October 22, 2017.
  7. Pena, Jessica (March 14, 2017). "Winsanity, Divided: GSN Game Shows Renewed; Emogenius Series Ordered". TV Series Finale. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  8. TV News Desk (October 30, 2017). "Donald Faison Hosts Second Season of GSN's Winsanity Premiering 11/27". Broadway World. Retrieved October 31, 2017.
  9. Pena, Jessica (October 31, 2017). "Winsanity: Season Two Premiere Date Announced by GSN". TV Series Finale. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  10. "TV Listings: GSN". Zap2it. Screener. Archived from the original on November 28, 2017. Retrieved November 28, 2017.
  11. "Winsanity: Season 2 Episodes". Moviefone. Oath Inc. Archived from the original on April 28, 2018. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
  12. Metcalf, Mitch (June 10, 2016). "Updated: ShowBuzzDaily's Top 150 Friday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 6.9.2016". ShowBuzzDaily. Retrieved March 18, 2017.
  13. Tsihlakis, Manolis (September 9, 2019). "Ο Alpha ανακοινώνει το νέο τηλεπαιχνίδι του Χρήστου Φερεντίνου - Πότε κάνει πρεμιέρα;". tvnea.com.
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