Win Ben Stein's Money
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Image:Win Ben Steins Money.jpgWin Ben Stein's Money was an American television game show that ran from 1997 to 2003 on Comedy Central. It featured three contestants who competed in a general knowledge trivia contest to win the grand prize of $5,000 from the show's host, Ben Stein. In late 2004, GSN, formerly known as Game Show Network, began broadcasting repeats of the show.
Stein always had a co-host to exchange jokes with and to ask some of the questions in the game. Jimmy Kimmel was the co-host for the first three years of the show's run, but he left the show in 2000 (even though he made occasional guest appearances after that). Nancy Pimental replaced Kimmel and co-hosted the show through 2001. Sal Iacono, who took over the role in 2002, was the show's last co-host. The show won six Daytime Emmy awards.
Various pieces of classical music were used as the themes. The opening theme was the fourth movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Ode To Joy, which was repeated to begin the second round. The closing theme was Ride of the Valkyries, from the second opera of Richard Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung. Other classical music pieces used on the show included:
- Water Music by George Frederick Handel (leading to first commercial break).
- Spring from The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi (Coming out of the first commercial break).
- Eine kleine Nachtmusik by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (leading into the second commercial break).
- Trepiak (a/k/a "The Russian Dance") from The Nutcracker by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (used to segue to the final commercial break).
- Night on Bald Mountain (leading to the final round) by Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (coming out of the final commercial break and cuing to the final round).
Contents |
Rules of the game
First round
The game began with three contestants, five categories (whose titles were puns hinting at the question contents) that were read by the co-host, and $5,000 in Stein's bank. The money was not from Ben Stein's actual assets, but was put up instead by the show's producer, Valleycrest Productions. Stein did actually keep the cash remaining (if any) in the prize pool at the end of each season, however, hence the show's title, and Ben's motivation to keep "his" money.
Once a player chose a category, Stein asked a question that was worth a value between $50 and $150, depending on the level of difficulty. If a player answered that question correctly, the value of the question was subtracted from Stein's bank and added to the contestant's score. Stein then asked that contestant a follow-up question from the same category for an additional $50; any of the opponents could answer that question if the contestant answered it incorrectly. (If nobody answered the original question correctly, Stein asked a $50 toss-up question that any of the three contestants could answer.) A new category replaced the old one after both questions were asked, and whoever won the previous question got to choose the next category.
At the end of the first round the contestant with the lowest score was eliminated from the game and that player's money (if he/she had earned any) was put back into Stein's bank.
A running gag on the show was performed whenever a contestant answered in the form of a question, like they do on Jeopardy!: that player was forced to wear a dunce cap for the rest of the round.
Second round
Stein competed against the two remaining contestants in this round, answering questions from the eliminated player's rostrum. The co-host -- who always gave a disclaimer stating that Stein had no advance knowledge of the questions from that point forward -- asked the questions in this round.
The second round also contained five categories, but the questions in that round were worth anywhere between $200 and $500 of Stein's money if a contestant answered them correctly. (If Stein answered a question correctly, the bank total did not change.) Follow-up questions were not asked in this round.
The contestant with the lower score at the end of the second round was eliminated from the game, with his or her winnings going back into Stein's bank.
"Best of Ten" Test of Knowledge
Both Stein and the winner of the second round were placed in isolation booths, so one could not hear the other's answers. The isolation booth for the contestant was plain, with a bare light bulb hanging for light, while Stein's booth had a leather wingback chair and appeared to have lavish furnishings. (In later seasons, the contestant's isolation booth was made to appear in disrepair, with a large crack running down the back wall among other "damage.") The co-host asked each of them the same ten questions, and both Stein and the contestant had sixty seconds a piece to answer them. If the contestant answered more questions correctly than Stein did, the contestant won all of the $5,000 that Stein put into the bank at the beginning of the show. If Stein answered more questions correctly, the contestant only won the money that he or she won in the first two rounds. Originally, if there were a tie, the contest would go to Ben Stein; and the contestant would just win the money that he gained. Later on though, the rules were changed; the contestant won the money that he or she had already won from Stein plus an additional $1,000. The contestant always had the choice of playing first or second.
It should be noted that the $5,000 prize does, indeed, belong to Ben Stein. The money is part of his salary, and he was paid whatever amount that was left over after the contestant's winnings were deducted. Stein was also paid a set salary on top of the prize money.
Running Gags
The categories always contain serious questions but are phrased in a humorous fashion. They are also often sexually phrased in nature.
A cuckoo clock was rung to signal the end of each round, with the cuckoo changing every show. Once, instead of a cuckoo, it was a Ben Stein bobblehead that came from the clock.
Ben often made no attempt to hide his distaste for being forced to "fight" three everyday people for "his" money. He often said "I'm putting 5,000 dollars of my money on the line, and giving these (the contestants) three vultures (or wolves, cretins, etc.) a chance to take it all away from me."
Along with the above line, Ben often followed it up by saying "Now why have I done this? Call me crazy." The audience then would reply by shouting "You're crazy!" at Ben. Ben would then reply by saying "But you can also call me fairly sure they don't have a chance against me!"
Ben often poked fun at Jeopardy! on the show. Players who answered in the form of a question were made to wear a dunce cap. After the first round, Ben once said "And now I'm going to do something Alex Trebek would never do: I'm going to dive into the pit and actually become a contestant!"
Before Kimmel would explain the rules of the "Best of Ten Test of Knowledge," he would use a pet name when telling Ben that he would do so (ex. "Yes, nipple nuts").
After asking the ten questions in the final round to Ben, Jimmy Kimmel would often follow up with a joke question. For example, after asking the last question, Kimmel once asked "Will you have my baby?"
Related to the above, the joke question would usually be "How does it feel to lose $5000?" if Ben goes second and loses.
Ben, upon losing the final round, would reluctantly open a safe, hand the winning contestant 5,000 dollars, and say "There's the money. I hate you. Get out!"
Famous paintings or artwork were often shown between commercials, modified to include Ben. These include Ben on a classic "We Want You!" poster, Ben as the Mona Lisa, and Ben as the Statue of Liberty.
Versions outside the USA
A British version, called Win Beadle's Money, hosted by Jeremy Beadle, ran in the UK in 1999. The format was the same as listed above. Richard Morton was co-host.
Win Roy & H.G.'s Money, an Australian version hosted by comedy duo Roy Slaven and H.G. Nelson, ran for a handful of episodes in 2000.
Show comeback with a new host?
In 2005, Comedy Central announced that Ken Jennings, television's second-biggest all-time game show money winner, would join with Valleycrest Productions in creating a new show. It has been rumored that it would be a re-packaging of the show with the title being changed to Win Ken Jennings' Money; however, Comedy Central has denied this rumor.
External links
- Win Ben Stein's Money episode guide (unofficial)