Weekdays, 6pm
BBC 2
CJ de Mooi is back, BACK, BACK! In his own Eggheads spin-off with Jeremy Vine, where a team of five take him on to win thousands of pounds. They are already promising a de Mooi/Vine bromance.
This will either be hilarious, or tries too hard to be hilarious and comes across as embarrassing. Who knows which it will be?
We actually don’t know much about the format although there will inevitably be comparisons made to The Chase. De Mooi certainly seems like the Egghead able to play a villain most convincingly.
Interestingly (or not) it looks like there’s a new Egghead coming when the main series returns.
Yes, the new Egghead is one Lisa Thiel. Anyone know anything about her?
I’ve heard that *SPOILER ALERT* she’s a contestant on this.
Not a name that’s familiar to me. There appears to be a Weakest Link contestant by that name (from 13 years ago!) here:
Her Twitter is http://www.twitter.com/LisaThiel1980.
A 1980 birthdate would match with the age of 21 she mentions in the video.
She’s also a Libra, AO negative, votes Lib Dem and… hello? Where are you going?
For some reason, I’m reminded of the Creme Egg commercial from a few years ago. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNhs0OTMBRw
Er, on the substantive point, I look forward to seeing how Ms Thiel fares on screen. Being young and northern, she’s not Daphne Fowler, but then she’s not Judith Keppel either.
Well, what can I say about this?
The main flaw is that there’s not a single new idea to be seen in the show. Main game is a straight ‘two lives and you’re out’ affair, with CJ challenging contestants who answer wrongly to take on a question he’s supposedly written himself. Final is The Chase end game in reverse without a clock, which made it a bit ponderous.
Production values are uninspiring – music from David William Hearn, minimally animating graphics, sparse set. Nothing to see here.
But the main weakness is: where’s the ‘revenge’? The contest didn’t seem to be that adversarial at all, producers maybe fearing despite the premise of the show, a real ‘us versus them’ vibe would be too Chase-like. Unfortunately as a result, I felt I wasn’t really bothered who won – CJ didn’t play up the ‘I want to beat you’ card enough and the other players seemed fairly non-plussed, perhaps as they were competing for a fairly small prize pot.
The only positive is that it didn’t drag – 25 minutes was long enough, though. Won’t be watching again.
Just watched “Revenge of the Egghead” and I just found it to be a complete smorgasbord of all 12 Yard Quiz/Game Shows that are still going.
CJ is still and always will be CJ but I just found the whole concept not that great to watch to be honest. Also if like on Eggheads and Pointless there was a rolling cash jackpot then that might have made the show more interesting to watch.
Personally what 12 yard should have done in my opinion is to have say like a Masters Version of Eggheads for a period of 20 shows where winning teams that have beaten the Eggheads over the years get the chance to come back and do it again but this time instead having £1,000 worth of cash on every show have £5,000 and roll it over every time the money is not won up to a maximum of £100,000.
I’ve always been a huge fan of champion of champions style formats (Jeopardy in the US being the best one full stop) and input that into shows like Eggheads and even The Chase and I think there is the potential of a ratings winner.
Be surprised, the smorgasbord also contains some ingredients from non-12 Yard gameshows. Apart from In It To Win It (five contestants, the Winners’ Row, the Red Zone), RotE also incorporates:
– Fifteen-to-One: two lives for everyone in the first round, three lives for the team of survivors in the final round.
– Tout le monde veut prendre sa place: if CJ catches you red-handed on a question he knows, he rearranges a question for you.
– Never Mind the Buzzcocks: the final round is basically Lyrics’ Round minus the timed mission.
6/10, 6.5/10 at best. Hope the 2014 roster raises the standard, or I might be enticed into developing a format on my own.
Total crap, clunky, awkward and bloated. Its like a poor copy of the chase without a sense of humour. Get rid of jez vine, he can’t do menacing, only irritating, use a voicover, put CJ in front of the contestants to stare/syke them out.
As to the idiot who wants to roll over the prize, that is one thing that is wrong on egg heads. What has team Friday done to deserve winning more than team Monday? Rollovers are fair if everyone has another equal chance to play and win. A rule created before people stated asking questions about BBC overspend IMO.
Progressive jackpots ARE unfair, but their purpose is to mount excitement for the viewers who in the end matter more (hence ‘show’ in ‘game show’) They also mean they can give away impressive looking prizes in such a way as to not break a budget.
Hmmm..
I know one of the credited creators grazes these shores occasionally, so I’d love to know how many different twists on the standard 12 Yard 6pm weekday quiz were thrown out before landing on this one.
Ignoring the fact that all the Chasers do at least smile (granted in Annes case – occasionally), and rarely at the table gameplay slag off contestants for individual wrong answers, having CJ do this constantly is going to grate on the patients of the viewers somewhat.
At least the Chasers are pantomine villians – here, it’s as though he appearing on the show with a gun just off camera pointed to his head.
I have issues with set design, and end gameplay.
Set-
First – hot spot podium should be center in between contestants row and CJ.
Second, missed opportunity to combine the backdrop and build it into the final round. I think I counted 10 egg shaped cutouts behind Jerermy. Why not use those and backlight each one for every question asked and answered – green for correct and red for wrong? It would have broken up the repetitve white and blue backdrop a bit.
Third – stick his Ipad on a swing arm holder on his right hand side. It looks odd him constantly reaching down the side and fumble around to pick it up for the hot spot part of the main game.
Final round gameplay. Here was a chance to do something new, but no, here comes another ‘all or nothing’ cash pot prize.
I was thinking whilst watching, this would be good for a tug of war style showdown.
Team goes first, answer question correct, prize pot goes over to CJ, gets question right, cash pot goes back and forth etc.
This continues until team/CJ gets a question wrong.
If the next question is answered correctly, half the prize pot stays with them. The final round continues until the other half of the pot’s fate is decided.
Team has to hope CJ gets a question wrong and they get the next question correct to grab half of the pot each time. CJ is there just to take the money out of the game by putting pressure on the team.
All in all – makes a change to step off the usual Eggheads treadmill I suppose, but can’t help thinking is it a bit of missed opportunity to do something a bit different with this spin-off. A sneeryesque 6/10
Certainly agree with Mr. Not An I above about CJ having his generic tablet on an arm, or a flip-up tray, or anywhere but down the side of the chair.
On the substantive show, surprised that CJ didn’t really rub in his superiority, with a line like “Tim’s brother, where did you get these contestants?” I can see where a shouty contestant would make an impact.
Great to see the star of 21 Questions Wrong on primetime, must see if I can get an interview for the Week. And there’s a catchphrase in the making here: “Put yourself on the hot spot!”
No, that was me.
I auditioned for this in November, and just one thing to add, it wont always be 3 lives in the final, if they have kept the format, the number of lives is the number bought forward cumulatively by all contestants still standing (so could, if everyone came through without a mistake, be 10)
(Slight Spoiler Alert)
Today’s episode suggests that’s indeed the case. At the end of the main game, the team had three remaining players, but this time one player had two remaining lives while the others had one. This time, played the final with four lives.
(End of Spoilers)
Today’s episode also revealed an additional mechanic that serves to add a little to CJ’s role after all: If CJ buzzes on an answer that the contestant got correct, before Jeremy Vine confirms it as such, the team is awarded a £100 bonus “for outsmarting CJ”.
Mmm, not much to add – CJ played up his annoying side fine, but I think it needed more of a comedy bastard angle which is what I think I was expecting – right now the De Mooi/Vine thing doesn’t feel quite convincing. The main game will probably do more for others than it does for me, although I did quite like CJ having to act as a sort of wrong-answer spotter as a twist. The questions are tougher than your standard afternoon quiz I thought (again, this will do more for other people than it does for me), the end game is like quite a boring version of Win Beadle’s Money’s endgame.
Can’t say I’ll be tuning in regularly but it will probably appeal to a certain breed of quizzer.
I enjoyed it rather more than I feel I should have. It really didn’t do anything that stood out as atrocious or excellent, but at least it wasn’t as mind-blowingly dull as Eggheads can be.
I quite liked the idea of CJ having to spot the wrong answers for them to count, but now that I think about it, that’s basically what happens in The Chase anyway.
My main gripe was that the stage management was a bit tedious. The moving to the hot spot thing was a bit pointless, and to do it up to 9(?) times a show quickly gets on my wick.
The front game was a bit one-note, and the end game’s not much different to what we’ve seen before.
It’s a bit bland and feels more like Eggheads v1.1 rather than a chance to do Eggheads v2.0.
Could so easily have been done with a lighting trick rather than a physical move as well, would have helped the pacing. I so wanted this to be better, but it felt like they were trying to force something that wasn’t there (maybe it will be once they’ve filmed enough, you can’t create badinage out of nothing).
Should be called Return of the Knobhead with the ludicrous de Mooi posuring it up for all he is worth. He is not even that good a quizzer. Seen it now – NEXT!!
Where’s the like button?
Why would you like moronic baseless personal attack on someone?
When the show has been deliberately devised to provoke that reaction?
Pointless 3.8m (25%)
The Chase 3.5 m (24%)
University Challenge 2.9m (13%)
Tipping Point 1.8m. (18%)
Revenge of the Egghead 1.3m (7%)
Coach Trip 1.1m (8%)
Come Dine With Me 814,000. (8%)
Deal or No Deal 726,900 (9%)
Superstar Dogs 622,000 (4%)
Countdown 405,000 (6%)
Cheers, not a bad start for RotE.
I failed to find anything interesting or amusing in this show. A big fan of Eggheads, this is a travesty. CJ tried too hard to be a villain and ended up being just a very nasty person. Shades of The Chase all the way through,but not as well done. As already mentioned, the Chasers do have personalities and often show a sense of humour. I do not like this show at all, I certainly will not be watching it again, I felt embarrassed to see what was happening.
What utter drivel. I fail to see anything entertaining in this showcase for C J’s arrogance, and will definitely not be watching again. The return of the Eggheads csn’t come quickly enough for me.
Only watched half episode, as Cj is even more arrogant on this as he was on eggheads.There is some excellent players on eggheads, yet they have to pick Cj the twit .Will never watch it again
Didn’t feel particularly original, but I’d rather watch this than regular Eggheads, which might perhaps now be considered regHeads. (Shout out to the Penrith massive.)
I do think that CJ will make a good Chaser at some point, whether ITV decide to go up to five (probably unlikely; having four is nicely thematic for the Christmas specials) or if one of the first four gets bored.
You say ‘unlikely’ but it is known that they are actively casting for a 5th Chaser, a younger woman. I believe three people are in the frame.
1.1m for this last night I’m informed, a slight drop but still roughly in line with what Eggheads usually gets. Always intrigued to see how “I’m never watching again!” translates in reality.
If it stays above the magic million for the run I’m sure everyone involved will be fairly pleased.
I am watching c j in action , Finding it most unpleasant .
Rude comments are not popular
5 down, and I’ve stuck with it (mostly on the ground that there’s sod all else on at 6pm) and a couple of things..
Why is the end of main game Klaxon quieter and less dramatic than the CJ buzzer sound effect?
Second, Anyone else think that in the final, where CJ gets a question wrong, and then the team gives the correct answer – the team should get some form of extra – like an addtional life, or £100 added to the pot?
Ok, just me then….
So you’re asking for even more direct comparisons to the Final Chase?
Some ratings from yesterday (including HD and +1 where appropriate):
Pointless 3.77m (25%)
The Chase 3.63m (25%)
A Question of Sport 3.04m (14%)
8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown 2.19m (10%)
Mastermind 2.17m (10%)
Tipping Point 1.91m (18%)
Coach Trip 1.16m (9%)
Come Dine With Me 995,000 (9%)
Revenge of the Egghead 927,000 (5%)
Deal or No Deal 685,000 (8%)
Superstar Dogs 600,000 (4%)
Countdown 450,000 (7%)
Thanks!
Missed out Perfection 866,000(14%)
Wonder if the format would be better on radio (new for BBC4extra?)
Interesting to think of the viewing figures?
Pointless 3.77m (25%) Sat Peak + questions involve the audiance armchair particpation.
The Chase 3.63m (25%)questions involve the audiance armchair particpation+humour.
A Question of Sport 3.04m (14%)Broadcast Time+maybe too specialist.
8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown 2.19m (10%)C4 what more
Mastermind 2.17m (10%)Questions too obscure or hard for general interest+timing+channel
Tipping Point 1.91m (18%) Gets tedious with that machine and backing music.
Revenge of the Egghead 927,000 (5%)as discussed
Deal or No Deal 685,000 (8%)Timing and starting to get over boring
Countdown 450,000 (7%) Used to be fun , but putting back by an hour changed it
I like the format and it gives contestants the chance to get one over on CJ and the viewers to play along and try to pit their wits against his. Questions are a good mix of easier and harder keeping my interest.
I have been on the show and can tell all the detractors that CJ is acting the villain. After the filming he came into our dressing room and chatted for about 20 minutes and even did selfies with us.
Believe me Terry, when he came into your dressing room and chatted, THAT was the bit when he was acting.
I’ve been on the show too, it was great fun and CJ is a perfect gent, a real nice guy. It’s all pantome and fickle in TV land!!!
Abysmal. Who thought an oasis of charm and good humour could be replaced by this crap? If the bbc wanted to manufacture a controversy they have succeeded! 30 episodes? I don’t think so.
I’m just staggered the most unpopular egghead would be given their own show.I though he was gone for good.Is there some hold he has on the bbc?
Cj got it wrong today it was the new York giants not what he said san Francisco giants they are the 49s .
Depends on the sport. SF Giants are baseball.
(Wasn’t watching, just to clarify.)
They repeated a question this week as well – they asked about a singer nicknamed the First Lady of Song twice in the final. From memory it was CJ’s question in what was broadcast as the first episode and a team’s question later, but there’s no guarantee they were recorded in that order.
The question was which city has a baseball team called the Giants.
This is the BBC’s way of saving money as the contestants never seem to win and there is no rollover of £1000 per week as in the proper Eggheads. Rubbish show, bland and boring – not worth watching.
I agree. Am hoping this program will not be screened further. The noise of CJ’s buzzer and the music are most annoying. The Eggheads have charm and a fund of admirable knowledge – this spin off is wholly unsatisfactory. Delighted to hear the original Eggheads program is returning next week, though unfortunately I understand CJ is to be included in the team.
I was on a revenge show that won (First Friday of the run). £450 each but it isn’t really the winning but the taking part
Does anybody have the viewing figures for the second week yet?
Loved Eggheads – hate this programme . cJ maybe playing the villain .. He should stick to pantomime
It’s awful .
It ma y get more viewers than the brilliant. Chase but that’s probably due to the time it goes out – no comparison. Bradley Walsh is entertaining
I watch it for the questions, other than that it stinks. I prefer The Chase.
Surely there must be more than two of us who like it?!
I don’t know why everyone seems to dislike it so much. It’s certainly the first game show since The Chase I’ve watched daily for 20 episodes straight.
It’s warm and fun, CJ and Mr. Vine play off each other well, and the questions are of a good difficulty. It’s a bit derivative, but otherwise I don’t see what’s not to like.
You know what? Add me to that list. I was one of those cynics who thought CJ was an ego and would completely flop, but he comes across as likeable when he wants to; and makes at least an attempt to seem like a rival when the game demands it. What’s more, his acting as a baddie role is improving every episode, even to the point he does sometimes genuinely seem annoyed at lucky guesses – even if most of the time he’s still clearly hamming it up.
As for the game itself, it’s nice to have a quiz that’s easy to follow and has simple rules; the questions are of a reasonable and mostly consistent difficulty; and it even has a nice pace if the team is smart enough to not get called to the hot-spot in consecutive questions – not many shows any more get through as many questions as a typical episode of Revenge of the Egghead. It might not be at all innovative and may not do a lot for some people – but what it does, it does well.
I love this show. I always want CJ to win. More please.