Power of 10

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Power of 10
Image:Powerof10 733x150.jpg Power of 10 title card
Format	Game Show
Created by	Michael Davies
Directed by	Mark Gentile
Presented by	Drew Carey
Composer(s)	Lewis Flinn
Country of origin	Image:Flag of the United States.svg United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	13
Production
Executive producer(s)	Michael Davies
Running time	60 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
Original run	August 7, 2007 – present
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Power of 10 is a CBS game show hosted by Drew Carey. The show premiered on August 7, 2007 and aired twice weekly during the late summer and early fall. Each game features contestants predicting how a cross-section of Americans responded to questions covering a wide variety of topics in polls conducted by CBS. The top prize is $10,000,000.

The series is produced by Embassy Row Productions in association with Sony Pictures Television and is taped at Kaufman Astoria Studios in New York City.

On September 10, 2007, CBS ordered six additional episodes of the show slated for mid-season. The summer season finale aired on Sunday, September 23, 2007, due to Kid Nation airing the following Wednesday.^[1]

The show returned on January 2, airing on Wednesday nights. ^[2]

Contents 1 Rules 2 Notable winnings 3 Nielsen Ratings 3.1 Summary 3.2 Episodes 4 International 4.1 Australia 4.2 France 4.3 Chile 4.4 Germany 4.5 Greece 4.6 UK 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Rules

In the first round, played similar to an early-1980s game show, Play the Percentages, two contestants try to predict the results of poll questions, based on surveys similar to the ones used on Family Feud and Card Sharks (e.g. What percentage of Americans said they are afraid of circus clowns?) in a best-of-five elimination round. After the question is read, each contestant has 10 seconds to lock in an answer. If they do not lock in an answer the computer will lock in the percentage they are currently on. The player who comes closer to the actual percentage earns a point. The first player to earn three points wins the round and goes to the money round to play for $10,000,000.

In the money round, the contestant is given similar questions, and must place a range, that is similar to The Price is Right's Range Game, on the scale from 0% to 100% that includes the correct answer (for example, if the answer is 45%, then the contestant's range must include 45%). The size of the range decreases as the money values increase:

• $1,000 question: 41-point range
• $10,000 question: 31-point range
• $100,000 question: 21-point range
• $1,000,000 question: 11-point range
• $10,000,000 question: Exact guess on the last question (see below)

For the first three questions, the correct answer to the question is revealed once the contestant has locked in an answer by pulling down a lever. For the $1,000,000 question, the correct answer is revealed only if the contestant's range misses the question.

If the contestant correctly answers the $1,000,000 question, the contestant is then given the chance to win $10,000,000 by picking the exact percentage (rounded to the nearest 1%) out of that 10% range (11 choices in all).

Contestants who miss either the $1,000 or $10,000 question win nothing (therefore, losing on the $10K question does not change the $1,000 bank into $100). From the $100,000 question and then on, missing a question causes a contestant to lose "by the power of 10," meaning that their current winnings are divided by 10 (losing on the $100K question drops their $10,000 bank to $1,000; losing on the $1,000,000 question drops the $100K to $10K, and losing at the $10,000,000 level drops the $1M to $100K).

For each question, audience members make exact-percentage guesses (and not a range) in order to then show the contestant a full sample of the results, for help in answering. Contestants can also ask an in-studio relative or friend their opinion before locking in, and contestants can adjust their choice as much as they want to elicit reactions from the audience or their friend/relative. Contestants can stop the game at any time and take their money, so long as they do not lock in an answer.

Drew Carey does not know the answers and will sometimes help contestants think through questions and offer his own opinions, unlike most game shows. He also makes jokes and pokes fun at the contestants' occupations and hobbies as well as himself during the questions.

[edit] Notable winnings

Jamie Sadler, a 19-year-old Upper Montclair, New Jersey pre-med student at the University of Florida, was the first contestant to earn the right to play for money on the game show, and won $1,000,000 (to be paid as a ten-year annuity). This made him the youngest person to ever win $1 million on a quiz show or game show. Sadler accomplished this distinction by giving a range of 23% to 33% for the question, "What percentage of women consider themselves feminists?" Though given the chance to win the $10,000,000 grand prize, he declined to lock in a guess for the exact percentage within that range. Instead, he quit the game, and kept his $1 million prize. Subsequently, with no risk involved, he informally guessed 24%. The correct answer was 29%.

This marks the first time CBS has ever awarded a $1 million prize on a game show, excluding reality shows.^[3]

On the show, Carey claimed that neither he nor the show's producers believed anyone would reach the $10,000,000 question so early in the show's run. As a result, Carey claimed that they were unprepared for its actual occurrence, but that he would wing it.^[4]

Also, CBS's Big Brother 8 reality show contestants Daniele Donato and Amber Siyavus won the opportunity to appear on the show in a competition. Amber won in the opening round and made it to the $100,000 question, but was wrong and left with $1,000.

[edit] Nielsen Ratings

[edit] Summary

Season	Timeslot (EDT)	Season Premiere	Season Finale	TV Season	Rank	Viewers (millions)
1	Tuesday & Wednesday (8:00 PM)	August 7, 2007	September 24, 2007	Summer 2007	See Note 1	8.15
2	Wednesday (8:00 PM)	January 2, 2008	TBA, 2008	Mid-Season 2008	TBA	TBA

Note 1: The information is unavailable because the show aired during the summer. If it were to air in the regular fall or mid-season it would have ranked 72nd place out of 142 shows.^[5]

[edit] Episodes

No.	Rating	Share	Rating/Share (18-49)	Viewers (millions)	Rank
					Timeslot	Night	Week
Season 1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Season 2
13	4.4	7	1.7/4	6.71	4	10	TBA

[edit] International

[edit] Australia

Nine Network in Australia acquired the domestic rights to the show and plan to begin airing a local version in 2008.^[6] The prizes will be $100, $1000, $10,000 and $100,000, while the top prize will only be $1,000,000 Australian dollars (about US$881,000). This'll be the first version of the show to air in the Oceania region (and outside the United States).

[edit] France

TF1 in France has picked up the rights to the format and intend to air a local version.^[7] It'll be the first non-English language version of the show, and the prize should be the same as the American version, but in euros (€10,000,000 = US$13,900,000). Most likely, this will be the first version to air in Europe as well. The prize ladder will also likely be identical to the U.S. show.

[edit] Chile

Chilevision has picked up the rights to the show in Chile, becoming the first Latin-American version of the show. Top prize may be CL$10,000,000 (about US$20,000).

[edit] Germany

BuzzerBlog also reports that a German version is in the works as well. Top prize should be €10,000,000. A network has not been named yet, but it's most likely either Sat.1 or RTL that will air the show.

On December 13, 2007, VOX announced to produce Power of 10 for German Television in early 2008 with a top prize of €1,000,000. ^[8] As such, the prizes will go €100-€1,000-€10,000-€100,000-€1,000,000.

[edit] Greece

Δύναμη Tής 10 (Dynami Tis 10[Deka]) The show was picked up in Greece in October 2007 on the Star Channel. The top prize is €10,000,000.

[edit] UK

There was talk that ITV would buy the concept with a £5,000,000 top prize (about $10,000,000) to replace Millionaire, however this rumour was proved false when it was announced Millionaire would return in 2008. Most likely, the prize ladder would've gone as follows: £500, £5,000, £50,000, £500,000, £5,000,000.

Interestingly enough, a host has not been announced for any of these versions.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official Site
• Press release announcing summer pick-up of Power of 10
• Power of 10 recaps
• Power of 10 full episodes

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