This is the last in the present series of Going Dutch, but who knows? If you enjoyed it perhaps we’ll do it again in the future.

To finish off the week we’re going to have a quick look at Wie Ben Ik? (Who Am I?), a popular comedy panel game. It began in Belgium and in 1990 a native Dutch version started hosted by a young Caroline Tensen (who some of you will know as the host of the Dutch 1 vs 100, which she still does) and has been on and off various different channels before restarting about six weeks ago on RTL4, now hosted by Wendy van Dijk (which Wikipedia suggests was an assistant in a previous incarnation of the show, and has also hosted the Dutch version of The Voice and The X Factor)

Currently each team has two regular players (Media personalities Paul van Leeuw and Jandino Asporat vs Gordon and Richard Groenendijk) and a guest celebrity. In round one one team will play “who am I?”, each player will hit a buzzer in front of them and a board will pop up with their mystery identity. The other team offer three cryptic hints before the player gets to ask 30 seconds of yes/no questions. Once all three players have had their go, they get to make initial guesses. If they’re right they get 90 points immediately, if not then they they get a clue (sometimes through a big door or an object on the conveyor belt) and get 90 seconds to ask questions. When they work out who they are they score 1 point for the team for every second left over. Repeat for the other players.

Round two is “what am I?” and plays the same as round one but with the teams swapping roles, and the mystery things to guess aren’t people.

The final round is “where am I?” where teams get alternating 30 second periods to try and work out where the host is according to her card by asking questions. Whichever team works it out gets their score doubled which will normally win the game.

Not the best game structure, but it’s just something to hang the comedy off really, and previous versions of this were very popular indeed. Here’s an episode from 1990 – doubtless this loses something if you don’t understand Dutch (and I don’t) but you can probably get the gist of the funny bits with tone, rhythm and expression:

Now, modern shows – regrettably RTL hide them behind a paywall and geoblock (although you can also pay to see the upcoming episode, also if you can get round the geoblock the previous episode seems to be free to watch) but the online clips are free to watch after an advert.

It is the sort of thing that’d work quite well over here during Would I Lie to You? off season, or with the 8 Out of 10 Cats people playing, I reckon. Or on Dave.

Most people know Lingo I assume, this is the easy midweek-because-I’m-busy-at-time-of-writing show.

Anyway! Lingo began in the US where it wasn’t very successful and began in The Netherlands in 1989 where it’s been running ever since. Currently it broadcasts on the TROS network on the Channel Nederland 1, but it looks like it’s moving to Nederland 2 next year. It’s been hosted by Lucille Werner with Jan Peter Pellemans acting as judge and announcer since 2005.

The format has changed variously over the years, but the main idea is the same – solve word puzzles and then hopefully create lines on your Lingo card for a bonus. For each puzzle you’re given the first letter and must guess a legitimate Dutch word of the correct length. You are then shown which letters are in the correct position and which letters are right but in the wrong position (a bit like the board game Mastermind). Players in a team take it in turns to make a guess, if they take too long to come up with a word or use a word that doesn’t exist or is the wrong length, the opposing team get a chance to steal control and get a bonus letter. Correctly identifiying a word earns money and lets you draw two balls from the hopper to cover some numbers up.

Right now team play three words of five letters for  €15 a pop, three words of six letters for €25 a word, three words of seven letters for €40 a word (the teams can ask for a cryptic clue in this round, although I haven’t ascertained if there’s a bonus or penalty for asking for it) and a final eight-letter puzzle where the teams take it in turns, beginning at (I think) €60 and dropping €10 a guess. Between rounds there’s an on-the-buzzer ten letter word anagram which begins at €70 and drops €10 every few seconds as the puzzle gets easier. Getting a Lingo earns a €100 bonus (and the card is reset). Also in the hopper are a wildcard ball, green jackpot balls (the jackpot accumulates at €100 for every guessed word but starts each show at zero) – getting all three wins the jackpot (not added to the score) and if they find one they can redraw for free, and three red balls which relinquish control of the game. FINALLY, each team can buzz in and interrupt their opponent’s go once per show. If they immediately get the word right, their score is doubled, if they get it wrong it’s halved. I don’t like that rule (although would be happy to let them steal the game once per show), but it’s by the by.

The winners get to play the bonus round. They get 2:30 to get as many words as they can – each correctly guessed word puts €1,000 in the pot and allows them to draw a Lingo ball to complete a line afterwards. There is always one ball from the initial set-up that will complete a line off the bat. If they get a Lingo they win the pot. If they find the silver ball they can opt to stop and leave with half the pot. There’s also a pink prize ball in there. It’s quite odd that the bigger the prize, the better your chance of winning (previously the prize was a flat €5,000).

ANYWAY, here’s episode 5,000 which went out last month. The winning team are surprised to hear the news that they will be playing for €5,000 a word in the end game.

And because we’ve been showing elderly episodes on Youtube this week, here’s an episode from 1998 hosted by Francois Boulange:

Dutch Lingo is probably the most cheerful and least objectionable show currently running on television. Here’s the official site where you can watch episodes. I’m surprised nobody’s tried reviving it over here – if GSN could get years out if it, why not Challenge? It must cost peanuts.

Take On The Twisters frankly stunned everyone when it won Best Studio Based Gameshow at the C21/FRAPA Format Awards at the world’s biggest telly trade show MIPCOM this evening despite getting even lower viewer and critical ratings than the show that won it the year previously.

The candidates for the awards were initially selected by C21Media.net’s community of 35,000 international television executives. Then a panel of buyers voted from 10 selected formats within seven genre categories.

We are sure it will become as big an international success story as previous winners of the award The Bank Job, Epic Win, Pretty Smart, The Encounter and 8 Out of 10 Cats.

This is what we thought of the show.

I’ve just bet my house on The Million Second Quiz winning it next year.

Here are the other awards for what they’re worth.

Per Seconde Wijzer (The Second Hand) takes its roots from a French show called Pas une seconde à perdre (Not a Second to Lose) from 1967. It ran for three years before being revived in 1988 by VARA, which broadcasts the show on Thursday nights (although is currently out of season). Journalist Kees Driehuis has been fronting it for 25 years.

Two contestants play each episode, but they’re not playing against each other in the main, they play an individual game and come back on a weekly basis (not unlike The $64,000 Question with Bob Monkhouse).

Each contestant picks one of five categories their round will be played on (modern times, history, art, science or sport). Each round consists of four questions, and each question nine answers. Simply the contestant must match the nine given clues to each answer. Each clue fits one answer. Simply match the clue to the answer when they come up. They can change answers if they like but must do it from memory – if they use an answer a second time then that blanks out the first clue they use it for unless they remember to declare the swap before they stop. They are up against the clock, they have 200 seconds to get through all four questions.

In the first week they must get five or more correct answers for every question, each one worth €20. Week two six at €25, week three seven at €30 and the final week they must get every single question right at €35 each which if successful will also double their entire pot. They can walk away after a successful week with the money won, if they fail they leave with a lovely clock and museum vouchers. To help them they have jokers. They begin with two and earn an extra one every time they get nine out of nine. They can be deployed after they’ve finished the round but before any answers are revealed, doing so will correct a wrong answer if they have any but also knock 16 seconds off the clock. For the final week the contestant gets any left over time from previous weeks as well.

Finally to guarantee some money gets won on an episode, the two players take part in a buzzer quiz. The pot starts at €10 for every correct answer given during the show. Both players are shown nine answers and must buzz in when they think they know which one fits the clue. Again each answer is used only once. At the end of the round each player is scored the pot +€50 for each right answer given, but -€50 for each wrong one. Whoever has the most money takes it home.

Here’s an episode from 1989! They don’t play the final game here.

In terms of gameshows featuring horror there’s a fine line between Fort Boyard and The Door really. It’s in the world and it’s in the tasks. In the feel. Estate of Panic = right side of the line. Scream If You Want To Get Off = wrong side of the line.

Hoping to stay on the right side of the line is the upcoming Release the Hounds on ITV2, and it’s certainly scoring full marks for setting:

They seem to be going for a striking Blair Witch feel. We really want this to be good. It’s “due out” as a one-off with a view to a series around Halloween on ITV2.