I’d love to stay and chat but I’ve actually got some sort of drinking invitational to go this evening – you know how it is, I’m sure. However in better news, my VPN supplier has now opened up a French VPN, so expect lots of write-ups of French shows you’d have to pay to watch over the next few weeks (sneak preview: they’ve changed the set for Des Chiffres et Des Lettres, and it’s so good the furniture obscures the score monitors).
Onwards with tonight then:
- Epic Win (5:30pm, BBC1)
- Celebrity Masterchef (6:10, BBC1)
- All Star Family Fortunes – Cheryl Baker vs Trevor Nelson (7pm, ITV1)
- Schlag den Raab – €1.5m to be defended tonight, to be decided by a game of Buckaroo. (7:15 UK time, ProSieben and hopefully internet streaming)
- Secret Fortune (8pm, BBC1)
- The X Factor (8pm, ITV1)
- The Million Pound Drop – Only 80 minutes tonight, but starring Jack Whitehall and his celeb agent dad. Gave away £325,000 last night to two couples although the questions felt a bit easier than normal. (9pm, C4)
- Big Brother (10:15pm, Five)
Feel free to have a chat about any of those here. I know Schlag den Raab usually gets a show discussion post, but my gut feeling suggests they should probably be saved for the first episodes of new and returning shows. We’ll see how it turns out.
Another celebrity pair for Million Pound Drop? I hope there aren’t any more planned since it’s denying the airtime for the wannabe online players who live in the south east of the country.
If Whitehall Snr & Jnr are the final pair then I would’ve placed them towards the end of the week and not one weekend later after Vernon Kay and Mate.
If you’re looking for a Schlag feed, here’s this:
http://www.justin.tv/xstreamx57#/w/1782959168
And I just got called into work, even after confirming that I wouldn’t be working today. I quit. I look forward to reading the play-by-play afterwards though.
Guess I’ll take the play-by-play duties for now, then. Apparently its the 30th SDR tonight!
Tonight’s 5 candidates are Bernd, Vera, Alex, Gil and Thomas.
Going off first impressions, I’d like to see either Bernd or Alex take on Stefan, although Gil looks the most hungry to beat him, throwing a medicine ball at a picture of Stefan on the wall in his VT package.
The results are in! The person to take on Stefan for €1.5m tonight is…not Thomas, not Bernd, not Alex and not Vera.
With a massive lead, it’s Gil!
Spiel 1 – Luftballons (Balloons)
Each player has a frame with 5 hoops. They must blow up balloons with enough air so they stay in the hoops after tying the ends.
Gil tries to catch up by blowing 2 balloons up at once, but to no avail, Stefan wins.
Gil 0 – 1 Stefan
Spiel 2 – Wer liebt wen? (Who loves whom?)
The players are shown the wife of a celebrity couple. It’s up to the players to buzz in and give the name of the husband. First to 5 wins. Usual rules apply, get the answer right to gain a point, get it wrong and you give the opponent a point.
It’s a clean sweep for Stefan, winning 5-0
Gil 0 – 3 Stefan
Tonight’s competition question – What can the candidate win on Schlag den Raab?
€1.5m…or a colourful barbed chain?
And we’re back and ready for the next game.
Spiel 3 – Wasser-Fussball (Water Football)
As the name would suggest, it’s football in an ankle-deep pool of water! It’s a lot harder than it looks, as the ball floats on the surface of the water, making it hard to get a good shot off and it doesn’t seem to want to go where you want it to.
Most of the first half has Gil trying to get away from the boundary with little success. In the dying seconds, Gil hits the post! At half-time, it’s 0-0
My mistake, it’s not 2 4-minute halves. We’re now into a 1-minute period of extra time.
Gil tries a desperation shot, but it goes too high. Stefan ALMOST gets the ball into the goal mouth with seconds to spare, but Gil manages to prevent it crossing the line.
Into Extra Time 2 now, and it still remains 0-0. By the looks of things, they’ll keep having 1-minute Extra Time periods until someone scores.
Into ET3, and a fumble by Stefan to save the ball goes in! Gil leads 1-0 with 30 seconds to go.
That’s it, it’s all over! Gil wins 1-0 and ties everything up!
Gil 3 – 3 Stefan
Spiel 4 – Botchen Fahren (Driving Small Boats)
Still staying outside for this one. The first to drive their toy boat through the 8 gates of the course and cross the finish line wins. This will be a best of 5.
Race 1 – Stefan is forced to go back after missing a gate, then gets stuck on some metal the halfway point!
Gil 1-0 Stefan
Race 2 – Some argy-bargy from Gil at the start gives him the early lead and he keeps it all the way through the course.
Gil 2-0 Stefan
Race 3 – Those same barging techniques make Stefan miss Gate 1! Gil cruises home to take the clean sweep.
Gil 3-0 Stefan
Gil takes the lead
Gil 7 – 3 Stefan
Spiel 5 after the break.
Time for our first musical number of the night – ladies and gentlemen, LENNY KRAVITZ!!!
OK, time for the next game.
Spiel 5 – Buchstaben-Salat (Alphabet Soup)
An anagram is shown on the screen, and one by one, the letters disappear from the top row and are put in their proper place in the word. First to 5 wins, usual rules apply, and as par for the course with German words, they’re bloody long! An example, the first word was ROTBARSCHFILET (redfish fillet).
Stefan sweeps this game to win 5-0, ut there’s still 10 games left
Gil 7 – 8 Stefan
BUT there’s still 10 games left, that should say…
Spiel 6 – Munzen Fuhlen (Feeling Coins)
Each player has a bowl filled with Euro coins of each denomination (from 1 Euro cent to 2 Euros). They are given 60 seconds to get the feel for each coin. They must then put blindfolds on and get coins of the specified amount (e.g. €2.50, €1.82, etc), then ring the bell to indicate they’ve finished. First to 4 wins. If a player is wrong, the coins both players removed from the bowls are returned to the bowls and play moves on to the next amount.
By the looks of things, getting an amount wrong also gives a point to your opponent.
Stefan correctly gets €0.99 and wins 4-1
Gil 7 – 14 Stefan
Oh, look, there’s a 57 year old on The Million Pound Drop right now. Where’s all the age discrimination claims now, eh?
Nothing new. The show has done generation pairs of contestants on the show before but none was seen on the last series. There have been a few pairs of mothers/fathers & sons/daughters pair on the show before.
I’ll tip my hat off when when your show have TWO people aged over 40 AND when you have a pair of online players who live outside the south east of England.
I gotta laugh at that Romeo & Juliet question. Surely Romeo & Juliet is still being used in high schools?
Why does it matter that 2 players have to be over 40 years old at the same time? Many people aged over 40 have been on The Million Pound Drop, the show caters for all age ranges of contestants. 🙂
because you got a idiotic loophole that you only cater for over 40s if they are paired with a son or daughter. I’m not stupid Joe. Back to twitter.
Hey, let’s not get nasty here… 😕 😕
Don’t worry, I’ve had my say. That’s the end of it.
Also I believe a generation pair has yet to beat The Drop. Makes a change if a pair do win it.
After the second musical number of the night, it’s time for the next game.
Spiel 7 – Kugelstossen (Shot Put)
It’s your typical shot put contest. Each player gets 5 throws and whoever has the furthest distance wins. Stefan wins the toss and elects to go first.
Throw 1
Stefan – 7.83m, Gil – 9.19m
Throw 2
Stefan – 8.47m, Gil – 9.75m
Throw 3
Stefan – 8.61m, Gil – 9.52m
Throw 4
Stefan – 8.85m, Gil – 8.78m
Throw 5 and Stefan must beat 9.75m to win
Stefan – Foul
Gil wins with 9.75m
Gil 14 – 14 Stefan
Spiel 8 – Menschen-Kenntnis (Knowledgeable People)
The host asks a question, and the players must guess how many of the 10 people in front of them answered yes or no correctly with the closest winning a point, first to 4 wins. If both give the same answer, or the right answer is between their guesses (e.g if one says 6, the other says 8 and the answer is 7) they both gain a point.
If you ask me, if that happens, they should throw that question out and ask another, but hey, it’s not my show!
Both players got 4 points after drawing on the deciding question, so an extra question was asked. They both said the same answer on that too! Another question was asked, and Stefan got it right, winning the game.
Gil 14 – 22 Stefan
We’re back from commercials and ready for the next game.
Spiel 9 – Autorennen (Motor Race)
A time trial around a figure-of-8 track with a tricky chicane half-way around. Each player gets 7 laps, and whoever has the fastest lap time will win the game. Stefan goes first to set the time that Gil needs to beat.
Stefan’s first trial lap doesn’t go well, he spins out before the home stretch!
After Stefan’s 7 laps, his fastest time was 21.82 seconds.
Gil tried valiantly, but just couldn’t beat Stefan’s time.
Gil 14 – 31 Stefan
I take Elton hasn’t turned up yet?
Not yet, Travis.
Spiel 10 – Wann war was? (When was that?)
The host reads clues to a year. First to 6, usual rules apply with a right answer gaining you a point, a wrong answer giving your opponent a point and a chance for a bonus point if they get it right if they so wish, or more clues can be read out.
After a nail-biting decider, Stefan gave the wrong answer, giving Gil the win 6-5.
Gil 24 – 31 Stefan
Time for the 3rd musical number for tonight. When it’s done, we’ll be ready for Spiel 11.
Spiel 11 – Untersetzer (Coaster)
Each player has a bowl filled with round rubber coasters and a long table (red for Gil, yellow for Stefan). They must stand behind a throwing line and toss their coasters in turn onto their tables. If a player’s coaster doesn’t go further along the table than the last coaster they threw, the opponent can get a point if they’re able to. The opponent also gains a point if they miss the table entirely. First to 5 wins.
Gil spreads his coasters along the length of the table, while Stefan favours clumping them together.
Stefan took the first game, but a series of misses enabled Gil to make a comeback and win 5-1
Gil 35 – 31 Stefan
Spiel 12 – the one Travis has been waiting for, Blamieren Oder Kassieren mit Elton!
I’ve always got this crazy theory that if the contender beats Raab on Blamieren Oder Kassieren then they are likely to win the jackpot.
Well, Gil’s winning at the moment, so your theory might come to pass…
Gil wins 7-2
Gil 47 – 31 Stefan
Typical Germans. They take a game from The Cube (Void) and made it larger with tyres.
#sdr and Schlag den Raab are currently in the top three twitter trends in Germany
Spiel 13 – Autoreifen (Car tyre)
Both players take it in turns to roll a car tyre towards a gap between two metal boxes. Each player gets 10 tries. Gil goes first. It’s ‘Void’ from The Cube, but with a large distance between the line they roll from and the target.
Gil – XXXXOOXXXO
Stefan – XXXXXXOXX
As you can see, Gil managed to get the knack for the game, whereas Stefan didn’t.
Gil 60 – 31 Stefan
MATCHBALL for Gil!!!
If Raab wins the next two games we’ll have a tiebreaker
Has it ever gone to a tiebreaker before? I assume a tiebreaker would be a 16th game?
I think we’ve had a 16th tiebreaker game only once and that was way back in the early editions of Beat the Raab.
There was one a couple of years back- it was the carnival game where you knock cans off of a table with baseballs- Stephan lost IIRC.
It was called Dosenwerfen if I remember right.
Spiel 14 – Lander-Umrisse (Country Outlines)
Exactly what it says on the tin, RECOGNISING COUNTRY OUTLINES FOR €1.5m!!! The computer draws out the outline of a country and the players must recognise them. First to 7, usual rules apply.
Stefan romps this game to win 7-1
Gil 60 – 45 Stefan
This could very well go to a tie-breaker, folks!
Tuning in at the conclusion.
Had forgotten what it was like to sit through a central European adbreak.
Aww, I was half-expecting Elfmeterschiessen for a game 15.
Oho, Billiards…. we’ve been here before!!
It’s a game of pool again for a ridiculously large amount of money!!!!!!!!!!!
And they’re going to the pool table again (they’ve used it as the final game before..)
Spiel 15 – Billard (Pool)
This smacks of when Hans-Martin played this game for €3m. People often say history repeats itself, so will it repeat for Gil tonight?
IT’S POOL FOR €1.5m!!!!!
funny times in Italy
a few lines from Avanti Un Altro.
Host Paolo Bonolis reads the easy question for the phone-in competition
Bonolis:”if your answer is correct, your name will be entered in a drawing for tonight’s prize. If your answer is incorrect, your name will be reported to the local police…”
***
A contestant previously told that she’s engaged with a guy named Enrico Litterio.
Question: what does burn more calories, playing volleyball or making love?
contestant:”…volleyball?”
Bonolis:(looks at camera)”hey, Litterio… QUIT PLAYING VOLLEYBALL!”
***
Bonolis:”…and what’s your job?”
contestant:”during the day I’m a personal trainer, during the night…”
Bonolis:”…I do NOT want to know!”
(turned out he was a master of ceremonies)
in the meantime, at L’Eredità they held a little “Laughter Yoga” demonstration
Stefan’s looking strong here, only 3 balls left before the black…
Make that 2….
So they are playing US 8-ball rules if they have ball in hand.
Nice safety shot there by Gil, not making it easy for Stefan…
Could they not afford a little graphic to show how many balls each player had left to pot?
I’d have just tried to smash into the tied-up balls, or play a soft safety in amongst them. Not a good shot from Gil there.
This is really getting down to the wire…
Stefan could have done with the UK rules with 2 shots rather than having ball in hand there.
Neither player has an easy shot after their next pot with Gil’s final ball close to the black.
And Stefan’s on the black…
It’s now 1.36am CET. Making it the longest edition of Schlag den Raab so far.
It could go even longer yet…
Gil could plausibly win this from Stefan going in-off (going in-off on the 8-ball is an automatic loss, yes?)
Automatic loss if both 8-ball and white go in on same shot, I think.
Well, this doesn’t happen very often, folks. It’s 60-60, so we go to a tiebreaker.
Gil should have played safe there and rolled up to his ball but when for the risky pot and left Stefan the easy black.
Tiebreak is Flummis – bouncing balls according to Google translate.
Tiebreaker – Flummis (Bouncy Balls)
Holding the bouncy ball in their outstretched hand, they must drop the it and catch it with the same hand. First person to drop the ball loses.
Oh, they’ve to drop and catch BOTH balls with one hand? Wow, that’s tricky.
Language, Stefan 😀
Gil WINS!!
I don’t speak German but I’m pretty sure that was a 4 letter word.
Irritatingly unclear finish as it turned out – would have loved to see a replay first, then the official decision.