1 vs. 100 (American game show)

To assist the main contestant, assistance from the mob is offered in the form of "helps". Originally there were two helps, which could only be used in order.[2] Starting with the sixth episode, a third option was added, the three helps were given names, and contestants could choose any of the three at any point in the game. The helps were, in order:[3]

• "Poll The Mob": Originally known as the first help, the contestant selects one of the three answers to get more information about. The number of Mob members who chose that answer is revealed, and the contestant chooses one of the revealed mob members to discuss his or her response.[4]
• "Ask The Mob": Originally known as the second help, two Mob members are randomly selected: one who answered correctly and one who answered incorrectly. Each explains his or her decision to the contestant, which in turn eliminates the third choice from consideration.[4] In the event all the Mob members (including the two) provide the same answer, or where all the Mob answered incorrectly and where the contestant is about to win the game, only the first Mob member in question is chosen and explains their decision, then the contestant will then decide whether to go for the answer or not.
• "Trust The Mob" (added in episode six): The contestant is automatically committed to the answer chosen most frequently by the Mob; if there is a tie where at least two answers were chosen the most frequently, two Mob members will be chosen at random, similar to "Ask the Mob"[5]

After reaching a certain point in the game, contestants can be given a "Sneak Peek" which allows the contestant to see their next question (but not the three answers) before deciding whether or not to answer the next question. In season one, it was used when a player eliminated 90 or more members of the mob;[3] it eventually became available once a contestant used all his or her helps in season two.[6]

Originally, contestants were awarded a cumulative amount of money after each individual question for each Mob member eliminated; this amount increased with each question as the game went on. For example, a contestant who eliminated eight Mob members on his or her second question would be awarded $500 per member, adding up to $4,000 to add to his or her total.[4] The payout structure was tweaked slightly prior to the third episode of the season[7] and changed once again on the sixth episode in conjunction with introduction of the "Trust the Mob" help.[3][5]

In the second season and on the GSN version, the payout structure was simplified to award contestants for every tenth Mob member eliminated. Most other rules from season 1 were intact, including the option to leave the game on questions three, and five onwards.[8]

The show first premiered on NBC as a five-episode series on October 13, 2006.[12] On October 20, 2006, it was reported that NBC ordered ten additional episodes of 1 vs. 100, citing the show's encouraging ratings performance.[13] The series returned to NBC's schedule with these new episodes on December 1, 2006.[5]

In May, NBC announced that 1 vs. 100 would return for its second season in Fall 2007 with an eight-episode run. The Singing Bee was originally scheduled to air after the initial run of 1 vs. 100, but its premiere was moved up to July to compete with Fox's new game show Don't Forget the Lyrics![14] In July, NBC announced some fall scheduling updates that included 1 vs. 100's season two premiere being temporarily delayed.[15]

In late 2007, as a result of the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, NBC announced that 1 vs. 100 would return as a winter replacement sometime in January,[16] and the series debuted its second season on January 4, 2008,[17] with a revamped new set and payout structure.[8]

There are seven such episodes throughout the series:

• On an episode aired December 1, 2006, the top prize was briefly raised to $3,000,000 for the episode's first contestant. The episode also features several celebrities in the Mob, including game show hosts Wink Martindale and Bob Eubanks.[5][18]
• A Christmas special aired on December 25, 2006. Christmas-related questions were answered in this episode, while the Mob were dressed with members in character representing "The 12 Days of Christmas."[19]
• A kids edition was played on the February 2, 2007, episode in which the Mob consisted of entirely 100 children. The contestant lost $94,000 on a question ("What was a common feature (motto) relating to the Boy Scouts of America and Girl Scouts of the USA" – founder, motto or badge system; the correct answer was Motto; the contestant incorrectly answer Badge system) and evenly split $18,800 to the last five (out of 20 remaining) children.[20]
• On February 9, 2007, a special entitled "Last Man Standing" was aired, featuring a Mob consisting largely of former top Mob members (Sister Rose and Annie Duke) and game show champions (such as Jeopardy! veterans Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings, and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire winners Nancy Christy and Kevin Olmstead), pitting for a $250,000 prize money. Several rules modified in which that no helps were given and questions are not valued, and the "1" was not allowed to leave the game at any point; if the contestant is incorrect, the "1" is eliminated from further play and another Mob member is replaced on their behalf. The "1" was randomly selected from the Mob and the gameplay was thus 1 vs. 99; Duke was chosen to play as the "1". The winner of the $250,000 went to entertainment lawyer and former actor Larry Zerner, who was the only Mob member among the five remaining contestants (including Duke and Jennings) to correctly answer the question (The question was "Who has been married the most times? – King Henry VIII, Larry King, or 'King of Pop', Michael Jackson; Zerner correctly answered Larry King, while the rest incorrectly answered King Henry VIII).[21]
• The season two premiere on January 4, 2008 was entitled "Battle of the Sexes", featuring a mob entirely of 100 members in a gender, and the "1" from the opposing gender. This was also the first episode to used a revamped set and a new payout ladder system. During this episode, the female contestant Katherine Kazorla played first but lost $50,000 to the last of the 39 surviving male Mob members; the male contestant, Jason Luna, became the show's first (and only) contestant to beat all 100 female Mob members and won the $1,000,000 top prize (Luna's final question was "According to Hallmark, what is the biggest card-giving holiday of the year?" – Christmas, Valentine's Day or Mother's Day; Luna correctly answered Christmas while the last 15 female Mob members were incorrect).[8][22]
• On January 25, 2008, Chris Langan, who at the time of taping, had the highest IQ in America, participated in a special aptly titled "Smartest Man in America". He eliminated 80 Mob members and chose to walk away with $250,000.

Game Show Network (GSN) began airing reruns of the show on June 6, 2009.[23] With the ratings success of those shows in reruns,[24] GSN announced a casting call in August 2010, implying that the network would be producing new episodes.[25][26]

On October 13, 2010, GSN announced plans to premiere an original revival series, hosted by then-Dancing with the Stars judge Carrie Ann Inaba.[27] The initial order of 40 half-hour episodes began airing weekdays on November 15, 2010.[27] The Mob members participated via webcam, while the "1" plays for the top prize of $50,000 ($100,000 on some episodes). Contestants also only had two of the NBC version's helps available: "Poll the Mob" and "Trust the Mob".[27] In addition, contestants were only given the option to leave the game upon reaching at least $1,000 on the prize ladder, while the "Sneak Peek" was not used until the contestant had reached at least $10,000.

The season finale of GSN's 1 vs. 100 aired on January 11, 2011. Inaba confirmed that she would neither be returning the series[28] nor renewing for another season, leading to the show's cancellation.[29]